Hallucinations

Oliver Sacks

Nov 2012 · Sold by Vintage

About this ebook

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The "poet laureate of medicine" (The New York Times) and author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat weaves together stories of mind-altering experiences to reveal what they tell us about our brains, our folklore and culture, and why the potential for hallucination exists in us all. 

"Sacks has turned hallucinations from something bizarre and frightening into something that seems part of what it means to be a person. His book, too, is a medical and human triumph.” —The Washington Post

“An absorbing plunge into a mystery of the mind.” —Entertainment Weekly

To many people, hallucinations imply madness, but in fact they are a common part of the human experience. These sensory distortions range from the shimmering zigzags of a visual migraine to powerful visions brought on by fever, injuries, drugs, sensory deprivation, exhaustion, or even grief. Hallucinations doubtless lie behind many mythological traditions, literary inventions, and religious epiphanies.

Drawing on his own experiences, a wealth of clinical cases from among his patients, and famous historical examples ranging from Dostoevsky to Lewis Carroll, the legendary neurologist Oliver Sacks investigates the mystery of these sensory deceptions: what they say about the working of our brains, how they have influenced our folklore and culture, and why the potential for hallucination is present in all humans.

Ratings and reviews

I was diagnosed with MS four years ago but misdiagnosed for twenty years. So far nothing has worked on me...i dont only have hallucinations they never go away. And it is always relentless. Last year I had 20\20 vision now I have days when I just go blind and when I can see I am tortured by my hard wood floors anything with a pattern one eye makes it do like a 3D effect gives it shape and the other eye gives it.. movement I never see anything like gumdtops or lollipops I see snakes mice and bugs.

Ghi Chu:  Luc va Luat cua song hap Dan.! Toi cam on gian.! Tho gian da cho phep toi tao va xay dung duoc phan nen. Do la phan cot loi de phat trien song hap dan, phat trien sao cho no du luc de no tu giai phong ra khong gian la ban da thanh cong.! Toi chi di Theo dung cau truc cua gia tri ma toi da phat trien va toi khong can mang den bat ky Luc tac nao"Toi Khong" Chu Thich [00000000001]  *Ho Van Tam*

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About the author

OLIVER SACKS was a neurologist, writer, and professor of medicine. Born in London in 1933, he moved to New York City in 1965, where he launched his medical career and began writing case studies of his patients. Called the “poet laureate of medicine” by The New York Times, Sacks is the author of thirteen books, including The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Musicophilia, and Awakenings, which inspired an Oscar-nominated film and a play by Harold Pinter. He was the recipient of many awards and honorary degrees, and was made a Commander of the British Empire in 2008 for services to medicine. He died in 2015.