An Anthropologist on Mars : Paradoxical Tales

Rating:
Summary: Headache? Just read about these poor folks
Review: With the format and style of the earlier "The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat", each chapter describing a patient suffering from a particularly unusual and often spectacular neurological disorder, Sacks successfully shows how poor our understanding of the functioning of our own minds really is. More than ever his primary focus is the human aspect of mental affliction, the emotional trauma involved, presumably so he can appeal to a wider audience. I feel that the earlier book actually has the best material and is certainly a better choice if picking one title. Though the cases in "The Anthropologist" are hardly dull, it does seem a little long winded and repetitive in places - is he paid by the page? Perhaps others would disagree, but I would prefer to see more of the clinical speculation and brain-function theorizing. This is my only criticism for what is for the most part provocative and illuminating reading.

Rating:
Summary: Another good book from Sacks
Review: Yes, indeedy. If you like Oliver Sacks' other books, you will like this one.

Rating:
Summary: Full, Rich, Appreciative Case Studies
Review: Yet again, Oliver Sacks gives us a new perspective of the human brain by studying its malfunction; he simultaneously gives us an appreciation of the adaptability and power of the human being when confronted with adversity. The people he observes exhibit various capabilities in addressing their disorders, but he manages to show that their personality survives, bruises and warts and all. He even manages a quick history of the prefrontal lobotomy, perhaps the most disturbing "medical" procedure created in this century. His portrait of Temple Grandin, the "anthropologist" of the title, is rich and faithful to her character. A wonderful work.