By Oliver Sacks, author of Awakenings.
This book is one of four texts I was required to purchase for a class I am currently taking, Physiological Psychology. It deals with some of the more bizarre neurological afflictions that Dr. Sacks has come across over his long career.
Some of this stuff reads more like fictional horror than scientific non-fiction. For example, one chapter deals with a fellow whose condition is almost exactly like that of the protagonist from Memento: His short-term memory is almost completely destroyed. Anything that happened more than 30 seconds or so ago is forgotten entirely. Despite this, his long-term memory remains fullt intact. Therefore, this poor bastard is stuck in a world where it's forever 1945, and he retains nothing that has happened to him in the years and decades since. He becomes confused and terrified whenever he encounters a mirror, because this gray-haired, wrinkled man expects to encounter the face of the young man he had been in the wake of WWII. And it is useles to explain the situation to him, because he will simply forget a minute later. What an unimaginably horrible existence!
Other such nightmarish neurological impairments are detailed in this fine book. While those interested in neurology and psychology will thoroughly enjoy this read, fans of Stephen King and The Twilight Zone likely will as well...
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
this reminds me of a book you might be interested in( not actually directly related). Nobody Nowhere is a written by Donna Williams, who is a high-functioning autistic woman.
i heard her once on the radio. amazing to hear somebody describe autism from 'the inside'.
2 - Katherine
this is a very good book review, my only suggestion is to remember to look over for spelling errors, such as "..remains fullt intact" and i personally think using "poor bastard" demeans your own intelligence and you should use more politically correct terms. But other than that, I thought this review was very well put. Congrats.