Biography and Biology: Oliver Sacks

The name Oliver Sacks (1933–2015) became a household word after he published his book Awakenings in 1973. This chapter introduces him as a doctor, a writer, and a neurologist who reported on his own neurological conditions. Like the previous chapter on Iris Murdoch, this chapter emphasizes the value of case studies, a methodology Sacks used to introduce his patients as more than their pathologies. This approach is also a core aim of this book. As this chapter demonstrates, Dr. Sacks’ case studies allowed him to distinguish between studying neurological disturbance in terms of how the nervous system is organized and learning from the actual people who were struggling to adapt and survive. Particular attention is given to four of his works: (1) Migraine: The Evolution of a Common Disorder, published in 1970, was released at the beginning his career. (2) Awakenings, published in 1973, made him a worldwide figure. (3) A Leg to Stand On (1984), a more personal book, tells of an accident Sacks had in Norway that resulted in a disturbance of proprioception and how music proved therapeutic. (4) “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat,” published in 1985, was originally presented as a case involving agnosias. The autopsy showed atypical Alzheimer’s disease.