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50+ Works 38,389 Members 793 Reviews 149 Favorited
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About the Author

Oliver Sacks was born in London, England on July 9, 1933. He received a medical degree from Queen's College, Oxford University and performed his internship at Middlesex Hospital in London and Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco. He completed his residency at UCLA. In 1965, he became a clinical show more neurologist to the Little Sisters of the Poor and Beth Abraham Hospital. His work in a Bronx charity hospital led him to write the book Awakenings in 1973. The book inspired a play by Harold Pinter and became a film starring Robert De Niro and Robin Williams. His other works included An Anthropologist on Mars, The Mind's Eye, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Uncle Tungsten, Musicophilia, A Leg to Stand On, On the Move: A Life, and Gratitude. In 2007, he ended his 42-year relationship with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine to accept an interdisciplinary teaching position at Columbia. In 2012, he returned to the New York University School of Medicine as a professor of neurology. He died of cancer on August 30, 2015 at the age of 82. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Erika Hall

Works by Oliver Sacks

Awakenings (1973) 2,444 copies
The Island of the Colorblind (1997) 1,741 copies
Hallucinations (2012) 1,673 copies
Seeing Voices (1989) 1,589 copies
The Mind's Eye (2010) 1,536 copies
On the Move: A Life (2015) 1,302 copies
Migraine (1985) 971 copies
A Leg to Stand On (1984) 961 copies
Gratitude (2015) 846 copies
Oaxaca Journal (2002) — Author — 636 copies
The River of Consciousness (2017) 576 copies
The Best American Science Writing 2003 (2003) — Editor — 165 copies
Vintage Sacks (2004) 84 copies
At First Sight [1999 film] (1999) — Original book — 25 copies
Wel en niet zien (1999) 7 copies
Mars'ta Bir Antropolog (2015) 2 copies
Rage for Order: Autism (1998) 2 copies
My Own Life 1 copy

Associated Works

Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind (1998) — Foreword, some editions — 1,921 copies
Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism (1995) — Foreword, some editions — 1,125 copies
The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing (2008) — Contributor — 803 copies
The Richness of Life: The Essential Stephen Jay Gould (2006) — Foreword — 366 copies
The Best American Essays 2005 (2005) — Contributor — 342 copies
A Journey Round My Skull (1937) — Introduction — 331 copies
The Best American Essays 2006 (2006) — Contributor — 301 copies
The Best American Essays 2004 (2004) — Contributor — 289 copies
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2011 (2011) — Contributor — 287 copies
The Best American Science Writing 2007 (2007) — Contributor — 237 copies
Hidden Histories of Science (1995) — Contributor — 236 copies
The Man with a Shattered World: The History of a Brain Wound (1971) — Foreword, some editions — 220 copies
Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals (2009) — Contributor — 212 copies
The Best American Science Writing 2005 (2005) — Contributor — 191 copies
The Best American Essays 1998 (1998) — Contributor — 191 copies
The Best American Science Writing 2000 (2000) — Contributor — 165 copies
Granta 21: The Story-Teller (1987) — Contributor — 156 copies
The Norton Book of Personal Essays (1997) — Contributor — 142 copies
The Best American Science Writing 2008 (2008) — Contributor — 142 copies
The Best American Essays 2016 (2016) — Contributor — 133 copies
The Man Who Forgot How to Read: A Memoir (2007) — Afterword — 132 copies
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2016 (2016) — Contributor — 128 copies
A Man Without Words (1991) — Foreword, some editions — 119 copies
The Best American Science Writing 2009 (2009) — Contributor — 115 copies
The Best American Spiritual Writing 2008 (2008) — Contributor — 84 copies
Granta 16: Science (1985) — Contributor — 82 copies
The Organism (1939) — Foreword, some editions — 58 copies
Measure of the Heart: A Father's Alzheimer's, A Daughter's Return (2008) — Foreword, some editions — 54 copies
Best Food Writing 2016 (2016) — Contributor — 39 copies
The Analog Sea Review: Number Two (2019) — Contributor — 13 copies
Out of Darkness: A Memoir (2003) — Foreword — 13 copies
Alive Inside [2014 film] (2014) — some editions — 10 copies

Tagged

anthology (350) anthropology (202) autism (475) autobiography (362) biography (446) biology (281) brain (572) case studies (217) chemistry (166) cognitive science (195) ebook (174) essay (110) essays (1,135) fiction (144) goodreads (116) health (165) history (191) Kindle (134) medical (360) medicine (1,317) memoir (683) mental illness (141) mind (146) music (861) neurology (1,780) neuropsychology (172) neuroscience (1,265) non-fiction (4,435) Oliver Sacks (295) own (143) philosophy (122) popular science (250) psychiatry (223) psychology (3,049) read (425) science (3,209) to-read (3,165) travel (136) unread (252) wishlist (106)

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Sacks, Oliver
Legal name
Sacks, Oliver Wolf
Other names
Sacks, Oliver W.
Birthdate
1933-07-09
Date of death
2015-08-30
Gender
male
Nationality
UK
Country (for map)
England, UK
Birthplace
London, England, UK
Place of death
New York, New York, USA
Cause of death
cancer
Places of residence
New York, New York, USA
Education
St Paul's School, London, UK
University of Oxford (Queen's College|BA|Physiology and Biology|1954)
University of Oxford (MA|BM|BCh|1958)
UCLA (residency in neurology and neuropathology|1965)
Occupations
neurologist
professor
Relationships
Eban, Abba (cousin)
Lynn, Jonathan (cousin)
Sacks, Jonathan (nephew)
Hayes, Bill (partner)
Miller, Jonathan (friend, #1)
Aumann, Robert (cousin)
Organizations
UCLA Medical Center (resident. Neurology)
Beth Abraham Hospital (consulting neurologist ∙ Beth Abraham Health Services)
Yeshiva University (Albert Einstein College of Medicine ∙ clinical professor of neurology)
New York University (School of Medicine ∙ Adjunct professor of Neurology)
Columbia University (professor of clinical neurology and clinical psychology)
Little Sisters of the Poor (consultant neurologist) (show all 7)
University of Warwick (visiting professor)
Awards and honors
Columbia artist (1st ∙ Columbia University)
Music Has Power Award (2000)
Beth Abraham (40 years of service)
Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science (2001)
Asteroid Namesake (asteroid 84928 | 2008)
Commander, Order of the British Empire (2008) (show all 17)
American Academy of Arts and Letters (1996)
Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (honorary medical advisor)
Oskar Pfister Award (1988)
Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award (1989)
Mental Health Award (2004)
Fellow, Royal College of Physicians
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Neurological Association
American Psychoanalytic Association
Association of British Neurologists
New York Academy of Sciences
Short biography
Oliver Sacks (Londen, 1933) is hoogleraar in de neurologie aan het Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Als auteur verwierf hij internationale faam met onder andere De man die zijn vrouw voor een hoed hield, neurologische case-histories uit zijn eigen praktijk, en Ontwaken in verbijstering, waarin hij op betrokken wijze het ‘ontwaken’ uit de slaapziekte (Encephalitis lethargica) beschrijft.

Members

Discussions

Oliver Sacks in Legacy Libraries (November 2023)
DECEMBER READS - SPOILERS - An Anthropologist on Mars in The Green Dragon (January 2015)

Reviews

I love this series of short stories. The human body is a fascinating thing and to hear real life stories of all the ways our body makes mistakes is funny and intriguing. I’ve collected the entire series of books and love them all.
 
Flagged
AnniePettit | 206 other reviews | Mar 16, 2024 |
I've read most of Sack's books over several years, because his writing style, scientific subject and authority kept me coming back for more.
 
Flagged
sfj2 | 61 other reviews | Mar 10, 2024 |
an unimaginable experience, like being in a time machine for the patients involved and bot touching and heart-rending
 
Flagged
cspiwak | 24 other reviews | Mar 6, 2024 |
Interesting, but also boring after a while. Language was VERY outdated.
 
Flagged
AerialObrien | 206 other reviews | Feb 24, 2024 |

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Awards

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Associated Authors

Jesse Cohen Series Editor
P. M. Moll-Huber Translator
Kate Edgar Preface
Bill Hayes Preface
Natalie Angier Contributor
Peter Canby Contributor
Thomas Eisner Contributor
Lawrence Osborne Contributor
Brendan I. Koerner Contributor
Charles C. Mann Contributor
Margaret Wertheim Contributor
Trevor Corson Cover artist
Dennis Overbye Contributor
Liza Mundy Contributor
Michelle Nijhuis Contributor
Susan Milius Contributor
Michael Klesius Contributor
Roald Hoffmann Contributor
Marcelo Gleiser Contributor
Joseph D'Agnese Contributor
Atul Gawande Contributor
Leonard Cassuto Contributor
Gunjan Sinha Contributor
Richard Levins Contributor
Jennifer Kahn Contributor
Frank Wilczek Contributor
Floyd Skloot Contributor
Danielle Ofri Contributor
F. Wensinck Translator
Dan Woren Narrator, Reader
Chip Kidd Cover designer
Boo Cassel Translator
Clara Morena Translator
Carin Goldberg Cover designer
Han Visserman Translator
T. S. Eliot Contributor
Ernest Jones Contributor
Thomi Wroblewski Cover artist
D. H. Lawrence Contributor
Jos den Bekker Translator
Anita Karl Cartographer
Lennart Edberg Translator
Isabella C. Blum Translator
Jack Kemp Cartographer
Pon Ruiter Translator
Ralph M. Siegel Contributor

Statistics

Works
50
Also by
41
Members
38,389
Popularity
#470
Rating
3.9
Reviews
793
ISBNs
789
Languages
26
Favorited
149

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