67 pages 2 hours read

Oliver Sacks

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1985

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Further Reading & Resources

Further Reading: Beyond Literature (Nonfiction)

In the Region of Lost Minds by John C. Marshall (1986)

Author and British cognitive neuropsychologist John C. Marshall reviews The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat for the New York Times. Although the review is mainly favorable, with Marshall calling Sacks a “philosopher-poet,” he also suggests that Sacks is feigning an “ignorance” of neurology. Overall, Marshall observes that Sacks brings compassion and depth of experience to the material.

An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales by Oliver Sacks (1995)

An Anthropologist on Mars is a narrative nonfiction essay collection by Sacks, M.D. Sacks documents and comments upon seven patients with neurological conditions that challenge preconceived notions about illness, disorder, adaptation, and self-perception. This collection builds upon Sacks’s previous works featuring neurological case studies, including the critically acclaimed The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.

Video & Podcast Resources

Oliver Sacks: Nervous System and the Soul” (2011) by “Thinking Allowed” with Jeffrey Mishlove

In this interview, Sacks primarily discusses the cases from the latter half of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. He recounts some of the main points he makes in the book and notes that he almost didn’t include “The Twins” because he found their condition so mysterious.

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