Karisini Sapka Sanan Adam - Super Awesome Corp. BookWyrm

Paperback, 262 pages

Published April 13, 2003 by Yapi Kredi Yayinlari.

ISBN:: 978-975-363-510-3

(2 reviews)

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales is a 1985 book by neurologist Oliver Sacks describing the case histories of some of his patients. Sacks chose the title of the book from the case study of one of his patients who has visual agnosia, a neurological condition that leaves him unable to recognize faces and objects. The book became the basis of an opera of the same name by Michael Nyman, which premiered in 1986. The book comprises twenty-four essays split into four sections ("Losses", "Excesses", "Transports", and "The World of the Simple"), each dealing with a particular aspect of brain function. The first two sections discuss deficits and excesses (with particular emphasis on the right hemisphere of the brain), while the third and fourth sections describe phenomenological manifestations with reference to spontaneous reminiscences, altered perceptions, and extraordinary qualities of mind found in people …

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales is a 1985 book by neurologist Oliver Sacks describing the case histories of some of his patients. Sacks chose the title of the book from the case study of one of his patients who has visual agnosia, a neurological condition that leaves him unable to recognize faces and objects. The book became the basis of an opera of the same name by Michael Nyman, which premiered in 1986. The book comprises twenty-four essays split into four sections ("Losses", "Excesses", "Transports", and "The World of the Simple"), each dealing with a particular aspect of brain function. The first two sections discuss deficits and excesses (with particular emphasis on the right hemisphere of the brain), while the third and fourth sections describe phenomenological manifestations with reference to spontaneous reminiscences, altered perceptions, and extraordinary qualities of mind found in people with intellectual disabilities.In addition to describing the cases, Sacks comments on them, explains their pathophysiological background, discusses potential neuroscientific implications of such cases and occasionally makes reference to some psychological concepts, such as the soul, id, ego, and super-ego.

47 editions

Nate Gaylinn reviewed The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks

None

5 stars

This is a fantastic book for exploring the subtle details of human experience and how wildly they can change as a result of genetics, injury, or psychic trauma. By describing his experience with atypical and disordered minds, Sacks gives a glimpse into what "normal" function is really like.

The strength of this book is all of the anecdotes from real patients with extraordinary conditions. It attempts to give the reader a sense of the lived experience of these patients, and how they manage their symptoms. This is much more powerful than describing what the brain does abstractly, because reality is often stranger than you can imagine, and because any brain condition involves a human life and that personal aspect really matters.

I found this book very insightful, in a particular way. Time and time again Sacks considers people with some specific narrow faculty that is abnormal, then explores the consequences …

This is a fantastic book for exploring the subtle details of human experience and how wildly they can change as a result of genetics, injury, or psychic trauma. By describing his experience with atypical and disordered minds, Sacks gives a glimpse into what "normal" function is really like.

The strength of this book is all of the anecdotes from real patients with extraordinary conditions. It attempts to give the reader a sense of the lived experience of these patients, and how they manage their symptoms. This is much more powerful than describing what the brain does abstractly, because reality is often stranger than you can imagine, and because any brain condition involves a human life and that personal aspect really matters.

I found this book very insightful, in a particular way. Time and time again Sacks considers people with some specific narrow faculty that is abnormal, then explores the consequences of this on broader behavior. What you see is that many basic behaviors (like, say, walking, talking, or eating a plateful of food) require several different faculties working together to solve different parts of the problem. When just one of those faculties is out of line, often the person will carry on producing those behaviors, but in problematic ways that can result in wild and unexpected outcomes (such as literally attempting to wear your wife on your head like a hat). Sometimes patients are disturbed by these strange and irrational changes in themselves, and sometimes they are completely oblivious!

By exploring a range of abnormal brain functions and peculiar edge cases, I learned a lot about what the brain does and does not do, and the ways in which it is both fragile and resilient.

El Pamplina reviewed El hombre que confundió a su mujer con un sombrero by Oliver Sacks

Amor por sus pacientes

5 stars

El doctor Sacks dedicó su vida a estudiar a personas con graves problemas neurológicos. Se podría pensar que una actividad así haría que viera a sus pacientes como especímenes, objetos de estudio a diseccionar. Nada más lejos de la realidad. Este libro está lleno de amor, amistad y empatía hacia todos sus pacientes. Los retrata describiendo sus patologías con tal delicadeza y calor humano, que llegamos a comprender (hasta el punto donde eso es posible) su visión del mundo y vivencias como si fueran nuestras. Un conjunto de relatos maravilloso; el testamento de un científico excepcional.