The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: by Oliver Sacks | Key Takeaways, Analysis & Review

In addition to being an experienced patient narrative author, Sacks also contributed numerous articles about neurology and the brain to various major publications, such as the New York Times and the New Yorker, as well as a number of scientific journals over the years.

wrote more than a dozen books in his lifetime, some of which he references in this collection of narratives. Sacks died of cancer August 30, 2015.

The book’s four sections each cover a different category of neurological pathology, including losses, excesses, reminiscence, and those with neurocognitive disorders.

Within each section are several chapters, each of which deals with one central narrative and/or several smaller narratives. These narratives come from both Sacks’ experiences and the experiences of other physicians and neurologists that have been documented in other books that Sacks references.

Sacks is able to illuminate neurological pathology in a completely different way than how those diseases are traditionally explained in scientific texts.

Using narrative form instead of scientific jargon also makes these patients’ lives and their diseases more accessible to the average reader.

Evaluations of the mentally ill tend to only seek out deficits and problems rather than powers and benefits, whether those abilities are granted by the ailment or overshadowed by it. Scientists, doctors, patients, and their families should pay attention to more than just the defects in patients.

Analysis

Neurological evaluations namely focus on deficits, defects, and abnormalities with a negative connotation, while less is focused on powers, abilities, and positive abnormalities.

All patient’s brains, DNA, and personalities are different and will respond in varying ways to commonly prescribed treatments.

Sometimes this is mechanical intelligence, such as memorizing large amounts of facts, but it could also be demonstrations of artistry, humor, imagination, and other forms of creativity.