The Man who Mistook... I don’t even remember where this one came from, but it’s been on the endless list for quite some time. Perhaps it was the whimsical title that made me finally check it out. That and the book was available, instant gratification on the shelf, and I was hungrily out of reading material. In such desperate situations, there is no time to wait on the hold list.

Sure, I was desperate, but I was also immensely satisfied by this collection of clinical tales by Dr. Sacks, a professor of neurology and author of several other books, including Awakenings (which, yes, is also a good movie with Robin Williams). In this book, Sacks attempts to explain — at least in part — the unremarked-upon right side of the brain, which is often thought of as the more primitive side. Yet, “it is the right hemisphere which controls the crucial powers of recognizing reality which every living creature must have in order to survive.” Disorders of the right are incredibly difficult for the average person to imagine. After all, how would it be to live with:

  • The ability to hear perfectly, but not understand words
  • The ability to understand words, but not tone/inflection/meaning
  • The ability to see, but not process those images into faces/pictures (Hence the title story)
  • The ability to feel direct stimulation, but not make your own muscles move

In addition to describing what he knows about these patients’ fascinating worlds, Sacks also delves into both mental “deficits” and “excesses,” savantism, mental handicaps, seizure-stimulated reminiscence and more, all the while linking these stories to the common theme of the human experience. What is “functioning”? What is identity? Can we more flexibly define the first? Can we divine if and how various patients, with various challenges and odd inner worlds, hold onto the second?

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars – Book club selection