palliem's review against another edition
3.0
I am, apparently, fascinated by neurobiology. Sack's research into hallucinations was well-written and relied heavily on accounts of those who experienced the myriad of events he writes about, so despite a good deal if scientific vocabulary, I was able to wade trough the book relatively easily. This book was engaging and utterly fascinating.
daredeviling's review
2.0
I was entirely disappointed with this book, which is unfortunate because I've read Oliver Sacks before when I was in high school and I found him incredibly engaging. In Hallucinations, though, I didn't felt drawn into any of the clinical cases he discussed at all, and the neuroscience wasn't well explained, or rather, it wasn't well explained in a way where I felt like I wanted to know more or where I was intrigued. Mostly, I was just bored.
There were a couple good chapters I guess ("good" being kind of comparative to the rest of the book), which is why I didn't give this one star, but what I really didn't like about this book was the really long chapter dedicated to Dr. Sacks giving his autobiographical account of his own hallucinations while experimenting with all sorts of drugs when he was younger. He also talked about his own medical hallucinations, which was better, but I just felt like he spent way too much time on his time in the 70s doing drugs and how all that went. That whole bit could have definitely been shortened.
Overall, this book just described random hallucinations through pages and pages and then didn't give information about the causes in an engaging manner, which was unfortunate because as I said earlier, my experience with Dr. Sacks' previous literature has been great.
There were a couple good chapters I guess ("good" being kind of comparative to the rest of the book), which is why I didn't give this one star, but what I really didn't like about this book was the really long chapter dedicated to Dr. Sacks giving his autobiographical account of his own hallucinations while experimenting with all sorts of drugs when he was younger. He also talked about his own medical hallucinations, which was better, but I just felt like he spent way too much time on his time in the 70s doing drugs and how all that went. That whole bit could have definitely been shortened.
Overall, this book just described random hallucinations through pages and pages and then didn't give information about the causes in an engaging manner, which was unfortunate because as I said earlier, my experience with Dr. Sacks' previous literature has been great.
pema66's review against another edition
2.0
"The Man who mistook his wife for a Hat " is one of my all time favourites, so I was looking forward to a new Sacks. I was terribly disappointed, there is nothing new here, and it is written in a dry style with not enough case histories.
discoveringpeace's review against another edition
5.0
Utterly fascinating! It took me forever to read - I ran laps round the bibliography, diving deeper, learning more. I was surprised to learn how many everyday, mundane experiences are considered hallucinations; it's terrifying how... ordinary(!) and commonsense hallucinations can be, yet how often the stigma attached leads to misdiagnosis and trauma. Definitely a book I'll need to purchase and revisit.
hanazet's review against another edition
5.0
Neurológ Oliver Sacks sa pozrel na fenomén, o ktorom sa tí, čo sa s ním stretávajú, boja hovoriť. Ak poviete, že vidíte nejakých ľudí či rôzne predmety a vzory tam, kde nemajú čo robiť, prípadne že počujete hlasy, asi si rovno môžete vypísať žiadanku na hospitalizáciu na uzavretom oddelení. Presne takto sa to neraz skončilo, ako upozorňuje Sacks. Čudovali by ste sa však, ako často sa ľudia, úplne normálni a príčetní, s halucináciami stretávajú. Mozog sa s nami jednoducho pohráva.
V jednotlivých častiach nás Oliver Sacks zoznámi so situáciami a stavmi, v ktorých k halucináciám dochádza. Cez príbehy pacientov, ktorí sa mu zdôverili so svojimi zážitkami, ale aj cez vlastné skúsenosti priblíži, prečo tieto halucinácie vznikajú a ako sa prejavujú. Nevyhol sa ani téme psychotropných látok, kde opísal vlastné experimenty, ktoré vyústili do pomerne slušnej závislosti.
Táto kniha je fascinujúca, zaujímavá od prvej po poslednú stranu a otvorí vám dvere do sveta, o ktorom asi väčšina z nás netušila. Je úžasné, že sa o tejto téme rozhodol autor hovoriť a príblížiť ju verejnosti. Myslím si, že mnohým ľuďom sa uľaví a budú mať pochopenie, ak sa im raz príbuzný či priateľ zdôverí s nezbyčajným zážitkom. Namiesto toho, aby v tom hľadali posolstvo z druhého sveta, budú vedieť, že to je len výstrelok celkom pozemského mozgu.
V jednotlivých častiach nás Oliver Sacks zoznámi so situáciami a stavmi, v ktorých k halucináciám dochádza. Cez príbehy pacientov, ktorí sa mu zdôverili so svojimi zážitkami, ale aj cez vlastné skúsenosti priblíži, prečo tieto halucinácie vznikajú a ako sa prejavujú. Nevyhol sa ani téme psychotropných látok, kde opísal vlastné experimenty, ktoré vyústili do pomerne slušnej závislosti.
Táto kniha je fascinujúca, zaujímavá od prvej po poslednú stranu a otvorí vám dvere do sveta, o ktorom asi väčšina z nás netušila. Je úžasné, že sa o tejto téme rozhodol autor hovoriť a príblížiť ju verejnosti. Myslím si, že mnohým ľuďom sa uľaví a budú mať pochopenie, ak sa im raz príbuzný či priateľ zdôverí s nezbyčajným zážitkom. Namiesto toho, aby v tom hľadali posolstvo z druhého sveta, budú vedieť, že to je len výstrelok celkom pozemského mozgu.
acidicgoddess's review against another edition
I decided to pick this book up because one of my professors recommended it and I had previously enjoyed Oliver Sacks’ The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. I was expecting this book to read the same as his other book, but it read more like an introduction in a research proposal where he lists all the different research relevant to the one he’s conducting. If you aren’t already familiar with perception and the functions of the brain, this will read as nonsensical to you. It’s an interesting book, but it’s heavy in information and difficult to understand.
reibee's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
so interesting and very nerdy of me to read in my free time
elizafiedler's review against another edition
4.0
Good, but I wish the book went beyond a (very comprehensive) list of kinds and sources of hallucinations. This is my second Sacks book, and I much prefer the first one I read: The Mind's Eye delves deeper into the mysterious and the things we still don't know about perception.