A review by sunn_bleach
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
challenging
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
3.0
Interesting but in a way I didn’t expect. This is very much a neurology book written in the early 80s, with all the language and paradigms that implies. The dead-serious use of the word “retarded” and unironic appeals to Freud and Luria are kind of shocking for 40+ years later. But I’m kind of struck at how much Sacks so obviously cared for his patients as people, not just case studies. That kind of narrative is important for humanizing the humans we treat.
Graphic: Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Chronic illness, and Medical content
Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Panic attacks/disorders