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A review by sctittle
On the Move: A Life by Oliver Sacks
3.0
Our bookclub choice for February. Strange, I keep seeing Oliver Sacks references everywhere I go, and in each of them there is the sense that this man is some kind of genius Santa Claus. But his autobiography paints a different picture, or rather draws it, without coloring in the lines. Here's what I learned: Oliver Sacks is/was a disorganized introvert. He was passionate about motorcycles, weight-lifting (!) swimming, and journal writing and, at one point in his life, dabbled extensively in every kind of drug. He wrote a variety of books on neurological oddities. He was fairly peripatetic, traveling back and forth from London to NYC to SF, to LA in some kind of random pattern. He had a schizophrenic brother. He was gay. He went 35 years without sex.
Here's what I gleaned from this book. Oliver Sacks does not like revealing too much about himself. He writes more beautifully in his journals and letters than in this autobiography, which quotes extensively from his personal writing. He may have been a manic depressive. He most certainly was a compassionate and endlessly curious person and his own twisty journey as a doctor is fascinating and idiosyncratic. Still, was just kind of meh about this book because it seemed to be more an autobiography of his life writing and researching books, AND it is rather disorganized and hard to follow. Two salient comments from my fellow clubbers: "He could have been his own patient." And "We would find out more about him if someone else wrote a biography."
Here's what I gleaned from this book. Oliver Sacks does not like revealing too much about himself. He writes more beautifully in his journals and letters than in this autobiography, which quotes extensively from his personal writing. He may have been a manic depressive. He most certainly was a compassionate and endlessly curious person and his own twisty journey as a doctor is fascinating and idiosyncratic. Still, was just kind of meh about this book because it seemed to be more an autobiography of his life writing and researching books, AND it is rather disorganized and hard to follow. Two salient comments from my fellow clubbers: "He could have been his own patient." And "We would find out more about him if someone else wrote a biography."