# 18  

Oliver Sacks: “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat”     
And Other Clinical Tales

Monday –1:00 P.M.                                   1st  7 weeks
Coordinator—Phyllis Gordon                   Co-coordinator-Roberta Madison

Course Description
In this SDG , we shall explore the works of world famous neurologist. Dr. Oliver Sacks. Our core book, the renowned “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat” but members are encouraged to read some of Dr. Sack’s many other books (bibliography to follow). Dr.Sacks is as well known for his writing as for his science. People with neurological disabilities, mainly due to strokes, seizures, inflammation, and other injuries to the brain write to him from all over the world, many of whom he actually visits. .He then writes seriously, compassionately, knowledgeably, and sometimes even humorously about these various afflictions: people who lose color vision, or recently blind people who don’t realize they are blind; people who feel their limbs do not belong to them, or who don’t feel their limbs at all; people who have lost their speech or who no longer understand words; people who hear music in their heads non—stop, and as in the core book, can’t recognize a face as a face. Dr. Sacks even talks about his own neurological problems. In his stories, as well as in the movies made from his books, names and places may be fictionalized, but the case studies are true. There are 22 stories in the core book, which will be divided among the members of this SDG. The stories themselves are divided into 4 main themes: LOSSES( 9 stories),EXCESSES(5 stories),TRANSPORTS( 6 stories), and the WORLD OF THE SIMPLE(4 stories). As a 7 week course, there will be two presenters a day. Discussion will focus on both the literary aspects of Dr. Sacks’ writing and the medical and psycho—social aspects of the human condition .We’ll also  learn about the brain, and what parts of it may be responsible for these strange neurological disorders.

Bibliography of other books by Oliver Sacks
Migraine
Awakenings
A leg to stand on
Seeing voices
An anthropologist on Mars
The island of the colorblind
Uncle Tungsten
Musicophilia
Oaxaca journal
The mind’s eye
Pre Meeting: Wednesday, December 14, 1:00 P.M.