An Anthropologist On Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales

Knopf

Seven case histories of subjects with neurological disorders.

One of the tales, The Last Hippie discusses the case of a blind amnesiac whom Sacks takes to a Grateful Dead show in 1991.

"As with his previous bestseller, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, in An Anthropologist on Mars Oliver Sacks uses case studies to illustrate the myriad ways in which neurological conditions can affect our sense of self, our experience of the world, and how we relate to those around us. Writing with his trademark blend of scientific rigour and human compassion, he describes patients such as the colour-blind painter or the surgeon with compulsive tics that disappear in the operating theatre; patients for whom disorientation and alienation - but also adaptation - are inescapable facts of life."