The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: and Other Clinical Tales

By: Oliver Sacks

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Oliver Sacks - introduction

Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

In his most extraordinary book, "one of the great clinical writers of the 20th century" (The New York Times) recounts the case histories of patients lost in the bizarre, apparently inescapable world of neurological disorders. Oliver Sacks' The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat tells the stories of individuals afflicted with fantastic perceptual and intellectual aberrations: patients who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people and common objects; who are stricken with violent tics and grimaces or who shout involuntary obscenities; whose limbs have become alien; who have been dismissed as retarded yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents.

If inconceivably strange, these brilliant tales remain, in Dr. Sacks' splendid and sympathetic telling, deeply human. They are studies of life struggling against incredible adversity, and they enable us to enter the world of the neurologically impaired, to imagine with our hearts what it must be to live and feel as they do. A great healer, Sacks never loses sight of medicine's ultimate responsibility: "the suffering, afflicted, fighting human subject".

PLEASE NOTE: Some changes have been made to the original manuscript with the permission of Oliver Sacks.

©1970, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985 Oliver Sacks (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Dr. Sacks's best book.... One sees a wise, compassionate and very literate mind at work in these 20 stories, nearly all remarkable, and many the kind that restore one's faith in humanity." ( Chicago Sun-Times)

"Dr. Sacks's most absorbing book.... His tales are so compelling that many of them serve as eerie metaphors not only for the condition of modern medicine but of modern man." ( New York magazine)

Learned a lot from this book

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Gave me a greater sense of sympathy for people in general because although the book was about fairly extreme clinical cases I think it is fair to say we all suffer some form of mental impairment in some areas. Personally have been trying to learn to play guitar for several years and probably made the same progress that most people will make in 2 years so although I am not a Lost Mariner my own brain is obviously not quite the perfect mechanism either.

Interesting Stories of the Human Mind

I loved the picture painted by the author in this book. The brain is capable of so many fascinating things and to see how it can change to protect itself or to support a lack of a sense or information is amazing. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in case studies on the human brain.

Amazing what can go on in the Human brain!

What did you love best about The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: and Other Clinical Tales?

Just the strangeness of what is possible in the human brain

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The memory loss of some of the people detailed in the book is very poignant.

Fascinating, but...

While his stories are very readable and entertaining, this degree of spirituality (or, indeed, any) from a clinician is, quite frankly, disturbing.

Harrowing and Humorous?

This was the book that started it all. The late great Oliver Sacks puts together a brilliant collection of anecdotes about his patients. Before I start, the only reservation I had was when I wondered whether his writing about his patients violated any codes of ethical conduct. Yes, the names are changed but I hope that Sacks sufficiently protected their identities.

Anyway, just to start with the title story--a brilliant music teacher who gradually loses the ability to discern the differences between human beings and objects or animals. What really struck me was how harrowing the disclosure was but also how the patient reconciled himself to his condition. And even more surprisingly, how his wife helped him cope with it by altering her conduct. The title comes from when the patient literally goes to put his wife onto his head at the end of the session with Sacks.

I came away from this book with both awe and sorrow. I was awed by how resilient people can be even when their brains inexplicably begin to misfire. But I was saddened by how random fate is. That of course is always the tragedy--as John Lennon put it "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." Many of these patients were busy making other plans when life got derailed by their bodies and their brains. Sacks beautifully and compassionately records their cases and I am certain that they were fortunate to have a doctor as wise and warm as they got.

Audible 20 Review Sweepstakes Entry

Fangirl ❤️

Been a fan of the book in print. An absolute collectible too as an audiobook. Great narration, even sounds like the late Robin Williams when he played Dr Oliver Sacks in Awakenings. I am truly happy to keep this one as a collection.

Fantastic writing about a difficult topic

Easier to enjoy at 1.5x speed. Glad I finally found this book. Illuminating for any reader!

Interesting but ...

I enjoyed this book. Interesting stories about real people with extra ordinary problems. But there was a bit more jargon that left this layman behind.

Interesting, yet dry narrative.

Struggled to finish this. The excellent narration kept me coming back. The anecdotes are interesting but a bit technical and dry.

A compilation of writer's patients.

Outdated for current read. would not recommend. Unless you're a professional doing research on