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)

Mesmerizing Appreciation

Wow, this book opened my mind to the hidden super strengths of the brain. The brain is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

RIP Oliver Sacks, you wonderful explorer.

I suppose was fascinating 40 or 50 years ago...

I suppose was fascinating 40 or 50 years ago... Now seems outdated and lacking new info

increased appreciation for the human condition

the first half of the book i found really intriguing but the latter part with its generally shorter patient stories lacked the depth and lacked the wonder - although this probably is an inevitable result of the patients themselves. I'd still recommend this book to everyone, since it's a good piece of literature from the 80s' perspective and widens the understanding of human mind, at least to a layman such as myself

Interesting, but heavy, and stop saying "moron"!

Would you recommend The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: and Other Clinical Tales to your friends? Why or why not?

This is one of those audiobooks where they let the author read the prologue. Then you can appreciate why it is they hire readers. Even with a talented reader the rest of the book, Sacks clearly likes lots of long complex sentences and big words and enjoys saying opposing things in the same sentence A LOT. If I had a paper copy here I could look for an example. It is that constant modifying of what you just said that makes everything the guy says more complicated than necessary. But still I enjoy this sort of case study and I found the book interesting. I think I would have found it more appealing overall if he modified his word choices a bit more. He talks a lot about people with developmental disabilities (not that he uses this term) but I have to cringe every time he says idiot, simpleton, moron, etc. I did not like the tale of Dr P., the Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat very much. Dr. P. creeped me out. At various points Sacks questions whether various people seem to still have their souls though I don’t think he mentioned it in this chapter but this guy really didn’t seem human to me. Was amazing to think damage to the visual parts of the brain could have this result. It made me mad (weird I know) to think that you could lose not only your ability to correctly perceive visual things, but that that also means you would lose the visual portion to memories. A lot of the book deals with memory. I was very interested to learn more about the two kinds of amnesia. Retrograde amnesia (the loss of pre-existing memories to conscious recollection) is what those of us who watched soaps as kids are familiar with. To me this is what “amnesia” means. But the book deals with anterograde amnesia (the loss of long-term memory, the loss or impairment of the ability to form new memories through memorization) a lot. Retrograde amnesia is horrible. There is a man with anterograde amnesia in this book. I found this part fascinating. It was scary to learn that this condition can be caused by alcoholism as it apparently was with this guy. That is almost enough to make a person give up Pinot Noir. Anyway, a lot of these people’s stories are sad – of course we are dealing mostly with people in institutions so that is to be expected. I thought the story about the “simple” twins with the math powers was especially sad..I was interested in the story about the woman who lost her proprioceptive sense. It was interesting since until my son started OT I didn't even know people had a proprioceptive sense. And who knew you could actually lose it! I should mention too that I don’t recall Sacks himself doing anything amazing in these cases. Obviously this is the guy from Awakenings and that was amazing, but in a lot of cases he doesn't do anything anybody wouldn't do. Someone says they aren't leaning, he pulls out a mirror so they can see they are. Well, I could have done that. Or if a patient says they can’t use their hands leave their breakfast out of reach. Really? This did the trick? In all that person’s life nothing was ever out of reach? Still it’s an interesting book, even if it’s overly intellectual style made me want to go from that to the dumbest book I could find

Fascinating stories

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Oliver describes his case studies, patients who have odd neurological disorders, so intricately. While reading these case studoes, found ways to which I could relate and can have better understanding of others. The brain is an amazing organ, and never before had I truly understood the importance of all its functions. Thank you.

interesting dive into the study of mental illness

I hadn't heard of most of these illnesses before. the rabbit hole was a quality one. the human brain is really Weird and this is a nice intro to its weirdness

May this be a harbinger of understanding.

In addition to being rivetingly interesting, this book weaves a labyrinthine path through the minefield of insults that society has hurled at such gifted individuals and pits into which we have left them. All the more complex in that the author manages to uncover the full picture without avoiding the so deemed "deficiencies" in order to present an unquestionable adjudication of the beauty, worth and deep humanity of such persons. May this book be a harbinger of how humanity understands uniquely gifted persons, relates with them, and enjoys spending time with them. For mere humans, the requisite medical terminology and even more so the concepts, may at times cause literary speed bumps or hurdles that must be circumambulated. Mere humans will sit in awe as super humans dance across the pages. And if you are like me - a person who has lived with the pallor of a "sub-human" self-declaration, you may find yourself looking in the mirror of these pages and finding hope.

An insight to the forgotten

Great perspective on how people with disabilities experience the world. The book will grab you and keep you fascinated in the studies. Exciting read.

Not your ordinary story book

Very well read - interesting subject matter - really enjoyed. Will listen to it again and again - worth its price, but not for just anyone.

Started out strong

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Only the first half of it.

What was most disappointing about Oliver Sacks’s story?

The first half of this book was so interesting. It always amazing me what can go wrong with the human body. But about mid-way through it just became repetitive and I felt like "you've heard one neurological study you've heard them all".