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An Anthropologist on Mars  By  cover art

An Anthropologist on Mars

By: Oliver Sacks
Narrated by: Jonathan Davis,Oliver Sacks
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Publisher's Summary

As with his previous best seller, 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.

©2018 Oliver Sacks (P)2011 Audible, Inc

Critic Reviews

"An inexhaustible tourist at the farther reaches of the mind, Sacks presents, in sparse, unsentimental prose, the stories of seven of his patients. The result is as rich, vivid and compelling as any collection of short fictional stories." (Independent on Sunday)

What listeners say about An Anthropologist on Mars

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Entertaining read

The performance was perhaps a little too melodramatic in it’s presentation, but the content is really satisfying and very enriching to listen to.

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  • Chris
  • 06-02-19

The genius of Oliver Sacks

Case series punctuated by intimate, delicate philosophy by the genius of Dr Sacks. Well narrated but Mr Davis' native US American and fake Italian accents definitely break the enchantment.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 10-25-22

A wonderfully positive spin on Psychopathology

Sacks takes an idiographic and holistic approach to these case studies, and provides the listener with a rich, qualitative analysis of the patient's lives, focusing on how they've adapted in light of their condition, and use it to better themselves.

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  • David
  • 01-05-23

Best book I have listened to in a long time

Very interesting stories about how very different and very interesting people can be. Temple Grandin is the standout (watch the Temple Grandin movie first)

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  • Jack
  • 02-13-19

A wonderful painting of atypical genius

A marvellous recount of miraculous people overcoming extraordinary challenges. Told in Sacks classic, magically descriptive style.