Hallucinations

By: Oliver Sacks

Narrated by: Dan Woren, Oliver Sacks

Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Hallucinations don’t belong wholly to the insane. Much more commonly, they are linked to sensory deprivation, intoxication, illness, or injury. Here Dr. Sacks weaves together stories of his patients and of his own mind-altering experiences to illuminate what hallucinations tell us about the organization and structure of our brains, how they have influenced every culture’s folklore and art, and why the potential for hallucination is present in us all.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:

American Academy of Neurology: Excerpt from “Anton’s Syndrome Accompanying Withdrawal Hallucinosis in a Blind Alcoholic” by Barbara E. Swartz and John C. M. Brust from Neurology 34 (1984). Reprinted by permission of the American Academy of Neurology as administered by Wolters Kluwer Health Medical Research.

American Psychiatric Publishing: Excerpt from “Weir Mitchell’s Visual Hallucinations as a Grief Reaction” by Jerome S. Schneck, M.D., from American Journal of Psychiatry (1989). © 1989 by American Journal of Psychiatry. Reprinted by permission of American Psychiatric Publishing a division of American Psychiatric Association.

BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.: Excerpt from “Heautoscopy, Epilepsy and Suicide” by P. Brugger, R. Agosti, M. Regard, H. G. Wieser and T. Landis from Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, July 1, 1994. Reprinted by permission of BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. as administered by the Copyright Clearance Center.

Cambridge University Press: Excerpts from Disturbances of the Mind by Douwe Draaisma, translated by Barbara Fasting. © 2006 by Douwe Draaisma. Reprinted by permission of Cambridge University Press.

Canadian Psychological Association: Excerpt from “Effects of Decreased Variation of the Sensory Environment” by W. H. Bexton, W. Heron and T. H. Scott from Canadian Psychology (1954). © 1954 by Canadian Psychological Association. 

Excerpt from “Perceptual Changes after Prolonged Sensory Isolation (Darkness and Silence)” by John P. Zubek, Dolores Pushkar, Wilma Sansom and J. Gowing from Canadian Psychology (1961). © 1961 by Canadian Psychological Association. Reprinted by permission of Canadian Psychological Association.

Elsevier Limited: Excerpt from “Migraine: From Cappadocia to Queen Square” in Background to Migraine, edited by Robert Smith (London: William Heinemann, 1967). Reprinted by permission of Elsevier Limited.

The New York Times: Excerpts from “Lifting, Lights, and Little People” by Siri Hustvedt from The New York Times Blog, February 17, 2008. Reprinted by permission of The New York Times as administered by PARS International Corp.

Oxford University Press: Excerpt from “Dostoiewski’s Epilepsy” by T. Alajouanine from Brain, June 1, 1963. Reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press as administered by Copyright Clearance Center.

Royal College of Psychiatrists: Excerpt from “Sudden Religious Conversion in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy” by Kenneth Dewhurst and A. W. Beard from British Journal of Psychiatry 117 (1970). Reprinted by permission of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Scientific American: Excerpt from “Abducted!” by Michael Shermer from Scientifi c American 292 (2005). © 2005 by Scientifi c American, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Scientific American.

Vintage Books: Excerpts from Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov, © 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1967, copyright renewed 1994 by the Estate of Vladimir Nabokov. Used by permission of Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

©2012 Oliver Sacks (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Fascinating…Dr. Sacks’s compassion for his patients and philosophical outlook transform what might have been clinical case studies into humanely written short stories that illuminate the complexities of the human brain and the mysteries of the human mind." (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times Top Ten of the Year)

“Oliver Sacks is my hero, so any book he publishes is a book of the year for me…His book explores not only his own experiences but a wide variety of conditions that can cause patients to see things that aren't there, and his writing is characterized by a mix of close-focus scientific scrutiny and broad human sympathy.” (Hilary Mantel, Wall Street Journal Favorites of 2012)

Not Just Hallucinations

Sacks sheds light on what's current in many conditions on "the spectrum" of various conditions - autism, migraine, schizophrenia, hoarding. I liked that the chapters were organized into various dysfunctions and malfunctions, and not all syndromes that are described (in anecdotal form) actually cause what we have come to know as typical hallucinations; his definition is quite broad.

I learned to be not so fearful of my ocular migraines, and that they are a virtual line drawing of an electrical arc as it passes through the brain.

Sacks does not narrate - well, only for short introductory passages - due to his ocular melanoma which has affected his vision. I'm not a doc and this is only what I have read.

This is a book I plan to re-read soon.

Sacks at his best, why couldn't he narrate?

Sensitive, compassionate and interesting case studies, with a sprinkling of autobiography. As always, Sacks writes at a level that is interesting to this neuroscientist, without being too jargon-y for my sweetie, who also loved the book. Major drawback is the narrator. At least Dan Woren can pronounce all the brain structures correctly (thank goodness) -- but Sacks' voice doesn't really get translated in the flat performance. We get a tease of Sacks' fantastic reading of the introduction, so we know what could have been with appropriate narration. As the title suggests,the book is an exploration of hallucination - seen, heard, smelled and felt through avenues involuntary (associated with some neuropathology), or voluntary (drug induced). Hallucinations is historical, witty, and scholarly without being dispassionate or boring. Well worth a credit.

Annoying voice

The stories are awesome. However, the narrator whistles his S's which was extremely distracting for me. Sorry if my observation ruins it for anyone else.

Ruined by narrator imitating voices

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator vocally characterizes when reading quotes from personal accounts, often bordering on cartoon-ish. His higher-pitched soft-voiced imitations of women are particularly distracting, and inconsistent to boot.

People do not sound like cartoon characters in real life, why should they in a non-fiction audio book?
Bad buy. Switching to kindle version.

Awful Accents

The reader insists on using accents for any quote. He even does a high pitched voice for women. At its best it's bad, at its worst it's offensive. Someone somewhere should have intervened. Otherwise the performance is great.

story great, but audio quality hard to get through

the sibilence of his voice for most of the book is jarring and and made it hard to listen to. that said, one of my favorite books.

enlightening.

Would you consider the audio edition of Hallucinations to be better than the print version?

I listen to audio books while commuting. I feel then that the drive is not a down time.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Hallucinations?

Validates the person having the hallucination really believing that this is truth to them and the challenge for those not having the hallucination dealing with that person.

What does Dan Woren and Oliver Sacks bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The amazing brain and all that the brain can do to us.

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

I laughed and cried. I have worked for years in an emergency room and I have had to deal with people hallucinating

Any additional comments?

Good listen

Not his best work

Unlike his earlier concise and vivid case histories of Sacks' earlier works, Hallucinations contains a great deal of "by the numbers" descriptions of different kinds of hallucinations, syndrome by syndrome. I was disheartened by his explanation of spiritual insights and visions as another form of hallucination, dismissing millennia of human experience as having merely physical origins.

Some might find the author's story of his own experimentation with hallucinogenic drugs of interest, though to me it was more a story of a man's tendency towards addictive behavior than an insight into the way the brain works.

The narrator attempted to replicate a number of accents and male and female voices, some of which were more successful than others. His attempt at an Australian accent was particularly and inadvertently humorous, learning towards an Outback Steakhouse caricature.

Hallucinations an excellent read / listen

Love Oliver Sacks style of writing and his observations on Everything Neurological. The star removed from performance is only because when reading his work, I hear his own voice in my head whereas being read to, this is not possible. That said, this book accompanied me on a few long winter runs and kept me very entertained.

Oliver Sacks writes another great one

Would you consider the audio edition of Hallucinations to be better than the print version?

It is nice to hear the author in the beginning; I wish he read all his books.

Any additional comments?

This book brings up an important facet of the human experience and helps to put it in context. Oliver Sacks delivers another great one.