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Hallucinations
- Narrated by: Dan Woren, Oliver Sacks
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
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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.
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)
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What listeners say about Hallucinations
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Pamela Harvey
- 01-05-13
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.
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51 people found this helpful
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- Alison
- 11-08-12
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.
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26 people found this helpful
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- Casey Jones
- 06-15-16
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.
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16 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-27-12
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.
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14 people found this helpful
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- Andrew G
- 08-27-17
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.
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13 people found this helpful
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- Christopher Bell
- 06-08-16
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.
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7 people found this helpful
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- marjorie
- 11-15-12
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
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7 people found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 11-12-12
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.
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5 people found this helpful
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- ct
- 02-13-16
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.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Kimberly
- 05-02-13
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.
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The Mind's Eye
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Oliver Sacks, Richard Davidson
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
An exploration of vision through the case histories of six individuals - including a renowned pianist who continues to give concerts despite losing the ability to read the score, and a neurobiologist born with crossed eyes who, late in life, suddenly acquires binocular vision, and how her brain adapts to that new skill.
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Same ole Sacks--great yarns as usual.
- By Rlelli07 on 10-26-10
By: Oliver Sacks
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Everything in Its Place
- First Loves and Last Tales
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From the best-selling author of Gratitude and On the Move, a final volume of essays that showcase Sacks's broad range of interests - from his passion for ferns, swimming, and horsetails, to his final case histories exploring schizophrenia, dementia, and Alzheimer's.
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Missing Sacks
- By Brandy on 12-02-19
By: Oliver Sacks
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Gratitude
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
No writer has succeeded in capturing the medical and human drama of illness as honestly and as eloquently as Oliver Sacks. During the last few months of his life, he wrote a set of essays in which he movingly explored his feelings about completing a life and coming to terms with his own death.
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To the Point, Yet Told From the Heart
- By LJT on 01-18-16
By: Oliver Sacks
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Awakenings
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Oliver Sacks
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Awakenings - which inspired the major motion picture - is the remarkable story of a group of patients who contracted sleeping sickness during the great epidemic just after World War I. Frozen for decades in a trance-like state, these men and women were given up as hopeless until 1969, when Dr. Oliver Sacks gave them the then-new drug L-DOPA, which had an astonishing, explosive, "awakening" effect. Dr. Sacks recounts the moving case histories of his patients, their lives, and their extraordinary transformations.
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Absolute classic!
- By Douglas on 09-01-12
By: Oliver Sacks
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An Anthropologist on Mars
- Seven Paradoxical Tales
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Oliver Sacks
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
To these seven narratives of neurological disorder Dr. Sacks brings the same humanity, poetic observation, and infectious sense of wonder that are apparent in his bestsellers Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. These men, women, and one extraordinary child emerge as brilliantly adaptive personalities, whose conditions have not so much debilitated them as ushered them into another reality.
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SACKS IS AN ABSOLUTE JOY !!
- By Jeff on 09-22-13
By: Oliver Sacks
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The River of Consciousness
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Dan Woren, Kate Edgar
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A collection of essays that displays Oliver Sacks' passionate engagement with the most compelling and seminal ideas of human endeavor: evolution, creativity, memory, time, consciousness, and experience. The River of Consciousness is one of two books Sacks was working on up to his death, and it reveals his ability to make unexpected connections, his sheer joy in knowledge, and his unceasing, timeless project to understand what makes us human.
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Important but Less Interesting
- By Michael on 11-16-17
By: Oliver Sacks
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The Mind's Eye
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Oliver Sacks, Richard Davidson
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An exploration of vision through the case histories of six individuals - including a renowned pianist who continues to give concerts despite losing the ability to read the score, and a neurobiologist born with crossed eyes who, late in life, suddenly acquires binocular vision, and how her brain adapts to that new skill.
-
-
Same ole Sacks--great yarns as usual.
- By Rlelli07 on 10-26-10
By: Oliver Sacks
-
Everything in Its Place
- First Loves and Last Tales
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of Gratitude and On the Move, a final volume of essays that showcase Sacks's broad range of interests - from his passion for ferns, swimming, and horsetails, to his final case histories exploring schizophrenia, dementia, and Alzheimer's.
-
-
Missing Sacks
- By Brandy on 12-02-19
By: Oliver Sacks
-
Gratitude
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No writer has succeeded in capturing the medical and human drama of illness as honestly and as eloquently as Oliver Sacks. During the last few months of his life, he wrote a set of essays in which he movingly explored his feelings about completing a life and coming to terms with his own death.
-
-
To the Point, Yet Told From the Heart
- By LJT on 01-18-16
By: Oliver Sacks
-
Awakenings
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Oliver Sacks
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Awakenings - which inspired the major motion picture - is the remarkable story of a group of patients who contracted sleeping sickness during the great epidemic just after World War I. Frozen for decades in a trance-like state, these men and women were given up as hopeless until 1969, when Dr. Oliver Sacks gave them the then-new drug L-DOPA, which had an astonishing, explosive, "awakening" effect. Dr. Sacks recounts the moving case histories of his patients, their lives, and their extraordinary transformations.
-
-
Absolute classic!
- By Douglas on 09-01-12
By: Oliver Sacks
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Migraine
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Dr. Oliver Sacks argues the migraine cannot be understood simply as an illness, but must be viewed as a complex condition with a unique role to play in each individual's life.
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Why is this an audio book?
- By BW724 on 06-25-19
By: Oliver Sacks
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Musicophilia
- Tales of Music and the Brain
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Music can move us to the heights or depths of emotion. It can persuade us to buy something, or remind us of our first date. It can lift us out of depression when nothing else can. It can get us dancing to its beat. But the power of music goes much, much further. Indeed, music occupies more areas of our brain than language does - humans are a musical species.
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The Best Of Sacks...
- By Douglas on 11-23-12
By: Oliver Sacks
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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
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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.
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I rarely stop reading a book halfway through...
- By Rusty on 09-04-15
By: Oliver Sacks
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Uncle Tungsten
- Memories of a Chemical Boyhood
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Long before Oliver Sacks became a distinguished neurologist and best-selling writer, he was a small English boy fascinated by metals - also by chemical reactions (the louder and smellier the better), photography, squids and cuttlefish, H.G. Wells, and the periodic table. In this endlessly charming and eloquent memoir, the he chronicles his love affair with science and the magnificently odd and sometimes harrowing childhood in which that love affair unfolded.
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The curious child
- By Jean on 09-13-16
By: Oliver Sacks
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On the Move
- A Life
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From its opening minutes on his youthful obsession with motorcycles and speed, On the Move is infused with his restless energy. As he recounts his experiences as a young neurologist in the early 1960s, first in California, where he struggled with drug addiction, and then in New York, where he discovered a long-forgotten illness in the back wards of a chronic hospital, we see how his engagement with patients comes to define his life.
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His Own Life
- By