Neurologist and Author Oliver Sacks Dead at 82 31
Physician, writer and humanist Oliver Sacks has died of cancer at age 82. Sacks was famous for "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat" and other books, including his account in "Awakenings" (later made into a well-recieved film) of administering treatment which resulted in several patients emerging from their comas. The Guardian reports: When he revealed that he had terminal cancer, Sacks quoted one of his favourite philosophers, David Hume. On discovering that he was mortally ill at 65, Hume wrote: “I now reckon upon a speedy dissolution. I have suffered very little pain from my disorder; and what is more strange, have, notwithstanding the great decline of my person, never suffered a moment’s abatement of my spirits. I possess the same ardour as ever in study, and the same gaiety in company.
“I am ... a man of mild dispositions, of command of temper, of an open, social, and cheerful humour, capable of attachment, but little susceptible of enmity, and of great moderation in all my passions.”
Re:Thanks for your life (Score:5, Insightful)
It only took 82 years and a hell of a lot of drugs (most of them admittedly taken early in life).
We're gonna miss you, man. The World Science Festival was always better for your presence, that's for sure, and that's how I got the most direct exposure to you.
RIP Oliver Sacks (Score:5, Informative)
I mistook my sock for a wife once.
Seriously though, the dude wrote some great stuff on human perception of music and the brain's processing of musical information.
http://www.oliversacks.com/boo... [oliversacks.com]
Plus, he was kind of a badass:
https://rhystranter.files.word... [wordpress.com]
http://media.jrn.com/images/b9... [jrn.com]
It's sad when one of these bright lights goes out.
Re:RIP Oliver Sacks (Score:5, Informative)
There is also a great RadioLab podcast about Dr. Sacks. He was a regular contributor to the show, and they offered a farewell remembrance of/to him this past spring. The remembrance is the last half of the podcast and starts at about 31:34 if you want to skip to that.
http://www.radiolab.org/story/... [radiolab.org]
Your continued contributions to the world will be greatly missed by all who knew you, and those of us who had only heard you. Rest well, good sir.
Sad (Score:5, Funny)
Let us all doff our wives as a mark of respect.
Err... yeah, that comes out sounding worse than I meant it to.
Re: (Score:2)
The world doesn't revolve around you, buttercup.
mom (Score:1)
my mom loved oliver sacks, had all his books. she was 78, came down with cervical cancer probably around the time he got his cancer, and died at the end of june. sad parallels. I will read his autobiography that she had.
Won't See His Kind Again (Score:5, Interesting)
I read "Uncle Tungsten" recently and was enthralled. His childhood adventures are completely impossible in today's collective cultural nervous breakdown. As a result, intellects such as his, with concomitant advances in knowledge, are smothered. We are doomed to suffocating stagnation.
Uncle Tungsten was great (Score:1)
If you love chemistry, especially amateur garage chemistry, you would love that book. A top notch bio of Oliver as a youngster.
http://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Tungsten-Memories-Chemical-Boyhood/dp/0375704043
Piece of my mind (Score:3)
That's too bad -- I wanted to give him a piece of my mind.
Hume then added... (Score:2)
"Further, I am not given to drink, despite the scurrilous claims of those criminal Australians."
RIP (Score:4, Informative)
If you browse around you'll find substantial criticisms of his work by his colleagues. I for one was quite surprise about it for I did not see in his books any disrespect to his patients [one of the accusations] nor did I detect that he had twisted the stories or made them Hollywood-style to sell more [another accusation]. SO I don't know.....
What I do know is that his books opened a world for me so fascinating [and at the same time terrifying] that it changed my general perception about neurophysiology and the many bizarre illnesses that can suddenly manifest themselves due to dysfunction of a few hundred nerve cells. It also thought me compassion and understanding of people like this. For instance I used to look at Turrets as "crazy people", shy away from them, even be scared of them....not any more. I understand now and understanding heals fear and distrusts [and disgusts].
Moreover, it was simply unbelievably interesting to learn about those illnesses and people. Some of the stories made me think about profound philosophy questions. Like the one about the lady without a sense of body, the first recorded by medicine "zombi". And yes, she started doubting her own existence [the question here being can you have a sense of self if you are just a thought without a "carrier"].
Or that incredibly funny and insightful story about the patients that have no concept of words and speech while being so attuned to body language, melody of the speech and so on that many people would think they are mute, but understand everything you say to them. The story is about those people listening to president Regan's speech and how they laugh their asses off [probably] because they sense the discrepancy between his body language and the melody, tone and so on of his speech. In the same ward there were patients with the exact opposite issue - they understand only pure sense in speech, so tone, inflection, exaggeration, slang and so on - all of it is lost in them. One such patient said [for Regan] - "he is either sick or he is lying. he does not speak good prose; he does not make sense". So the conclusion was that so good was the speech as a combination between words and the rest of human expression that everyone got fooled except people who are not susceptible to one of those aspects [words or everything else]. Only the ill could see through him, us "normal" people were thoroughly deceived....brilliant!
Amazing Man (Score:3, Interesting)
I was so sad to hear of his passing, though not unexpected, and while he led a full life, we still lost him too early.
While at the University of Texas at Austin (c. 2000), my then girlfriend, now wife and I went to see him speak in the largest lecture hall (in Welch). We arrived about an hour early, and found to our surprise, all of our smartest friends already in attendance. None of us had coordinated with the others, and while from a wide range of majors (EE, Comp Sci, Biology, Psyc.) we just showed up, early. Be the end people were piled in every conceivable walkway, door way, broom closet, and well out into the halls to hear Dr. Sacks speak. His books are wonderful, but this was a fantastic experience that I will never forget.
Awakenings Documentary (Score:1)
After recently hearing Oliver Sacks' appearance on Radiolab where his terminal condition was mentioned, I was reminded of a talk he gave while I was at Cornell. He showed a documentary of his work with the real "Awakenings" encephalitis lethargica patients in the Bronx. Apparently, the film had become locked into some copyright morass and could not be distributed; he only showed it in person. Hopefully, it will be released some day.
Very sad (Score:2)
Oliver Sacks was truly one-of-a-kind, and the world is a poorer place without him in it. :(
Disconcerting coincidence... (Score:1)
... my GF and I were watching Awakenings last night.