The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
And Other Clinical Tales
by Oliver Sacks · first published 1980
79% recommend21% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Case studies of patients with strange brain injuries and disorders, told from a neurologist's view in humane, engaging prose. Suits curious general readers new to neuroscience.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
In his most extraordinary book, “one of the great clinical writers of the twentieth century” (The New York Times) recounts the case histories of patients lost in the bizarre, apparently inescapable world of neurological disorders. Oliver Sacks’s 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
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Wow, incredible. If anyone interested in learning more about these types of situations, I recommend "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" by Oliver Sacks: http://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Mistook-His-Wife/dp/0684853949 Incredible collection of stories like this one, from the point-of-view of a neurologist.
on “Woman earns college degree two decades after complete memory loss” ↗Not just language - object recognition too - visual aphasia is a thing too. The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks is a great book on the topic. Anecdotally, I've had it (visual aphasia), in a severely dehydrated state (vomiting for a week in 40 degree heat is no joke), I couldn't identify objects…
on “Aphasia robs people of their language skills while leaving their minds intact” ↗…Admissions by Henry Marsh - An experienced neurosurgeon's account of how his job has changed over the decades. Really interesting discussion of what's important and how people react in a real crisis. The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks. More of a collection of interesting curiousities but does an amazing job of humanising the discussion of brain.
on “Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?” ↗I'd recommend the book "the man who mistook his wife for a hat" by Oliver Sacks which I seem to remember digs into some phenomonon like these. There are very interesting differences between certain lesions in the left side of the brain, and in the right side. For…
on “Ask HN: Teach me something new” ↗The book mentioned by Oliver Sacks on hallucinations looks interesting. I have to say that one of my favourite neuroscience books has to be, "The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat" by the aforementioned Dr. Oliver Sacks. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Man-Who-Mistook-His-Wife/dp/03305236... It's really a great read for anyone interested in neuroscience, psychology or just weird and…
on “When You're Visited By A Copy Of Yourself, Stay Calm” ↗This reminds of a fascinating book, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks. One of the most interesting stories is about a man who lost his ability to intuitively recognize things and needs to reason about their features to find out what they are. This is…
on “The Woman Who Can't Recognize Her Face” ↗The first book I ever bought the woman who became my beautiful wife was Sacks's The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat. She had mentioned enjoying some Psychology studies, so it seemed relevant. His writing then, as now, leaps off the page and dances with your mind. Sadly, we will soon lose any possible new writing,…
on “Oliver Sacks on learning he has terminal cancer” ↗"The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" by neurologist Oliver Sacks is a fascinating story about visual agnosia - it was also my first introduction to artificial intelligence.
on “Amazon shareholders reject facial recognition ban” ↗reminds me of a story in “the man who mistook his wife for a hat” by Oliver Sacks, an amazing collection of harrowing psychological tales, where one of his patients–a computer programmer!–has a dream where she can no longer control her limbs, and when she wakes it…
on “Proprioception: The Silent “Sixth” Sense” ↗I personally think that Oliver Sacks' "The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat" should be required reading in school for providing an understanding of how seemingly illogically our logic engine works. It's made me more understanding of 'how people work', and as a result has helped…
on “After a part of his brain was removed, guitarist Pat Martino got his groove back” ↗If you've never read it, I love Oliver Sack's book "The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat": http://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Mistook-His-Wife/dp/0684853949.... It's an amazing book full of stories just like in this article, about incredibly strange things that sometimes happen to people's brains.…
on “The Writer Who Couldn't Read” ↗I highly recommend Oliver Sacks' books. I've read "An Anthropologist On Mars" and "The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat". In both, he talks about several people who had various brain injuries and their strange consequences. I love his writing: he simultaneously gives a detailed analysis and a very humanistic perspective.
on “Oliver Sacks: My Periodic Table” ↗Not a long list, but I'd recommend these: - The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat ~ Oliver Sacks, 1985. This book contains tales of some of the Sacks's patients. A very interesting read. [1] - The Mind's Eye ~ Oliver Sacks, 2010. [2] - Spy Catcher (Autobiography of a MI5 agent) ~…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗Oliver Sacks (in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat) also tells a great story of a blind patient with Cerebral Palsy that was so babied that she never acquired use of her hands. She had been carried everywhere and had everything done for her. She called…
on “Training Your Brain So That You Don’t Need Reading Glasses (2017)” ↗The field of vision split is right down the middle of each eye. One side of the brain gets the two left-halves, the other the right. FWIW. Oliver Sacks' The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat has a chapter on hemispatial neglect which is an interesting read. (The entire book is fascinating.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Mistook_His_Wife_f...
on “Learning to Read in Your 30s Profoundly Transforms the Brain” ↗