Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks

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Hallucinations
By Oliver Sacks
Paper back, 322 pages
Published in 2012 by Picador

I finished reading this book (the first one from my Sacks pile) a long time ago. I just need a proper sitting to write about this one considering I was awestruck by the narratives and medical experience of Oliver Sacks. I need to go back and forth to the pages to remember the medical conditions and terms. I can't make an exhaustive blog on how I was surprised by the fact how hallucination is actually different from mental illness like schizophrenia. 

Oliver Sacks caught my attention because he was the author of Awakenings, the book which the movie starred by my ever-favorite Robin Williams. I did not expect that the movie plot is based on a true story (or I might have forgotten about such a fact) but the movie stuck on me: A doctor in a public health system can make a difference if he pays extra attention to his patient. I wanted to be a public attorney who pays extra attention to my client's plight. Hope you see the parallelism because I won't digress on the topic.

If there is one thing why I would recommend this read for everyone, it is because it is a very enlightening book for people living with someone with hallucinations. Hallucinations do not mean schizophrenia or senility but it could be Charles Bonnet Syndrome, hallucinatory smell or sound or visual (Aha moments for everything here), effect of Parkinson's medications and a lot more.

From start to end, it was an aha moment for each page for me. I wish I read this earlier so I could have had understood more. 

I love the Sacks' style because he blends well researches, medical terms, personal experience and narratives from clients. I want to read more of him. 

This post seals my reading so that I can start An Anthropologist on Mars.
     

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