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Letters
The letters of one of the greatest observers of the human species, revealing his passion for life and work, friendship and art, medicine and society, and the richness of his relationships with friends, family, and fellow intellectuals over the decades
Dr. Oliver Sacks—who describes himself variously in these pages as “a philosophical physician,” “an astronomer of the inward,” and a “neuropathological Talmudist”—wrote lengthy letters throughout his to his parents, his beloved Aunt Lennie, to friends and colleagues from London, Oxford, California, and around the world. These pages begin with his arrival in America as a young man, eager to establish himself away from the confines of postwar England, and carry us through his bumpy early career in medicine and the discovery of his writer’s voice and métier; his weightlifting, motorcycle-riding years and his explosive seasons of discovery with the patients who populate his book Awakenings; his growing interest in matters of sight and the musical brain; his many friendships and exchanges with fellow writers, artists, and scientists (to say nothing of astronauts, botanists, and mathematicians), and his deep gratitude for all these relationships at the end of his life. Some letters contain the first detailed sketches of an essay forming in his mind; others reveal his agony over a tempestuous love affair or his reminiscences of childhood.
From Francis Crick and Jane Goodall to W. H. Auden and Susan Sontag, from lovers to patients, and ordinary folk who wrote to him with their odd symptoms and questions, all are treated equally to Sacks’s lyrical, ferocious, penetrating, and at times hilarious observations.
Sensitively introduced and edited by Kate Edgar, Sacks’s longtime editor (and one of his correspondents), the letters deliver a complete portrait of Sacks as he wrestles with the workings of the brain and mind. We see, through his eyes, the beginnings of modern neuroscience as it unlocks many secrets of how the human brain defines us. We experience the arc of a remarkable personal evolution, closely following the thought processes of one of the great intellectuals of our time whose words, as evidenced in these pages, were unfailingly shaped with generosity and wonder toward other people.
Dr. Oliver Sacks—who describes himself variously in these pages as “a philosophical physician,” “an astronomer of the inward,” and a “neuropathological Talmudist”—wrote lengthy letters throughout his to his parents, his beloved Aunt Lennie, to friends and colleagues from London, Oxford, California, and around the world. These pages begin with his arrival in America as a young man, eager to establish himself away from the confines of postwar England, and carry us through his bumpy early career in medicine and the discovery of his writer’s voice and métier; his weightlifting, motorcycle-riding years and his explosive seasons of discovery with the patients who populate his book Awakenings; his growing interest in matters of sight and the musical brain; his many friendships and exchanges with fellow writers, artists, and scientists (to say nothing of astronauts, botanists, and mathematicians), and his deep gratitude for all these relationships at the end of his life. Some letters contain the first detailed sketches of an essay forming in his mind; others reveal his agony over a tempestuous love affair or his reminiscences of childhood.
From Francis Crick and Jane Goodall to W. H. Auden and Susan Sontag, from lovers to patients, and ordinary folk who wrote to him with their odd symptoms and questions, all are treated equally to Sacks’s lyrical, ferocious, penetrating, and at times hilarious observations.
Sensitively introduced and edited by Kate Edgar, Sacks’s longtime editor (and one of his correspondents), the letters deliver a complete portrait of Sacks as he wrestles with the workings of the brain and mind. We see, through his eyes, the beginnings of modern neuroscience as it unlocks many secrets of how the human brain defines us. We experience the arc of a remarkable personal evolution, closely following the thought processes of one of the great intellectuals of our time whose words, as evidenced in these pages, were unfailingly shaped with generosity and wonder toward other people.
769 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 5, 2024
182 people are currently reading
5686 people want to read
About the author
Oliver Sacks
102 books9,765 followersOliver Wolf Sacks, CBE, was a British neurologist residing in the United States, who has written popular books about his patients, the most famous of which is Awakenings, which was adapted into a film of the same name starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro.
Sacks was the youngest of four children born to a prosperous North London Jewish couple: Sam, a physician, and Elsie, a surgeon. When he was six years old, he and his brother were evacuated from London to escape The Blitz, retreating to a boarding school in the Midlands, where he remained until 1943. During his youth, he was a keen amateur chemist, as recalled in his memoir Uncle Tungsten. He also learned to share his parents' enthusiasm for medicine and entered The Queen's College, Oxford University in 1951, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in physiology and biology in 1954. At the same institution, he went on to earn in 1958, a Master of Arts (MA) and an MB ChB in chemistry, thereby qualifying to practice medicine.
After converting his British qualifications to American recognition (i.e., an MD as opposed to MB ChB), Sacks moved to New York, where he has lived since 1965, and taken twice weekly therapy sessions since 1966.
Sacks began consulting at chronic care facility Beth Abraham Hospital (now Beth Abraham Health Service) in 1966. At Beth Abraham, Sacks worked with a group of survivors of the 1920s sleeping sickness, encephalitis lethargica, who had been unable to move on their own for decades. These patients and his treatment of them were the basis of Sacks' book Awakenings.
His work at Beth Abraham helped provide the foundation on which the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (IMNF), where Sacks is currently an honorary medical advisor, is built. In 2000, IMNF honored Sacks, its founder, with its first Music Has Power Award. The IMNF again bestowed a Music Has Power Award on Sacks in 2006 to commemorate "his 40 years at Beth Abraham and honor his outstanding contributions in support of music therapy and the effect of music on the human brain and mind".
Sacks was formerly employed as a clinical professor of neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and at the New York University School of Medicine, serving the latter school for 42 years. On 1 July 2007, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons appointed Sacks to a position as professor of clinical neurology and clinical psychiatry, at the same time opening to him a new position as "artist", which the university hoped will help interconnect disciplines such as medicine, law, and economics. Sacks was a consultant neurologist to the Little Sisters of the Poor, and maintained a practice in New York City.
Since 1996, Sacks was a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature). In 1999, Sacks became a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences. Also in 1999, he became an Honorary Fellow at The Queen's College, Oxford. In 2002, he became Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Class IV—Humanities and Arts, Section 4—Literature).[38] and he was awarded the 2001 Lewis Thomas Prize by Rockefeller University. Sacks was awarded honorary doctorates from the College of Staten Island (1991), Tufts University (1991), New York Medical College (1991), Georgetown University (1992), Medical College of Pennsylvania (1992), Bard College (1992), Queen's University (Ontario) (2001), Gallaudet University (2005), University of Oxford (2005), Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (2006). He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours. Asteroid 84928 Oliversacks, discovered in 2003 and 2 miles (3.2 km) in diameter, has been named in his honor.
Sacks was the youngest of four children born to a prosperous North London Jewish couple: Sam, a physician, and Elsie, a surgeon. When he was six years old, he and his brother were evacuated from London to escape The Blitz, retreating to a boarding school in the Midlands, where he remained until 1943. During his youth, he was a keen amateur chemist, as recalled in his memoir Uncle Tungsten. He also learned to share his parents' enthusiasm for medicine and entered The Queen's College, Oxford University in 1951, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in physiology and biology in 1954. At the same institution, he went on to earn in 1958, a Master of Arts (MA) and an MB ChB in chemistry, thereby qualifying to practice medicine.
After converting his British qualifications to American recognition (i.e., an MD as opposed to MB ChB), Sacks moved to New York, where he has lived since 1965, and taken twice weekly therapy sessions since 1966.
Sacks began consulting at chronic care facility Beth Abraham Hospital (now Beth Abraham Health Service) in 1966. At Beth Abraham, Sacks worked with a group of survivors of the 1920s sleeping sickness, encephalitis lethargica, who had been unable to move on their own for decades. These patients and his treatment of them were the basis of Sacks' book Awakenings.
His work at Beth Abraham helped provide the foundation on which the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (IMNF), where Sacks is currently an honorary medical advisor, is built. In 2000, IMNF honored Sacks, its founder, with its first Music Has Power Award. The IMNF again bestowed a Music Has Power Award on Sacks in 2006 to commemorate "his 40 years at Beth Abraham and honor his outstanding contributions in support of music therapy and the effect of music on the human brain and mind".
Sacks was formerly employed as a clinical professor of neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and at the New York University School of Medicine, serving the latter school for 42 years. On 1 July 2007, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons appointed Sacks to a position as professor of clinical neurology and clinical psychiatry, at the same time opening to him a new position as "artist", which the university hoped will help interconnect disciplines such as medicine, law, and economics. Sacks was a consultant neurologist to the Little Sisters of the Poor, and maintained a practice in New York City.
Since 1996, Sacks was a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature). In 1999, Sacks became a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences. Also in 1999, he became an Honorary Fellow at The Queen's College, Oxford. In 2002, he became Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Class IV—Humanities and Arts, Section 4—Literature).[38] and he was awarded the 2001 Lewis Thomas Prize by Rockefeller University. Sacks was awarded honorary doctorates from the College of Staten Island (1991), Tufts University (1991), New York Medical College (1991), Georgetown University (1992), Medical College of Pennsylvania (1992), Bard College (1992), Queen's University (Ontario) (2001), Gallaudet University (2005), University of Oxford (2005), Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (2006). He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours. Asteroid 84928 Oliversacks, discovered in 2003 and 2 miles (3.2 km) in diameter, has been named in his honor.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
July 7, 2025
The true character of Dr. Oliver Sacks comes through in this reflective memoir. One such quality is his unquenchable curiosity. In his recent "Letters" we are able to reconnect with him through a letter written to his parents. Such descriptive letters are representative of his life from 1960 to the days before his demise---melanoma. Letters chronicles over 55 years of his life (many twists and turns). His letter to the maternal Edgar and the "private arrangement" is an ode to trauma that haunted Dr. Sacks for his life.
“Here is the unedited Oliver Sacks—struggling, passionate, a furiously intelligent misfit. And also endlessly interesting. He was a man like no other.”
— Atul Gawande, author of Being Mortal
His reverence for his mother is illuminated within. She not only was a maternal force of inspiration and the first Jewish woman to be elected a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. Oliver Sacks would dissect some of items she would bring home from the hospital. He was only 10 at the time. More depth is added to the "trauma" of his childhood in his book titled "On the Move." His writing is pure prose as is his ability to find beauty as a resident neurologist working at Beth Abraham hospital. This was the time of L-dopa and his blockbuster book made into a film called "Awakenings."
“Here is the unedited Oliver Sacks—struggling, passionate, a furiously intelligent misfit. And also endlessly interesting. He was a man like no other.”
— Atul Gawande, author of Being Mortal
His reverence for his mother is illuminated within. She not only was a maternal force of inspiration and the first Jewish woman to be elected a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. Oliver Sacks would dissect some of items she would bring home from the hospital. He was only 10 at the time. More depth is added to the "trauma" of his childhood in his book titled "On the Move." His writing is pure prose as is his ability to find beauty as a resident neurologist working at Beth Abraham hospital. This was the time of L-dopa and his blockbuster book made into a film called "Awakenings."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 15, 2024
A wonderful companion piece to Sacks’ autobiography On the Move. For someone who is not a complete Oliver Sacks devotee this could appear a little overlong and not harmed by a bit of judicious editing. But if you’re a fan, or an amateur neurologist, you will love every minute. I found it delightful, and occasionally profoundly moving.
.
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July 9, 2025
Después de haber leído varios libros de Oliver Sacks, completar esas lecturas con este enorme compendio de cartas ha sido todo un acierto. Reconozco que el interés que pueda despertar este volumen de más de 800 páginas, depende mucho del interés y conexión que sintamos con este peculiar neurólogo. Para que una lectura así tenga sentido, debe de existir al menos cierta resonancia con la peculiar personalidad de este hombre tan polifacético. Es cierto que la inmensa capacidad de Oliver para la escritura, incluso a través de sus cartas, dota a la obra de una calidad y contenido sorprendente, que va mucho más allá de lo que podríamos esperar de una simple recopilación de correspondencia. En realidad, la mayoría de sus cartas son pequeños ensayos, trabajos mentales que surgen como una prolongación de sus obras, todo ello aderezado con una enorme parte personal e íntima, que dota a este contenido de ese lado tan humano que encontramos en los escritos del autor. No es una lectura para todo el mundo, ni creo que sea disfrutable sin el contexto adecuado, pero si has disfrutado de su biografía "En movimiento", seguro que también lo harás con "Cartas". Dos obras que recogen el lado más humano y personal de una persona sumamente especial.
Want to read
December 22, 2024WSJ review: https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/book...
(Paywalled. As always, I'm happy to email a copy to non-subscribers)
Excerpt:
"Kate Edgar, Sacks’s longtime editor and assistant, has produced in “Letters” a meticulous, thorough and loving selection that constitutes not only a series of reflections and explorations but also a gripping memoir, a Bildungsroman at one remove. ....
What makes reading through all of these missives delightful is the inescapable gift for metaphor that sparkles on almost every page. “I live in words, in images, metaphors, syllables, rhymes,” he says early on. Having found his true calling as a describer of individuals and their neurological conditions....
His early years of independence were uncomfortable: Sacks often felt out of place, oafish and ill-treated. He chafed when his early books were ignored or condescended to by his professional colleagues. Popular success buoyed him, and eventually even the establishment came around."
High priority TBR.
(Paywalled. As always, I'm happy to email a copy to non-subscribers)
Excerpt:
"Kate Edgar, Sacks’s longtime editor and assistant, has produced in “Letters” a meticulous, thorough and loving selection that constitutes not only a series of reflections and explorations but also a gripping memoir, a Bildungsroman at one remove. ....
What makes reading through all of these missives delightful is the inescapable gift for metaphor that sparkles on almost every page. “I live in words, in images, metaphors, syllables, rhymes,” he says early on. Having found his true calling as a describer of individuals and their neurological conditions....
His early years of independence were uncomfortable: Sacks often felt out of place, oafish and ill-treated. He chafed when his early books were ignored or condescended to by his professional colleagues. Popular success buoyed him, and eventually even the establishment came around."
High priority TBR.
January 28, 2025
The (lost) art of writing letters is embodied beautifully by Sacks. A full human in every way.
November 8, 2025
I was really surprised to enjoy this book. It reminded me of a time when letter writing was a common means to communicate your thoughts and feelings to others and I miss that. Dr Sacks was so articulate, open and philosophical in his letter writing that I got real sense of him from lots of angles. The highlights were his insights into being Jewish, being gay and being a Brit living in America. It was easy to skim the less interesting letters.
June 17, 2025
I've always worried that society's transition from letter-writing to email (and to texting) marked the beginning of the end of thoughtful correspondence. So now I add Dr. Oliver Sacks to the group of writers whose collections of missives lead me to that sad conclusion. Such a wide variety of folks read his work and wrote to Sacks - famous people like Jane Goodall, Francis Crick, Robin Williams, and Björk, as well as unknown young students and children - and he wrote back such kind, insightful responses. They don't write 'em like that anymore.
July 9, 2025
I can't imagine the labourous process of putting this book together, going through the tens of thousands of letters Sacks wrote in his lifetime, to put a select few in chronological order to create a Sacks biography. Great insight into his mind and humanity.
January 6, 2026
This collection brings together Oliver Sacks’ correspondence across his life, from his early years and medical training through to fame, illness, and old age. The letters span friendships, scientific debates, creative struggles, and deeply personal reflections, building a portrait of a man thinking out loud over decades.
I thought Letters offered a brilliant, intimate insight into who Sacks really was beyond his published work. I found his humour and his vulnerability especially striking. The letters added real depth to his struggles with identity, health, and belonging. It felt generous and human in a way few collections manage.
I thought Letters offered a brilliant, intimate insight into who Sacks really was beyond his published work. I found his humour and his vulnerability especially striking. The letters added real depth to his struggles with identity, health, and belonging. It felt generous and human in a way few collections manage.
April 7, 2025
Long but absolutely fascinating - provides so many insights into Oliver Sacks as a person; the cases he worked on; the people he came to know (as patients, colleagues, and fellow world travelers). Extremely well edited - what a task it must have been to distill Sacks's voluminous writing down to this illuminating narrative.
November 26, 2024
Thank you to Kate Edgar, Knopf, and NetGalley for an Advanced Reader's Copy of this title!
If you ask any pre-medical or medical student for a medically-themed book recommendation, one of the titles on that list will likely be "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat". If you press them, they may remember that this book was written by a man named Oliver Sacks, though beyond that I'm not sure (as I didn't know until much later than I should have), who Oliver Sacks was, and what he meant to medicine.
"Letters" is a unique autobiographical and editorial picture of the "great observer of the human species", the eminent British physician who would not only serve patients at the bleeding edge of neurology starting in the 60s, but who would reshape the way physicians, practitioners, and laypeople viewed patients suffering from a number of neurological conditions, through essays, editorials, lectures, and, of course, the books for which hie is well known and loved by popular science readers and aspiring medical students alike.
But he was much more than that. As I came to learn through "Letters" he was a prolific and voluminous writer, and it seemed that he (and his correspondents) kept records of the many missives he sent throughout decades of his life. Collected and presented here by his longtime editor, we get a glimpse into Dr. Sacks thoughts not only about medicine and medical training, but the progression of his patients under regimes of new neuromodulatory drugs, the inner workings of academic medicine in California and New York, and the many ups and downs of his career and his overall insistence that he should not have been a doctor. But equally as interesting is the way his career was shaped by his personal and professional relationships, his hobbies and special interests outside of medicine - especially music, and his thoughts about how all these bits and pieces ebbed and flowed into each other.
Dr. Sacks, as evidenced by his letters and his own self-reflection, saw and felt the world deeply, which clearly caused him as much joy and triumph as despair, personally and professionally. I found his perspective and place as a foreign-born, Jewish, closeted gay man living within many of the great events and crises of half a century of change in America fascinating. Far removed from the tidy well-pressed images of doctors in this time period, Dr. Sacks rode motorcycles, wore leather, was a competitive weightlifter, had a problem with addictive substances during his career, and made enough of an amateur study of plants to write books and essays on the subject. From the Cuban missile crisis, to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, to the delight and frustration of emails and iPods, readers also get a glimpse into the cultural and societal forces shaping the world and medicine through Dr. Sacks' eyes.
I am very in awe of Kate Edgar and the monumental task of collecting, organizing, and shaping of a lifetime of correspondence into a single volume of work that is digestible, interesting, coherent, and moving. I did not realize that this book was getting on 800 pages long (with about as many footnotes!), but I found myself digesting large chunks at a time, laughing (my favorite line is about Dr. Sacks lamenting how old and bald he has become, with the author's footnote alerting the reader that he has just turned thirty), tearing up, and reflecting on how my own world has changed in my brief foray into medicine thus far. I am still thinking about this book more than a week after I finished it and have talked about it in several of my medical residency interviews, and I hope it becomes a staple read for medical students who are interested in the life and revelations of this force of nature and medicine.
If you ask any pre-medical or medical student for a medically-themed book recommendation, one of the titles on that list will likely be "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat". If you press them, they may remember that this book was written by a man named Oliver Sacks, though beyond that I'm not sure (as I didn't know until much later than I should have), who Oliver Sacks was, and what he meant to medicine.
"Letters" is a unique autobiographical and editorial picture of the "great observer of the human species", the eminent British physician who would not only serve patients at the bleeding edge of neurology starting in the 60s, but who would reshape the way physicians, practitioners, and laypeople viewed patients suffering from a number of neurological conditions, through essays, editorials, lectures, and, of course, the books for which hie is well known and loved by popular science readers and aspiring medical students alike.
But he was much more than that. As I came to learn through "Letters" he was a prolific and voluminous writer, and it seemed that he (and his correspondents) kept records of the many missives he sent throughout decades of his life. Collected and presented here by his longtime editor, we get a glimpse into Dr. Sacks thoughts not only about medicine and medical training, but the progression of his patients under regimes of new neuromodulatory drugs, the inner workings of academic medicine in California and New York, and the many ups and downs of his career and his overall insistence that he should not have been a doctor. But equally as interesting is the way his career was shaped by his personal and professional relationships, his hobbies and special interests outside of medicine - especially music, and his thoughts about how all these bits and pieces ebbed and flowed into each other.
Dr. Sacks, as evidenced by his letters and his own self-reflection, saw and felt the world deeply, which clearly caused him as much joy and triumph as despair, personally and professionally. I found his perspective and place as a foreign-born, Jewish, closeted gay man living within many of the great events and crises of half a century of change in America fascinating. Far removed from the tidy well-pressed images of doctors in this time period, Dr. Sacks rode motorcycles, wore leather, was a competitive weightlifter, had a problem with addictive substances during his career, and made enough of an amateur study of plants to write books and essays on the subject. From the Cuban missile crisis, to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, to the delight and frustration of emails and iPods, readers also get a glimpse into the cultural and societal forces shaping the world and medicine through Dr. Sacks' eyes.
I am very in awe of Kate Edgar and the monumental task of collecting, organizing, and shaping of a lifetime of correspondence into a single volume of work that is digestible, interesting, coherent, and moving. I did not realize that this book was getting on 800 pages long (with about as many footnotes!), but I found myself digesting large chunks at a time, laughing (my favorite line is about Dr. Sacks lamenting how old and bald he has become, with the author's footnote alerting the reader that he has just turned thirty), tearing up, and reflecting on how my own world has changed in my brief foray into medicine thus far. I am still thinking about this book more than a week after I finished it and have talked about it in several of my medical residency interviews, and I hope it becomes a staple read for medical students who are interested in the life and revelations of this force of nature and medicine.
November 11, 2025
I received a two-book advance copy through Goodreads First Reads, and I'm very grateful for the opportunity. From reading his many letters, I can see that Oliver Sacks was a remarkable, admirable man. He went through many hardships, heartbreaks, and tragedies in his life, but he sought to find beauty in life and in the world regardless. With his passion for letters - even writing them for bills - he sheds a lot of light into his character, the people he interacts with, and the ever-changing world around him. And he was well-versed in arts, philosophy, and literature, too, making many intriguing references in his letters that reveal the depth of his knowledge. Many parts of the book, particularly in early sections when he moves to Canada and then America, make me feel like I'm reading a travelogue, which is quite enjoyable. That said, I will admit that a lot of the content is tough to read, for varying reasons. First, it covers a lot of sensitive topics, dealing with feelings of alienation, of physical and mental injuries, of personal loss, of heartbreak, and of imminent death. So be prepared for a lot of heart-wrenching moments. Second, since Sacks' specialty is in neuroscience, a lot of the medical terminology can sometimes be confusing for a lay reader such as myself. It doesn't take away from the quality of his writing, I just feel that you'll miss some of the details if you don't have a strong background in medical care or neurology. Fortunately, the books' editor Kate Edgar provides many helpful footnotes throughout the letters, as well as often providing introductions to key points in Sacks' life; I kind of wish there were more of those intros sometimes, but I did appreciate the ones in the book very much. Anyway, this is an extensive saga with many twists and turns, and while not all of the letters might engage you, many of them will leave with with a lasting vision of Sacks' remarkable views of life, consciousness, and compassion.
January 6, 2025
Magnificent! I have read many many of Oliver Sack' books and essays, as well as his autobiography On the Move. Sacks had an incredible mind, impressive curiosity, extraordinary empathy and compassion. His books are all brilliant.
But this volume brought out (emphasized) something else-- his humanity. Somehow, given his brilliance and eloquence, I had failed to realize fully that he was, like all of us, a vulnerable and damaged person. Especially in his earlier years -- in his letters to his parents -- Sacks reveals how insecure he was, riddled with anxiety, emotional instability, self-destructive behaviors, intense shyness, worries about his career, sexual frustration.
One of the stunning things about Oliver Sacks is the breadth of his interests -- he writes with intense curiosity and passion about neurological disorders, music, color blindness, worms, the periodic table, the medical establishment, travel, swimming, weight-lifting, ferns. And of course the other thing that stands out about Sacks is his intense empathetic attention to the person inside his patients, sharing their histories and struggles in what has been called his "narrative medicine."
Sacks was a prolific writer and he kept copies of almost all his letters written. These letters to his parents, his family members, other scientists, his readers, his patients, reveal clearly a brilliant compassionate man who retained his enthusiasm and curiosity to the very end. A great book especially if you are a fan of Oliver Sacks.
But this volume brought out (emphasized) something else-- his humanity. Somehow, given his brilliance and eloquence, I had failed to realize fully that he was, like all of us, a vulnerable and damaged person. Especially in his earlier years -- in his letters to his parents -- Sacks reveals how insecure he was, riddled with anxiety, emotional instability, self-destructive behaviors, intense shyness, worries about his career, sexual frustration.
“Who am I? What sort of person am I? Under my glibness and my postures and my facades, my imitations, what is the real Oliver like? And, is there a real Oliver?”.... “I have always felt transparent, without substance, a ghost, a transient, homeless, or outcast.”
One of the stunning things about Oliver Sacks is the breadth of his interests -- he writes with intense curiosity and passion about neurological disorders, music, color blindness, worms, the periodic table, the medical establishment, travel, swimming, weight-lifting, ferns. And of course the other thing that stands out about Sacks is his intense empathetic attention to the person inside his patients, sharing their histories and struggles in what has been called his "narrative medicine."
Sacks was a prolific writer and he kept copies of almost all his letters written. These letters to his parents, his family members, other scientists, his readers, his patients, reveal clearly a brilliant compassionate man who retained his enthusiasm and curiosity to the very end. A great book especially if you are a fan of Oliver Sacks.
February 16, 2025
I am chagrined to report that it took me more than two months to finish these letters, but they reached 700 pages and spanned 50 years, and they were delicious, inspiring, and fascinating. I feel I really know him, now, and I would have loved to have known him in the real world. A polymath, an autodidact, who could branch from philosophy to chemistry to botany, and back, with a prodigious memory for things he'd read and ideas he'd pondered in the past. A voracious reader and prolific, constant writer. (No fiction, though? I've no sense that he ever read a single piece of fiction.) I love the image of his stand-up desk, at the end, constructed on a kitchen table with a stack of OED volumes. He makes me want to be a better correspondent -- and to weep when colleagues tell me that they use artificial intelligence to communicate with others in writing. They have willingly surrendered the very thing that makes us human. And Oliver wrote letters and essays until the very end.
July 2, 2025
Oliver Sacks and I have only a few things in common, including a love of Star Trek and a distinct preference for letters over other forms of communication. I listened to his autobiography “On the Move” before listening to this selected letters collection, and that gave me a good foundation for his life (including plenty of information that isn’t in the letters). Dr. Sacks once again comes across as a genial, likable person who must have been interesting to talk with and know. He has a great curious mind and intelligence, and warmth and empathy all too lacking in most people as well as the medical profession. I personally would have edited down the collected by an hour or two as I sometimes lost interest, but overall it was a good experience and I was very moved by the final letter included to his relatives while he was dying. I am intrigued to look for a few of his books, as the brain truly is a fascinating source of human behavior/thought/experience.
September 8, 2025
Oliver Sacks is well-known for his medical observations collected in anecdotes such as The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, so it comes as no surprise that he was such a prolific letter writer (I shudder to think what a collection of letters - emails, texts, DMS - might look like from someone today). Letters is, quite simply, a love letter to Sacks and his many observations. This collection showcases other avenues of Sack's personality and life that may not be able to be captured in a biography about the man.
It's definitely lengthy, as many of the letters are very long. And if you're not really a fan of Sacks' work, then this will probably not mean much to you. But if you're an avid fan of his other books and want to learn more about his musings about the world around him, his reflections on his work, and more, then this would make a great addendum to his already large library of observations.
It's definitely lengthy, as many of the letters are very long. And if you're not really a fan of Sacks' work, then this will probably not mean much to you. But if you're an avid fan of his other books and want to learn more about his musings about the world around him, his reflections on his work, and more, then this would make a great addendum to his already large library of observations.
January 15, 2026
As a fan of Oliver Sacks ( I have read nine of his books since Awakenings in the 1970s ) and as a physician ( now retired ) with an interest in neurology and literature this book was a naturally a great pleasure. I am used to his rather wordy, erudite style - conciseness was not a quality and he described himself as someone who liked ‘pondering’. I was also familiar with the sense that comes across in his writings of compassion, intelligence and wide ranging interests. His numerous correspondents included W H Auden, Francis Crick, Robin Williams, Jonathan Miller, Jane Goodall, Susan Sontag, Harold Pinter and Bjork. He has been a source of inspiration when practising medicine and in my teaching of medical students. Reading this inspired me to re-read some of his work.
April 12, 2025
I love this man more than any other 'intellectual hero'. I've always admired his deep curiosity, his vast kindness for patients and his polymath ability to combine seemingly unrelated topics. in this mammoth 700 page collection of his letters, you come to appreciate him more as a person. His adolescent neuroticism, his feelings of failure as a research scientist and his continual interest in the lives of others. A genuinely beautiful book.
May 4, 2025
A book that I have purposely taken my time reading. When I first became aware of Oliver Sacks he was already “Oliver Sacks” and I was a very young doctor. This book was wonderful because one gets to journey with Oliver Sacks as he goes from being a struggling trainee to wise attending. It seems kind of an unedited autobiography(although he saved all his letters). He was endlessly curious and did not operate with the philosophy disease was the centrality of a person.
December 12, 2024
The most intense part of the book is a collection of letters to the author's lover Jeno Vincze. It is worth emphasizing, however, that this publication is not the best starting point to the topic of Sacks. Personally, I recommend it as a supplement and a source of context for the doctor's other literary endeavors.
February 12, 2025
It has been a soul warming pleasure to spend the last month with the sane, human, voracious, loving Oliver Sacks. I am writing this review while I’m at p. 450 and intend to savor the last 200+ pages over the next few months. Beautifully edited volume, this will become a classic in letters collections. I have really and truly laughed and cried.
December 8, 2025
Didn’t make it to the end but it’s a beautiful collection of Sacks’ letters and his meditations on medicine and neurology, his own mental health struggles, love, relationship with his family, and writing. Will continue to read bits and pieces, it’s easy to pick up in random places and still enjoy. Couldn’t commit to making it through 700 pages of letters.
June 24, 2025
I didnt enjoy all of the angst and hard work and personal issues OS went through but it was worth the time it took to read only 197 pages to understand the research he had done with institutionalized people that inspired the movie Awakenings
October 14, 2024
We have this impression of the great thinkers of history as stoic and orderly. Early to bed and early to rise very serious sort of folk. These letters remind us of their humanity. When I first saw the quote in one of Charles Darwin‘s notebooks, “I am very poorly today,” I remembered my own days of despair in a chemistry lab.
OS‘s letters in this collection illustrate this fact poignantly. He is distracted constantly, unable to pay his bills, can’t clean his house or keep his bike in good repair yet he is also a brilliant thinker able to solve many of the neurological mysteries of his day. He coped by self-medicating and having hypersexualised drug-fueled weekends. Maybe not the best for his longevity? Maybe it was the only relief he could conceive of at the time.
The editors did an excellent job editing the text and cleaning up punctuation to make it pleasantly readable and engaging while I presume still remaining true to OS original feelings and intent.
OS‘s letters in this collection illustrate this fact poignantly. He is distracted constantly, unable to pay his bills, can’t clean his house or keep his bike in good repair yet he is also a brilliant thinker able to solve many of the neurological mysteries of his day. He coped by self-medicating and having hypersexualised drug-fueled weekends. Maybe not the best for his longevity? Maybe it was the only relief he could conceive of at the time.
The editors did an excellent job editing the text and cleaning up punctuation to make it pleasantly readable and engaging while I presume still remaining true to OS original feelings and intent.
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March 15, 2025Read for the 2025 BookTube prize.
Read
August 3, 2025Audio
don-t-want-to-finish
August 7, 2025DNF Good listening in the beginning. Best letters were descriptive ones to his parents
August 18, 2025
I was excited for this, but I’m not sure what I expected. I’m sure this is a fascinating read and look into his day today missing but I had trouble keeping my attention on it.
October 25, 2025
5 stars. What a treasure!
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