SOCIAL SCIENCES

Hallucinations

by Oliver Sacks
Knopf. ISBN 9780307957245. $26.95; eISBN 9780307957252.
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Physician and prolific author Sacks (The Mind’s Eye) gives readers another gem of a book, this time about hallucinations. He discusses his own experiences stemming from migraines or drug use: “My first pot experience was marked by a mix of the neurological and the divine.” Hallucinations can involve any of the five senses or memory, or be caused by brain injury. They manifest as sleep paralysis and nightmares, ecstasy and panic, music, haunting images, revenants, and doubles. Sacks’s more famous subjects here include Joan of Arc, Dostoyevsky, Freud, and William James. His commentary ranges widely, from hypnosis to post-traumatic stress disorder, imaginary companions to out-of-body experience.
VERDICT With a fine sense of narrative, Sacks deftly integrates literature, art, and medical history around his very human, often riveting, case histories. This book is recommended for all readers, not just those with symptoms! This is a model of humane science made compellingly readable. [See Prepub Alert, 5/2/12.]
Reviewed by Sue White , Sep 01, 2012
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