67 pages • 2 hours read
Oliver SacksThe Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1985A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics.
Further Reading & Resources
Further Reading: Beyond Literature (Nonfiction)
“In the Region of Lost Minds” by John C. Marshall (1986)
Author and British cognitive neuropsychologist John C. Marshall reviews The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat for the New York Times. Although the review is mainly favorable, with Marshall calling Sacks a “philosopher-poet,” he also suggests that Sacks is feigning an “ignorance” of neurology. Overall, Marshall observes that Sacks brings compassion and depth of experience to the material.
An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales by Oliver Sacks (1995)
An Anthropologist on Mars is a narrative nonfiction essay collection by Sacks, M.D. Sacks documents and comments upon seven patients with neurological conditions that challenge preconceived notions about illness, disorder, adaptation, and self-perception. This collection builds upon Sacks’s previous works featuring neurological case studies, including the critically acclaimed The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.
- An Anthropologist on Mars on SuperSummary
Video & Podcast Resources
“Oliver Sacks: Nervous System and the Soul” (2011) by “Thinking Allowed” with Jeffrey Mishlove
In this interview, Sacks primarily discusses the cases from the latter half of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. He recounts some of the main points he makes in the book and notes that he almost didn’t include “The Twins” because he found their condition so mysterious.
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