And How Are You, Dr. Sacks?: A Biographical Memoir of Oliver Sacks

In the early 1980s, Lawrence Weschler began spending time with Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, to profile him for The New Yorker. Sacks had published his masterpiece, Awakenings, but was still largely unknown. Over the next four years, the two men worked closely together until Sacks asked Weschler to abandon the profile. They remained close friends, and Sacks urged Weschler to take up the project once again, which resulted in this book. Weschler sets Sacks' brilliant table talk and extravagant personality in vivid relief, casting himself as a beanpole Sancho to Sacks' capacious Quixote.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 400 pages
\n Publication date: 06 August 2019
\n Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc
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In the early 1980s, Lawrence Weschler embarked on a journey to profile renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks for his new employer, The New Yorker. Almost a decade prior, Dr. Sacks had released his masterpiece, "Awakenings," which chronicled the remarkable but challenging revival of life among patients in a Bronx hospital ward. Despite its initial lack of success, the book had not yet made Sacks a household name. Over the next four years, Weschler and Sacks collaborated closely until, for personal reasons, Sacks requested Weschler to abandon the profile. Despite this, the two men maintained a close friendship for the next thirty years, and even as Sacks approached his final days, he urged Weschler to resume the project. This book is the culmination of Sacks' plea. Weschler vividly portrays Sacks' captivating table talk and larger-than-life personality, casting himself as a diminutive Sancho to Sacks' towering Quixote. Through this lens, readers witness Sacks engaging in various activities, including rowing, ranting, displaying deep care, composing his renowned essays, reminiscing about his tumultuous drug-fueled youth, assisting his patients, and expending his energy on his friends. Additionally, Sacks wages an intellectual battle against the medical and scientific establishment, which he believes fails to adequately address his primary concern: the unique and spontaneous nature of the individual human soul. Throughout this narrative, Sacks unfolds a continuous stream of glorious, ribald, hilarious, and often profound conversation, establishing him as one of the greatest conversationalists of his era. This book presents the definitive portrait of Sacks as our preeminent romantic scientist, a self-described "clinical ontologist" whose entire practice revolved around the single fundamental question he effectively asked each of his patients: "What do you see?"

\n Weight: 632g\n
Dimension: 236 x 161 x 32 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9780374236410\n \n