Dragons and Doctors

Happy Year of the Dragon! It seems like an auspicious time to announce that Dr. Sacks’s next book, HALLUCINATIONS, is scheduled for publication in the fall of 2012. Stay tuned for updates, and a sneak peek or two!

We are excited also to announce the publication of Writer, M.D.: The Best Contemporary Fiction and Nonfiction by Doctors. This collection includes Dr. Sacks’s “The Lost Mariner,” along with pieces by many of our favorite writers: Pauline Chen, Atul Gawande, Leah Kaminsky, Perri Klass, Robert Jay Lifton, Danielle Ofri, Abraham Verghese, and others. A percentage of proceeds from sales of the book will be donated to the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

Jerome Groopman opens the book beautifully when he writes: “A physician works at the border between science and the soul.”

Speaking of science, many of us are thinking at this time of year about improving our diet and exercise habits. If you have read The Island of the Colorblind, you might be interested in this fascinating follow-up to the “bat” hypothesis, originally proposed in 2002 by Paul Cox and Oliver Sacks. The plot continues to thicken… and the science is not yet definitive. But in the meantime, you may want to think twice about the health effects of “blue-green algae” (really cyanobacteria) drinks and “superfoods.”

Wishing you all a healthy, happy Year of the Dragon, with much good reading, great music, and the company of friends and family.