“The Poet Laureate of Medicine”
— The New York Times
Dr. Oliver Sacks was a physician, best-selling author, and professor of neurology.
He is the author of many books, including Musicophilia, Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and Everything In Its Place, a posthumous collection of essays published in 2019.
“The Poet Laureate of Medicine”
— The New York Times
Dr. Oliver Sacks was a physician, best-selling author, and professor of neurology.
He is the author of many books, including Musicophilia, Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, and Everything In Its Place, a posthumous collection of essays published in 2019.
Photo by Elena Seibert
Hosted by neuroscientist Indre Viskontas, this nine-part podcast series from Audible tells the story of the human brain one person at a time. Drawing inspiration from the work of Dr. Sacks, each episode centers on a condition that sparked his interest, and includes rare and some never before published archival tape of Oliver speaking—his audio diaries and his thoughts on various conditions.
The award-winning documentary by Ric Burns explores the life and work of the legendary neurologist and storyteller, as he shares intimate details of his battles with drug addiction, homophobia, and a medical establishment that accepted his work only decades after the fact. The film features exclusive interviews with Sacks conducted just weeks after he received a terminal diagnosis, and months prior to his death in 2015.
A new opera based on Awakenings by Oliver Sacks gives authentic life to the patients’ stories, and reminds us all of the power of love, music, and human resilience. Probing into the themes originally explored by Sacks’s groundbreaking book, this sensitive operatic adaptation is the first to accurately portray Oliver Sacks as a shy gay man struggling with his sexuality. Composed by Tobias Picker, with libretto by Aryeh Lev Stollman.
Bestselling Books by Oliver Sacks
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
Shortly before his death, Oliver Sacks wrote an essay looking back on his seminal 1985 book. The essay appears for the first time as the preface to this brand new edition.
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
In this New York Times bestseller—now revised and expanded for the paperback edition—Dr. Sacks investigates the power of music to move us, to heal and to haunt us.
Everything In Its Place: First Loves and Last Tales
A final volume showcasing Dr. Sacks’s range of interests—from his passion for ferns and horsetails, to his final case histories exploring schizophrenia and dementia.
On The Move: A Life
In this tender and joyous memoir, Oliver Sacks shows us that the same energy that drives his physical passions—weightlifting and swimming—also drives his cerebral passions.
The River of Consciousness
A collection of essays that displays Dr. Sacks’s passionate engagement with the most compelling and seminal ideas of human endeavor: evolution, creativity, memory, time, and consciousness.
News and Upcoming Events
“Meeting” Oliver Sacks (And Happy Birthday)
July 9 would have been Oliver Sacks’s 90th birthday, and as readers of Uncle Tungsten might know, element 90 [...]
Dementia: Unexpected Stories of the Mind
Oliver Sacks’s closest friend and schoolmate Jonathan Miller died of dementia in 2019. The photo above shows them together [...]
A One-Night-Only East Coast Premiere of Tobias Picker’s “Awakenings”
We are excited to announce that Odyssey Opera, in partnership with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), will present [...]
