“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.
World Premiere, June 2022
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. Composed by Tobias Picker, with libretto by Aryeh Lev Stollman, commissioned for the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and accompanied by members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
Photo © OTSL/Eric Woolsey
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
Happy birthday, Oliver!
Saturday would have been Oliver Sacks’s 89th birthday. Oliver loved to measure his age by its equivalent element in [...]
Awakenings Opera | Production Photos
Tobias Picker's opera based on Awakenings premiered in St. Louis in June, and we are delighted to share a selection [...]
An Aria to Cycads
It’s spring here in the Northern Hemisphere, so it’s time for some botanical news! In Oaxaca Journal, Oliver Sacks [...]
