Oliver Sacks, M.D.

ENGAGE WITH US:

Menu
  • About
  • Books
    • Everything In Its Place
    • The River of Consciousness
    • Gratitude
    • On The Move
    • Hallucinations
    • The Mind’s Eye
    • Musicophilia
    • Oaxaca Journal
    • Uncle Tungsten
    • The Island of the Colorblind
    • An Anthropologist on Mars
    • Seeing Voices
    • The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
    • A Leg to Stand On
    • Awakenings
    • Migraine
  • Inspired by Sacks
  • In News
  • Oliver Sacks Foundation
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Newsletter
test

Remembering Bob Silvers

April 3, 2017 / Kate Edgar / News

Last week we lost the legendary, irreplaceable Robert B. Silvers at the age of 87.

In a 2010 interview with New York Magazine, Oliver Sacks was asked, “Who is your favorite New Yorker, living or dead, real or fictional?” He replied, “Bob Silvers, founder and editor of the New York Review of Books, one of the great institutions of intellectual life here or anywhere.”

Bob occupied a unique place in Sacks’s life—as for so many other writers and readers. He was a polymath, equally at home with politics, literature, science, philosophy, and the arts. His respect for his writers was absolute, matched only by his attention to detail and his passion for intellectual discourse. Without Bob Silvers, without the New York Review of Books, the past fifty-plus years would have been a much duller, much less informed place.

He published many of Oliver Sacks’s essays in the pages of the NYRB, including, early on, half a dozen that would become chapters in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.

As an editor, Silvers had a sixth sense about what unexpected topics might intrigue a particular writer. He understood that the simple act of sending one of his writers a book to review might inspire a whole new field of inquiry. It was Silvers’s suggestion that Sacks read on a study of deaf culture and language that ultimately led to his own book Seeing Voices. A few years later, remembering Sacks’s boyhood interest in chemistry, Silvers sent him a biography of Humphry Davy, launching Sacks on his first memoir, Uncle Tungsten.

Two weeks before Dr. Sacks died, in August 2015, he wrote a dedication for the new book he was working on: to Bob Silvers, his editor, mentor, and friend of more than thirty years.

We are very pleased to announce that The River of Consciousness, dedicated to Bob Silvers, will be published in October 2017 (available for preorder now).

Jacket illustration: Felix Vallotton, L’Eure a Pacy-sur-Eure (detail), 1924.

Insomniac City

January 31, 2017 / Kate Edgar / News

We at the Sacks office are thrilled to share with you some advance praise for Bill Hayes’s gorgeous memoir of his life with Oliver Sacks, Insomniac City, whose official publication date is Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2017. The book is available for pre-order now.

 

Joyce Carol Oates writes: “Insomniac City is a beautiful memoir in which Oliver Sacks comes wonderfully to life–a double portrait that also provides a vivid picture of New York City’s neighborhoods and people. The ending is exquisitely wrought, heartrending and joyous.”

Bill Hayes will be doing readings and book signings in a number of cities, including New York, Washington DC, Berkeley, Seattle, San Francisco, Danville, London, Dublin, and Sydney. For dates and details, visit billhayes.com.


“A beautifully written once-in-a-lifetime book, about love, about life, soul, and the wonderful loving genius Oliver Sacks, and New York, and laughter and all of creation.”
–Anne Lamott, author of  Operating Instructions and  Bird by Bird

“I loved every single sentence in this quiet night-book, erotic and evocative, at once.”
–Terry Tempest Williams, author of  The Hour of Land

“A heartbreakingly gorgeous story of love and loss.”
–Azar Nafisi, author of  Reading Lolita in Tehran

“An intimate and sharply drawn portrait of one of the giants of science. This is a rare book.”
–Jad Abumrad, co-host of  RadioLab

This is a book to cherish and reread, as well as a beautiful gift for someone you love on Valentine’s Day.

Our Favorite Books of 2016

December 7, 2016 / Kate Edgar / News

Looking for the perfect gift, or just some enlightenment? As 2016 draws to a close, we’d like to share with you some of our favorite books of the year.

                    

Mentored by a Madman: The William Burroughs Experiment by Andrew Lees. The memoir of a world-renowned neurologist who has done groundbreaking work with Parkinson’s patients as well as discovered for himself the hallucinogenic powers of ayahuasca and other drugs. No, we’re talking not about Oliver Sacks but about his good friend and colleague Andrew Lees. You will be caught up in this tale of medical detective work, written with verve and erudition, and gorgeously published by Notting Hill Editions.

Waking the Spirit by Andrew Schulman. A world-class musician discovers the hard way the profound power of music in life and death situations. Schulman’s story is compelling and inspiring, a gripping journey that reveals fundamental truths about music and the brain.

The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf. Alexander von Humboldt was one of Dr. Sacks’s greatest heroes. He would have adored Wulf’s acclaimed biography of Humboldt, an intrepid adventurer and visionary polymath whose understanding of the natural world inspired Darwin and others, and is equally relevant today.

For more great ideas, check out Brainpickings‘ top 2016 science books.

Have you explored all fourteen of Dr. Sacks’s own books?

Did we forget any of your favorite reads? Send us your suggestions!

Warm wishes from
The Oliver Sacks Foundation

PS: Find out how you can support the work of the Oliver Sacks Foundation with a year-end tax-deductible contribution.

Remembering Oliver Sacks

August 29, 2016 / Kate Edgar / News

 

Devinsky-AYearWithoutOliverSacks-1200

Dear Friends,

As we mark the one-year anniversary of Dr. Sacks’s death on August 30, we are grateful for your messages of support, and for the fact that his work lives on. (Indeed, the Sacks office is currently putting the finishing touches on a new book of his essays to be published in the fall of 2017. Stay tuned for updates!)

This week saw the publication of two wonderful reminiscences of Oliver you will not want to miss:

Bill Hayes, Oliver’s partner, just published this gorgeous and moving New York Times piece  on life with Oliver, describing some unexpected Sacksian moments. We can’t wait for Bill’s forthcoming book Insomniac City: New York, Oliver, and Me, coming next Valentine’s Day.

And The New Yorker published a lovely remembrance of biking with Oliver by his good friend Orrin Devinsky (pictured below).

At the Sacks office, we are remembering Oliver, of course, by playing music. Here are playlists of some of his favorites curated by Wired and Science Friday.

With gratitude,
The Sacks office

Photo credits: top, Andrea Artz/Redux via the New Yorker; middle, Henri Cole; bottom, courtesy Orrin Devinsky

A Mind-Opening Film

July 21, 2016 / Kate Edgar / News

A few days ago we had an opportunity to see “Life, Animated,” which opens around the country this weekend. Exquisitely crafted, this film introduces us to Owen Suskind: handsome (not unlike the young Oliver Sacks), kind, thoughtful and articulate, accomplished. Owen is also autistic–after years of silence in early childhood, he learned to speak again by embracing his passion for Disney animated characters. (You may remember the book and article by Owen’s father, eminent journalist Ron Suskind, which inspired the film.)

Watch the trailer, and please share it with your friends.

Here’s what the Washington Post had to say:

Viewers . . . will be grateful for the chance to spend time with Owen, a born leader who’s not only a delightful and memorable leading man, but who radically reframes conventional understanding of the autism spectrum. “Life, Animated” makes fascinating points, about the power of cinema, about meeting our loved ones where they are and, as Ron says, about who gets to decide what constitutes a meaningful life. That is a probing question — and “Life, Animated” provides a bracingly optimistic answer.

 

 

 

 

 

Twenty years ago, Oliver Sacks introduced Temple Grandin to a global audience in his book An Anthropologist on Mars, and since then we have seen so many exciting advances in the scientific understanding of the autism spectrum of conditions. More importantly, our culture is just beginning to embrace the many ways in which people with autism bring very special strengths to us all.

Life, Animated will enrich your life–please go to theaters this weekend to support this life-changing film. If you suffer from political convention overload, we guarantee it, this will make you proud to be a human again.

Awakening the Mind: World Science Festival Tribute to Oliver Sacks

April 26, 2016 / Kate Edgar / News

We are thrilled to announce an upcoming tribute to the remarkable life and work of Dr. Oliver Sacks produced by the World Science Festival. Dr. Sacks, a longtime contributor to the Festival, will be the subject of this year’s opening night event, June 1, 2016 in New York City.

With stories from Dr. Sacks himself, as well as his friends, colleagues, and patients, this multi-media evening of music, image, and language reveals much about this extraordinary man who had an incalculable impact on the worlds of medicine and storytelling.

AWAKENING THE MIND: A Celebration of the Life and Work of Oliver Sacks

Wednesday, June 1, 2016 8:00PM

NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
566 LaGuardia Place, New York, NY 10012
Tickets (general admission) are now on sale.

Do you live outside New York City?  Why not organize an event in your own community to meet other Sacks readers and livestream the program? The WSF will provide your group with free access to the program content, and you can add your own guest speakers or discussion groups. Can you think of a local organization that would like to sponsor an Oliver Sacks night–perhaps a university, school, museum, library, science club or arts organization? Let us know how we can help!

For more information regarding WSF Live streaming partnerships, click here.

Best wishes,
The Sacks Team
On the Move is now in paperback!

On the Move — again!

February 24, 2016 / Kate Edgar / News

Our good friend Steve Silberman (“Neurotribes”) recently listed his five favorite books on autism for FiveBooks.com. He adds this observation about Dr. Sacks’s work:

“Oliver was interested not just in studying what deficits and impairments his patients had, but also in what gave them joy, resilience and a sense of purpose. He would then ally himself with these sources of strength so they could learn to use their potentially devastating conditions as opportunities for adaptation, renewal, reinvention and growth.”

“We already understand the value of biodiversity in a rainforest,” says Silberman. “The same is true of any community of human minds.”

Dr. Sacks’s book Gratitude is still on the New York Times bestseller list, and we thank you all for your support!  It is now available in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, the Netherlands, and Brazil, with more translations coming soon.

On the Move is now available in a beautiful new paperback edition from Vintage Books in the US and Canada, and from Picador in the UK.

The Science Friday Book Club selected On the Move this month, and you can listen to what Maria Popova, Danielle Ofri and others have to say about the book here. Also check out Science Friday’s great website extras about the book.

We at the Oliver Sacks Foundation are on the move, as well. Please write to us at our new office:

The Oliver Sacks Foundation
535 West 23rd Street
Suite SPH2B
New York, New York 10011

Days of Gratitude

December 14, 2015 / Kate Edgar / News
Happy holidays and greetings from the Oliver Sacks Foundation! It has been a remarkable year, one of sadness and joy, but above all, thankfulness for Dr. Sacks’s full and remarkable life.

His newest book, Gratitude, was published last month in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil, with other translations coming soon. It brings together the four inspiring essays written in the final months of his life, in which Dr. Sacks reflects on growing old, coming to terms with mortality, and—most importantly—being thankful for the gift of living one’s own life.

 

Gratitude has been met with wonderful reviews and is already a New York Times bestseller.

Meanwhile, On the Move continues to receive great reviews, and has appeared on a number of year-end “best of” lists. Together, these two books form an exquisite capstone to a truly extraordinary life.

We are grateful to you for sharing this journey with us, and this week, we will launch our #DaysOfGratitude campaign. Over the next two weeks we will feature previously unpublished photos of Dr. Sacks and other features on our social media channels, celebrating the life and work of Dr. Sacks and the impact it has had on various communities across the globe.

What are you grateful for? We invite you to share your own thoughts on life, death, and gratitude on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Wishing you and yours—and the entire planet—a peaceful, healthy, holiday season.

The Sacks Office

PS: Collective thanks to all who have written to us in the last few months—we love hearing from you!

Announcing “Gratitude”

October 25, 2015 / Kate Edgar / News

We are proud to announce the upcoming publication of a new book by Dr. Sacks: titled Gratitude, it brings together in one volume four gemlike essays written over the last two years of his life and first read by millions worldwide in The New York Times.

 

It begins with Dr. Sacks’s essay on turning 80, originally titled “The Joy of Old Age.” In it, he writes that embracing old age has brought “not a shrinking but an enlargement of mental life and perspective.”  Rarely has an essay struck a nerve as this piece did; it was the #1 most e-mailed article in the Times for an entire month.

In January of 2015, only a few weeks after he completed the manuscript of his new memoir, On the Move, Dr. Sacks received the news that a rare, uveal form of melanoma had metastasized to his liver. Within days of the diagnosis, he began writing “My Own Life,” in which he expressed an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. “Above all,” he wrote, “I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.” This essay, too, went viral.

In July, he published “My Periodic Table,” in which he spoke of the sense of awe and eternity inspired by an expansive night sky filled with stars, and about his deep love for science and nature, for metals and elements (“little emblems of eternity”), and for lemurs.

Finally, Gratitude contains Sacks’s last essay, published only two weeks before his death. In “Sabbath,” he writes, “I find my thoughts, increasingly, not on the supernatural or spiritual, but on what is meant by living a good and worthwhile life — achieving a sense of peace within oneself.”

 

Together, these four extraordinary essays form an ode to the uniqueness of each human being and to gratitude for the gift of life.

Gratitude will be published worldwide, in hardcover, e-book, and audiobook formats, beginning November 24. It is available for preorder now from your local bookseller or online bookstore.

A Life Well Lived

August 30, 2015 / Kate Edgar / News
Oliver Sacks, London, May 2015 by Bill Hayes

Oliver Sacks, London, May 2015 by Bill Hayes

Oliver Sacks died early this morning at his home in Greenwich Village, surrounded by his close friends and family. He was 82. He spent his final days doing what he loved—playing the piano, writing to friends, swimming, enjoying smoked salmon, and completing several articles. His final thoughts were of gratitude for a life well lived and the privilege of working with his patients at various hospitals and residences including the Little Sisters of the Poor in the Bronx and in Queens, New York.

Dr. Sacks was writing to the last. On August 14, he published an essay, “Sabbath,” in the New York Times. Two more articles are to be published this week, one in the New York Review of Books and one in the New Yorker.

Oliver Sacks at work, August Photo by Bill Hayes

Oliver Sacks at work, February 2015
Photo by Bill Hayes

Sacks also left several nearly completed books and a vast archive of correspondence, manuscripts, and journals. Before his death Sacks established the Oliver Sacks Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to increasing understanding of the human brain and mind through the power of narrative nonfiction and case histories.

The foundation’s goals include making Dr. Sacks’s published and yet-unpublished writings available to the broadest possible audience, preserving and digitizing materials related to his life and work and making them available for scholarly use, working to reduce the stigma of mental and neurological illness, and supporting a humane approach to neurology and psychiatry.

We at the Sacks office extend our love and sympathies to Dr. Sacks’s partner, Billy Hayes, and we are enormously grateful for the outpouring of love and support from Dr. Sacks’s readers and friends around the world.

With love from

Kate Edgar, Hallie Parker, Yolanda Rueda, Hailey Wojcik, and Kai Furbeck

‹12345›»

Recent Posts

  • A New Oliver Sacks Podcast, Available Now
  • A One-Night-Only U.K. and Ireland Screening of the Oliver Sacks Documentary
  • A classic Oliver Sacks book gets an upgrade.
  • The periodic table in Oliver Sacks’ wallet.
  • Radiolab’s Robert Krulwich, Oliver Sacks documentary on PBS American Masters

Categories

  • Convert
  • Footnotes
  • News

Archives

Search

TELL A FRIEND

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Inspired
  • In News
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Newsletter

©2022 Oliver Sacks, M.D. :: Site by KPFdigital :: Admin Login