736 entries.
Louis Thorne
from Cambridge, United Kingdom
Dear Dr. Sacks,
To read the words and hear the voice of someone with such compassion and intellect makes me feel proud to be a human being.
keetje
from amersfoort
I just read about your terminal illness. I am so sad now but at the same time so grateful of having found and read your books, of seeing some of your adventures on TV (i still love the alliteration of the "Pingelapese population"). Of getting to know a little about the person behind the writings: a very sensitive, loving person. Confirmed by the book "Uncle Tungsten". And now your new book, which I haven't read yet, but am going to, with stories about your personal life. Thanks to your loving and respectful way of writing about people with "strange" afflictions, I learned to see and judge differently, with a much kinder heart. I see in you writing this last book the same gentleness: you are letting us know that you are going, like Freddy Mercury in "the show must go on". I wish you much love, and thank you for being you.
Luc
from Hacienda heights
Dear Dr Sacks,
I wish I had the opportunity to meet you. Thank you so much for your works, energy, enthusiasm, love of discovery and sharing of yourself. Your contribution to society create an ongoing springboard for other great minds to build upon the wellspring you have created. You have become part of so many peoples' minds and hearts. Thank you, with great respect and affection, Luci
Grant B
from Townsed, DE
Oliver Sacks has made a profoundly positive impact on my life. Not only have I enjoyed his writings, but they have inspired me to think seriously about the human condition.
The world is better because we have Oliver Sacks in it.
David Johnson MD
from Eden Prairie, MN
Dr. Sacks --
A heartfelt thanks for all your writing, thinking and sharing with us over the years. I regret the fact that I will never be able to meet you. I've shared stories of your patients (especially The Man Who Mistook) with patients in my family practice clinic, with my kids, my wife, and how they reveal the wonders of the human brain.
I fervently hope for your comfort, and that you are surrounded by those who love you in the coming days.
David
Dina
from Moscow, Russia
Dear Dr Sacks, thank you for your work and your great books. I wish the world had more people like you.
Peter Wright
from Upper Moutere, New Zealand
Dear Dr Sacks
You have been one of the giants. You have lifted us up so that we see further and more clearly. A constant presence in my life through your works, it is so sad to imagine a world without you. May your days, however many they be, continue to be filled with the joy, insight, laughter, humanity and humility that you have shared with us, your readers, over the decades. You have touched us all, changed us all, and made the world a better place.
With my sincere gratitude
Peter Wright
Greg Meissner
from San Jose, CA
Dr. Sacks, Please know that your stories and interviews have truly added to my life. Following your example I have developed a great curiosity about the way the brain works; first as a chiropractor and now as a school dean, working with kids (many with Asperger's, Autism, Tourette's and some fairly average). Each of them are fascinating. Like you I am also gay. I suppose this is one more connection that I feel with you. But overall you have taught me to approach others with understanding, calm, and heart. Please know that a small part of you resides within me, and that I am just one of many people who feel this way. I mean this.
Greg Meißner
Duane Delestienne
from Jefferson
Thank you!
Rose Justice
from St. Augustine
Dear Dr. Sacks,
Ten years ago this, I graduated Gallaudet University. You were our commencement speaker. I don't remember much that day, but I do remember the feelings of excitement at being able to hear you.
I have read so many of your books that it felt like I was about to meet a mentor. Or to quote the Muppets in The Rainbow Connection, "There's not a word yet /For old friends that just met." When I heard the latest piece Robert Krulwich did for Radiolab, I cried. Therefore, I just wanted to let you know, I love you. You have touched my life and I am a much better person for it.
Godspeed, Dr. Sacks.
Daniel Dugour
from Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Dear Professor Sacks,
Today an article about you in a Dutch newspaper revealed the sad news of your impending death to me. I am very sorry to see you leave this world, it will become a lot less interesting. Thank you very much for the interesting fun you gave me through your books and TV series. The way you approach people is an example to me. It is a pleasure to know about you, and I wish you strength, and as much happiness as you can possibly cram into the time you have left.
Best regards,
Daniel
Stephanie Browning Burrow
from Oak Park, IL
Dr. Sacks,
My philosophical tapestry would unravel if I took out your thread. The story of your father playing music in his mind as he read the score is the single most elegant explanation of my life's pursuit. It echoed an idea I'd been working on like a puzzle that just won't quit.
I am a jazz singer, based in Chicago. In 1998 I had a violent brainstorm: I saw myself flying through a song like a bird through the sky dipping and soaring through the melody along with other birds in harmonic relationship to me, like a flock of starlings. I was inspired to create a video game that would teach music in a non-verbal way so I could share this experience with others and do it at will. This is what your father was able to do unaided. Of course this was long before smart phones and apps, even before Guitar Hero, so it seemed out of reach to make a video game but I pursued the idea, I read, and researched, and turned it over in my mind.
Your work and words inspired me to take my intuition seriously and pursue this puzzle as a life's work; in 2010 your Musical Mind documentary inspired me to take my ideas even further and I volunteered at a sheltered workshop for developmentally disabled adults. Long story short - for the past three years I've been applying my musical non-verbal methods with a population of over 100 adults with developmental disabilities, using the colors and shapes I developed. The results have been very good.
One of my students said, "I don't know why it's sticking, but it's sticking," meaning the ideas were sticking in her mind. Now she can play chords from memory and we've seen increased motor function of the fingers on both hands. She is one of many students, who never played before, that now can play the piano, they start with one finger and learn to command all five, and now they are playing together. It is not therapy so they don't dread it; it's music so they can't wait!
It's so exciting to see the neurology of music repair and delight the brain right before your eyes. It really works! If I could do it with children who have cognitive disabilities I think it could produce meaningful results. You encouraged me to try for something big, and to believe in the mysterious and magical (and medical?) power of music.
Anyway . . . the point is you are a beacon of curiosity, integrity, courage and purpose, radiating compassion and humor and I thank you for your lifetime of generosity and your wonderful fearless brain.
With all my heart,
Stephanie Browning Burrow
Diane
from New York
Thank you, Dr. Sacks. The stories you share fascinate me -- and remind me of what a unique and amazing organ the brain is. Wishing you all the best.
martin van der plas
from IJzendijke, The Netherlands
Dear Dr Sacks,
Over the years you have moved and inspired me with through your books and television appearances and in this way you have become an important person and scholar in my personal and professional life (as teacher and teacher's teacher). Through this message I want to express my intense gratitude for everything you undertook to share.
Sincerely yours,
Martin van der Plas
Christine Wasiak
from Vancouver, Canada
My biblio love affair with Dr. Sacks started so long ago. After subscribing for many years to Discovery magazine as a teen, I watched the film Awakenings and was fascinated immediately by Dr. Sacks. From there I read Anthropologist on Mars and was able to understand many things and people in my life thanks to Dr. Sacks. My husband buys me his books the moment they are released. I am so grateful to this compassionately articulate scientist, author and incredible human being.
Chris
from Frankfurt, Germany
Thank you, Dr. Sacks!
Rachel
from Watford, UK
Dear Oliver,
In reading a review of your new book, On The Move (already asked my husband to buy it for Christmas for me!) it mentioned your diagnosis so I just wanted to take the time to say thank you.
Thank you for all your books, I still have a few to read, but many are on my shelves and all have added to my knowledge and understanding of such of breadth of humanity's diversity.
Thank you for all the TV programmes you made too, all so accessible and interesting and yet able to convey complexity.
Thank you too for sharing your knowledge and experiences; when filling in the necessary paperwork about all that my autistic daughter can't do I have to remind myself of all she can do and all she gives us with her differences, and that mind set is so much easier having read your work since my teenage years to the present day.
Thank you for so clearly being a giver and a contributor to life and all who meet you either as a patient or in the wider world and a legacy of having touched hearts and minds.
Thank you.
Rachel
betty ann samson
from Atlanta, GA
Dear Dr. Sacks,
Your article in The New Yorker, Dec 27, 1993 - An Anthropologist on Mars was one of the best things to ever happen to my family. I read the article and finally knew the diagnosis of my younger brother. He was soon after diagnosed by TEACCH at the University of North Carolina. He became a client of this wonderful program.
He is now 63 years old and his life is immeasurably better thanks to you.
I will be eternally grateful.
Sincerely,
Betty Ann Samson
Bethany
from Prescott, AZ
Dear Dr. Sacks,
I wish you an eternity of seeing indigo. The world has been a better place to have had you in it.
Miss Carol Badger
from Warwickshire, UK
Dear Dr Sacks,
I have enjoyed and was very much fascinated by your books. 'The man who mistook his wife for a hat ' helped me to understand my experiences much as you described, having had a clot to the brain which left me short term blind.
I now look forward to your reading your memoir.
Thank You and God Bless. xx
