Pick Up And How Are You, Dr. Sacks?: A Biographical Memoir Of Oliver Sacks Fashioned By Lawrence Weschler Issued As EPub

it's not like I'd never heard of Oliver Sacks, And I suppose I had a vague intention to read himsomeday, possibly in my dotage which shall, incidentally, also be filled with Dickens, But it wasn't an active desire until I went to a talk Lawrence Weschler whose book sitelinkEverything that Rises I found oddly brilliant gave about this project, his Oliver Sacks memoir.
I did read sitelinkAn Anthropologist on Mars to give myself some orientation before Weschler's book came out, but otherwise I'm a Sacks newbie Awakenings with Robin Williams notwithstanding.


And I really liked this "biographical memoir, " It centers around the period in the earlys before Sacks became really famous, when Weschler was going to write a profile of him for The New Yorker.
Weschler abandoned the project when Sacks asked him to Sacks was very skittish about being outed as a homosexual, They remained friends until Sacks's death, before which Sacks urged Weschler to continue with the now decadesabandoned project,

Weschler paints the portrait of a complicated personan imaginative and attentive doctor a survivor of a traumatic childhood and an amphetaminefueled twenties and thirties a clumsy, awkward, illkempt bear of a man a man conflicted by his sexuality, who opted to remain celibate for thirtyfive years a paranoid neurotic, highly selfabsorbed a talented writer.
It's all handled with tremendous empathy and insight, I get that Sacks's own writings cover a lot of this ground, and there's magic to hearing it from the horse's mouth, but I also think that selfpresentation can obscure things, especially for someone like Sacks.


All this to say: you don't have to be deeply familiar with Sacks to enjoy this wonderfully written, sensitive, and compelling biography, And even if you are, there's value in seeing him rendered by an intimate, This book is not as interesting or revealing as Oliver Sacks own autobiography, I was struck on how the author was asked not to out Oliver's homosexuality/nonsexuality, Instead of dealing with it even upon his death, it seems a missing element, Theyear relationship at the end of his life remains private which is fine, However, Oliver really started to shine once he was dying and in love,

The author does reveal the difficulties of dying with his daughter's personal heartache, I am certain this was actually a testament of how important she was in Oliver's life, I had a violin teacher that I was close to and never understood how special our relationship was until I was the only student invited to his funeral.


Barely worth reading but well written prose,
I reaceived this copy of And How Are You, Dr, Sacks from Farrar, Straus and Giroux through Netgalley,

The quickest way I can describe this book is an interview and a friendship that spanned overyears,

Weschler's affection for Sacks shines through but somehow manages not to come off as a kissup,

Chock with fascinating interviews this book is a must read for Sacks fans, Boring! I would rather read a book by Dr, Sacks than a book about him, I first starting reading Oliver Sacks in college and grew to appreciate his humane approach to medicine and science, Aspects of

his work, like Jane Goodall's were pointed to as problematic but both have provided great insight into the depth and breadth of what can be philosophically called the soul.


Lawrence Weschler's book shines a light on Sacks in a way that continues in the spirit of Sacks' accounts of his patients, One can see why Sacks had the patience to delve deeper into the lives of people that other doctors were uninterested in exploring beyond the surface, The exploration of Sacks is compassionate without trying to conceal his aspects of his character that were brittle or difficult, It helps that Weschler became Sacks' friend over the years and was able to know him beyond interviews for a profile, Although the Biography/Memoir is focused on Sacks it is a wonderful place to start for anyone interested in the questions of modern medicine, the difficulties of the current system and the type of commitment that a different type of medicine necessitates.


Can't wait to read this again! Originally published on my blog: sitelinkNonstop Reader,

And How Are You, Dr, Sacks is an intricately crafted, honest, and fascinating memoir and biography of sitelinkDr, Oliver Sacks by nonfiction titan sitelinkLawrence Weschler, Releasedth Aug by Macmillan on their sitelinkFarrar, Straus amp Giroux imprint, it'spages and available in hardcover, ebook, and audio formats,

The point for me with biography is that the book captures the voice of the subject, This book really made Oliver Sacks live for me, The author had an enduring friendship and access to Dr, Sacks over decades. Additionally, he had detailed notes and interviews with friends and acquaintances as well as papers, journals, and letters,

I was familiar with Dr, Sacks through his works, Awakenings, and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and thought at the time that he would be a fascinating person to know.
This book has cemented that to a certainty, What a fascinating man he was!

In a lot of ways, Sacks reminded me of sitelinkRichard Feynman, both polymaths, both incredibly brilliant, both quite odd in a lot of ways, brutally unwittingly honest, especially with people.
There's also a lot of wit and humor here, The retelling of him being in a rage and, in the absence of alcohol, chugging a bottle of Worcestershire sauce which made him hiccup violently, made me giggle out loud.


This is a brilliant biography and is told with honesty, kindness, and warmth, The author is a prodigiously talented writer and the prose even with difficult or sad subjects is written with generosity and fairness, The story of his and his brother's experiences as children at boarding school moved me to tears,

Five. I recommend it unreservedly to lovers of biography, science bio, nonfiction, medical bios, etc,

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes,.stars.

As I endI've determined that I should be writing reviews, along with thinking more critically, about the books I read heading into the new year.
This inspiration popped during the reading of this book, so even with the lukewarm starring, it had its impacts on my life, Enough about me editor's note: everything that follows is about me,

As to the book itself, I grabbed this book off of the shelf at the library when noting that Dr, Sacks looked an awful lot like Robin Williams, Turns out he's the doctor from Awakenings and that's some good casting: at least in the looks department, All of this to say, I had no idea who this dude was, and I had never heard of the author before,

So maybe I'm not the person to rely on for a good review of this book,

Somehow I didn't particularly enjoy the book and also came away looking forward to reading books by Oliver Sacks himself, as well as others by this author.
The stilted nature of the writing, in biographical form, never quite landed for me, It's not you, it's me Mr, Weschler.

Still, Weschler's obvious affection for Oliver is quite impactful, I often enjoyed the sections of the book written entirely in his point of view, while never really latching on to much, if any, of the text coming directly from Oliver Sacks.


A powerful story is here to be consumed by someone and that someone was not me, Or was it.