Book 17 The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks fulfilled the “Book with More Than Twenty Letters in Its Title” category of the PopSugar 2020 Reading Challenge. In fact, it has fifty-one letters. And that’s the best thing I can say about the book.

We all know I’m not a huge non-fiction fan, though I love psychology. In my younger days, I read Sybil and then later the book that refuted Sybil, and other case study books about personality disorders. Not a ton, but enough. I prefer my non-fiction to be narrative. I had high hopes for this one—from its interesting title, the subject, the high rating on Goodreads, and all the praise showered on a thirty-five-year-old book. It took me six weeks to read the 233-page thing.

So, to stop focusing on the negative, there were many fascinating cases in the book, most dealing with right-brain injuries and the manifestation of symptoms that result. The memory loss section was interesting and sad, describing patients/clients who had lost their memories or time or sizable chunks of their lives. (I thought of 50 First Dates, which is awful because that movie played up taking advantage of a person with a brain injury, but I love Barrymore and Sandler together so…I’m a terrible person.) I can’t imagine waking up each day, each hour, not knowing where or when I was. Some of the patients lived for years with these conditions and suffered. Some made the most of it. I’m not sure I could handle it.

Another interesting section focused on talents someone with either autism or brain injury might have. It was not all cases of idiot savant, but these stories told of overcoming the assumed way of thinking about intelligence/gifts and finding joy and enjoyment. One young lady was a natural-born actress, another loved music. One of my favorite parts what the patient’s confession that he must have Bach in his life. I love that. The section tried to steer away from the “party trick” quality of the talent to the person.

My biggest criticism was the author failed to connect with the patients and connect us to them through his writing. The entire book was cold and distant. I understand as a doctor the need to keep back, but to engage the reader—make them feel—we needed to connect with the clients.

He also played up the psychobabble—over-using terms and referring to past neurologists and psychologists. The book seemed to be written for the Psych student, not the layman. His style lacked and he could have used a good editor. But its entry on Goodreads has a four-star rating. I’m confused.

      Anyway, I give The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales Three Hats