On the Move: A Life (Paperback)

Description

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INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A “wonderful memoir” (Los Angeles Times) about a brilliantly unconventional physician and writer, a man who has illuminated the many ways that the brain makes us human. • “Intimate.... Brim[s] with life and affection.” —The New York Times

When Oliver Sacks was twelve years old, a perceptive schoolmaster wrote: “Sacks will go far, if he does not go too far.” It is now abundantly clear that Sacks has never stopped going. With unbridled honesty and humor, Sacks writes about the passions that have driven his life—from motorcycles and weight lifting to neurology and poetry. He writes about his love affairs, both romantic and intellectual; his guilt over leaving his family to come to America; his bond with his schizophrenic brother; and the writers and scientists—W. H. Auden, Gerald M. Edelman, Francis Crick—who have influenced his work.

About the Author

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OLIVER SACKS was the author of twelve previous books, including The Mind’s Eye, Musicophilia, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and Awakenings (which inspired both the Oscar-nominated film and a play by Harold Pinter). The New York Times referred to Dr. Sacks as “the poet laureate of medicine,” and he was a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books. He lived in New York City, where he was a professor of neurology at the NYU School of Medicine. He died in 2015.

Praise For…

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A New York Times Notable Book

One of the Best Books of the Year: NPR, San Francisco Chronicle, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, BookPage, Slate, Men’s Journal

“Intimate. . . . Brim[s] with life and affection.” —The New York Times

“[A] wonderful memoir, which richly demonstrates what an extraordinary life it has been. . . . A fascinating account—a sort of extended case study, really—of Sacks’ remarkably active, iconoclastic adulthood.” —Los Angeles Times

“A glorious memoir. . . . In this volume Sacks opens himself to recognition, much as he has opened the lives of others to being recognized in their fullness.” —The Atlantic

“Pulses with his distinctive energy and curiosity.” —The New York Review of Books

“A beautiful vision, one that embraces an infinite spectrum of wonder. . . . On the Move illustrates what an exceptional human being he is. . . . He is fascinated by seemingly everything, and, damn, the man can write.” —Salon

“Marvelous. . . . He studies himself as he has studied others: compassionately, unblinkingly, intelligently, acceptingly and honestly.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Sacks’ ability to enact and celebrate intuition in medicine and precision in art is singular.” —The New York Times Book Review

“[Sacks is] a wonderful storyteller. . . . It’s his keen attentiveness as a listener and observer, and his insatiable curiosity, that makes his work so powerful.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Remarkably candid and deeply affecting. . . . Sacks’s empathy and intellectual curiosity, his delight in, as he calls it, ‘joining particulars with generalities’ and, especially, ‘narratives with neuroscience’—have never been more evident than in his beautifully conceived new book.” —The Boston Globe

“Intriguing. . . . When describing his patients and their problems, he is attentive and precise, straightforward and sympathetic, and he brings these worthy qualities to his descriptions of his younger self.” —The Washington Post

“A compelling read. . . . Offers a glimpse into one of the greatest minds of our time.” —Men’s Journal

“What a self this book reveals! A man animated by boundless curiosity, wide-ranging intelligence, gratitude for flawed humanity, perseverance despite setbacks. . . . We’re lucky to have all the books, including On the Move. It’s intensely, beautifully, incandescently alive.” —Newsday

“An ebullient telling of a remarkable life.” —Paste

“This remarkable man lifts us all. . . . [On the Move] is not only a record of his life-affirming characterological extravagance but also a meditation on what it is to be human in an age of medical arrogance and the numbing clout of technology.” —The Los Angeles Review of Books

“An unforgettably passionate, joyous journey.” —The Daily Beast

“[A] beautifully constructed and moving memoir. . . . His life and work are a gift.” —The Times Literary Supplement (London)

“Moving. . . . Written with exceptional grace and clarity.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch