Oliver Sacks "Anthropologist on Mars".

Author: Oliver Sacks Original title: An Anthropologist on Mars Genre: popular science Medical topics: neurology, color blindness, tics, autism Year of first publication: 1995 (worldwide), 1999 (Poland) Description: Patients with neurological conditions are travelers through extraordinary realms—so believes Dr. Oliver Sacks, and guided by this idea, he follows his patients to discover the uncharted lands of their minds. To do this, he leaves his white coat at the hospital and gets to know his patients in their everyday reality, so different and yet so similar to the reality of ordinary people. Together with him, we visit, among others, a color-blind painter, a surgeon suffering from Tourette’s syndrome, and an autistic woman who is a professor at Colorado State University. And though these combinations seem impossible to us, they are nevertheless a testament to the fact that these individuals, despite significant neurological impairments, are able to find within themselves the strength that makes life and survival easier in conditions that are not necessarily favorable to them. The most beautiful thing about this book (as in virtually every book by Dr. Oliver Sacks) is that the patients are described in a personal and empathetic manner. Between the lines, Dr. Sacks conveys a certain truth: that in every person, one must see a Human Being.