And How Are You, Dr. Sacks?

A Biographical Memoir of Oliver Sacks

By: Lawrence Weschler

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Lawrence Weschler sets Oliver Sacks' brilliant table talk and extravagant personality in vivid relief, casting himself as a beanpole Sancho to Sacks' capacious Quixote. We see Sacks rowing and ranting and caring deeply; composing the essays that would form The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat; recalling his turbulent drug-fueled younger days; helping his patients and exhausting his friends; and waging intellectual war against a medical and scientific establishment that failed to address his greatest concern: the spontaneous specificity of the individual human soul. And all the while he is pouring out a stream of glorious, ribald, hilarious, and often profound conversation that establishes him as one of the great talkers of the age.

Here is the definitive portrait of Sacks as our preeminent romantic scientist, a self-described "clinical ontologist" whose entire practice revolved around the single fundamental question he effectively asked each of his patients: How are you? Which is to say, how do you be?

A question which Weschler, with this audiobook, turns back on the good doctor himself.

©2019 Lawrence Weschler (P)2019 Tantor

Great story but hardly any women

I read this biography because I have followed Oliver Sacks’ work for years. Lawrence Weschler wrote an engaging memoir. Very well researched. Worth reading. Sad that so few women or people of color are part of the story. There are a few health care workers or assistants who go by first names only and play very minor roles. Weschler’s daughter, Sacks’ god daughter, appears by first name only as well. Not surprisingly, Sacks’ mother, an accomplished surgeon , plays a sinister role. I guess women didn’t matter much to Oliver Sacks or to Weschler. That changed my opinion of both men. Very dispiriting to women. Audible please stop using narrators who lampoon women’s voices. Ghastly! We don’t sound like that except to bigoted men.

Rambling and scattershot

For some of Sacks' biggest fans, and for scholars, this may be a worthwhile book, but for me, it seemed too rambling and scattershot to heartily recommend. It does provide a lot of detail and nuance about Sacks' life and personality, but in a very non-linear way. We are talking to Sacks in a diner about his college years. Now we are talking to an old friend of Sacks about his eccentricities.We are talking to Sacks in a rowboat about his writing of "Awakenings" (or something). It is very meandering and episodic. Some interesting anecdotes along the way, but not exactly riveting for most listeners. Most of Sacks' own books are probably a better read.

Excellent and Exceptional

Oliver Sacks was an extraordinary human. This book is a beautifully honest, thoughtful work written with loving care and fascinating details-both good and bad bits-of a complicated man and his complicated patients.

Abridged version please

I have enjoyed all of the Weschler books and essays I have read previously. This book lacked the aha moment of discovery that he often provides and seems to be more about a complete reckoning of 30 years of interviews and notes. It exhausted me. Indeed!

Buying physical book

Jon Davis does it a disservice. But he’s probably a kind man! Is this 15

Avoid audible version

While this may be a great book, it is extremely difficult to listen to in the audible version. Between the author’s narrative, interviewing various characters and then narrating Sacks information all at once made me very confused. I imagine the written version would be easier to follow.