Oliver Sacks on Drugs
August 22, 2012 12:18 PM Subscribe
Any questions?
posted by shakespeherian at 12:33 PM on August 22, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by shakespeherian at 12:33 PM on August 22, 2012 [3 favorites]
First comment at the link:
I want to hear Oliver and not wait for a long gratuitous review of the current issue; if I cannot get the interview I'm interested in, I'll never again access your outloud feature. I'm cursing now!
posted by Obscure Reference at 12:37 PM on August 22, 2012 [3 favorites]
I want to hear Oliver and not wait for a long gratuitous review of the current issue; if I cannot get the interview I'm interested in, I'll never again access your outloud feature. I'm cursing now!
posted by Obscure Reference at 12:37 PM on August 22, 2012 [3 favorites]
Sacks on Drugs? Where's the Rock 'n' Roll?
posted by benito.strauss at 12:38 PM on August 22, 2012 [8 favorites]
posted by benito.strauss at 12:38 PM on August 22, 2012 [8 favorites]
Apologizes for over hasty post. THanks Uncleozzy.
posted by stonepharisee at 12:42 PM on August 22, 2012
posted by stonepharisee at 12:42 PM on August 22, 2012
That was tantilisingly short...
posted by BobsterLobster at 12:45 PM on August 22, 2012
posted by BobsterLobster at 12:45 PM on August 22, 2012
Awake-and-Bakenings
The Man Who Mistook His White Lines for a Qat
posted by argonauta at 12:52 PM on August 22, 2012 [6 favorites]
The Man Who Mistook His White Lines for a Qat
posted by argonauta at 12:52 PM on August 22, 2012 [6 favorites]
Ahh yes. I've often remarked on the visceral intensity of Christian Tetzlaff's interpretation of Brahms' violin concerto. Don't we all find that there is a visceral intensity to Christian Tetzlaff's interpretation of Brahms' violin vconcerto?
That sounded just as I had always suspected The New Yorker would sound
posted by Ad hominem at 12:57 PM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
That sounded just as I had always suspected The New Yorker would sound
posted by Ad hominem at 12:57 PM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
I've actually just started reading Musicophilia, which I fear will take me ages to actually finish. As interesting as Sacks' subject matter is, I often find his writing both too dry and too whimsically-personal for my taste. But I keep on reading because it really is fascinating.
It must have been utterly mind-blowing to be a neurologist with his talent for thoughtful introspection in the psycho-pharmacological hotbed of the 1960s (and, certainly, I can understand how he might have found it somewhat dangerous).
Plus, his aside about whether or not it's still called a "joint" is wonderful.
posted by uncleozzy at 1:05 PM on August 22, 2012
It must have been utterly mind-blowing to be a neurologist with his talent for thoughtful introspection in the psycho-pharmacological hotbed of the 1960s (and, certainly, I can understand how he might have found it somewhat dangerous).
Plus, his aside about whether or not it's still called a "joint" is wonderful.
posted by uncleozzy at 1:05 PM on August 22, 2012
I recently reached the part in his last book, Mind's Eye, where he casually mentions (in a footnote!) how his pot smoking has interacted with his loss of stereo vision following his ocular melanoma.
posted by danny the boy at 1:21 PM on August 22, 2012
posted by danny the boy at 1:21 PM on August 22, 2012
I read the accompanying article (sadly behind a paywall) last night. Earlier in the day, however, without knowing he had an article in this week's issue of the New Yorker I came across a piece of his from 1982 on longform.org about how he almost died after breaking his leg during a hike and how he survived. Fascinating stuff, and not entirely in the vein of his other writing.
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 1:27 PM on August 22, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 1:27 PM on August 22, 2012 [2 favorites]
If you enjoyed that article, I recommend reading the book that it turned into: A Leg To Stand On
posted by danny the boy at 1:35 PM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by danny the boy at 1:35 PM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
I want to hear Oliver and not wait for a long gratuitous review of the current issue; if I cannot get the interview I'm interested in, I'll never again access your outloud feature. I'm cursing now!
Sir, please coöperate
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:42 PM on August 22, 2012 [8 favorites]
Sir, please coöperate
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:42 PM on August 22, 2012 [8 favorites]
He may mention this in the article (which I can't access), but one of the vignettes in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is about a man ("Stephen D.") whose sense of smell is temporarily heightened after a drug bender. I read later (maybe in another one of his books?) that Stephen D. was actually....Oliver Sacks. The story's here. (I hope that link works.)
posted by granted at 3:33 PM on August 22, 2012 [5 favorites]
posted by granted at 3:33 PM on August 22, 2012 [5 favorites]
How fascinating (about Oliver Sacks being the man with a heightened sense of smell)- I remember that story being particularly vividly described.
posted by BobsterLobster at 5:23 PM on August 22, 2012
posted by BobsterLobster at 5:23 PM on August 22, 2012
I thought the article was fascinating, and was going to FPP it only it wasn't available for general consumption so I didn't, and I was sad because there wouldn't be any way to share it with the MeFites.
And now this has been posted, and I'm happy!
posted by hippybear at 5:36 PM on August 22, 2012
And now this has been posted, and I'm happy!
posted by hippybear at 5:36 PM on August 22, 2012
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posted by BobsterLobster at 12:21 PM on August 22, 2012