This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:
Book Description
From the best-selling author of Musicophilia and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, a provocative investigation into hallucinations—auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory—their many guises, their physiological sources, and their personal and cultural resonances.
Hallucinations, for most people, imply madness. But there are many different types of non-psychotic hallucination caused by various illnesses or injuries, by intoxication—even, for many people, by falling sleep. From the elementary geometrical shapes that we see when we rub our eyes to the complex swirls and blind spots and zigzags of a visual migraine, hallucination takes many forms. At a higher level, hallucinations associated with the altered states of consciousness that may come with sensory deprivation or certain brain disorders can lead to religious epiphanies or conversions. Drawing on a wealth of clinical examples from his own patients as well as historical and literary descriptions, Oliver Sacks investigates the fundamental differences and similarities of these many sorts of hallucinations, what they say about the organization and structure of our brains, how they have influenced every culture's folklore and art, and why the potential for hallucination is present in us all.
Hallucinations, for most people, imply madness. But there are many different types of non-psychotic hallucination caused by various illnesses or injuries, by intoxication—even, for many people, by falling sleep. From the elementary geometrical shapes that we see when we rub our eyes to the complex swirls and blind spots and zigzags of a visual migraine, hallucination takes many forms. At a higher level, hallucinations associated with the altered states of consciousness that may come with sensory deprivation or certain brain disorders can lead to religious epiphanies or conversions. Drawing on a wealth of clinical examples from his own patients as well as historical and literary descriptions, Oliver Sacks investigates the fundamental differences and similarities of these many sorts of hallucinations, what they say about the organization and structure of our brains, how they have influenced every culture's folklore and art, and why the potential for hallucination is present in us all.
About the Author
OLIVER SACKS is a practicing physician and the author of ten books, including The Mind's Eye, Musicophilia,The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and Awakenings (which inspired the Oscar-nominated film). He lives in New York City, where he is a professor of neurology and psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center and the first Columbia University Artist.
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Oh wow, this sounds really interesting! Hallucinations are such strange things so a book about it should be a good thing! Thanks for sharing!
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Juli @ Universe in Words
Great pick. I will have to look this one up. Happy Reading.
ReplyDeleteJenea @ Books Live Forever
http://booksliveforever.com/?p=1952
This sounds really interesting. Hallucinations are definitely interesting subject matter. Thanks for the introduction. My WOW...
ReplyDeleteI do like the sound of this book, Great pick! might have to add it to my neverending list.
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