Book description
'Sacks has written a book about a leg - his leg - but it is also a
story about the nature of selfhood' New York Review of Books When OIiver
Sacks, a physician by profession, injured his leg while climbing a
mountain, he found himself in an unusual position - that of patient. The
injury itself was severe, but straightforward to fix; the psychological
effects, however, were far less easy to predict, explain or resolve:
Sacks experienced paralysis and an inability to perceive his leg as his
own, instead seeing it as some kind of alien and inanimate object, over
which he had no control. A Leg to Stand On is both an account of Sacks'
ordeal and subsequent recovery, and an exploration of the ways in which
mind and body are inextricably linked. 'In every way a marvellously rich
and thoughtful tale' Sunday Telegraph 'Oliver Sacks is a neurologist, a
man of humane eloquence, and a genuine communicator. The value of this
book lies in its willingness to combine the technical and the demonic,
to admit poetry and philosophy and the religious impulse. It is also
intensely personal, and affirms the community of human experience'
Observer
Oliver Sacks is a physician and the author of ten previous books,
including most recently, Musicophilia. He lives in New York
City, where he is Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at Columbia
University. He is the first, and only, Columbia University Artist, and
is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. In 2008, he was
appointed Commander of the British Empire.
