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Hallucinations

Oliver Sacks

Start date: April 1, 2013

Finish date: April 30, 2013

Discussion: Book Club 2013

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Book Club 2013

December 2013: "The Strangest Man"
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last updated Jan 03, 2016 10:51AM

June 2013 - Cosmos
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May 17, 2015 Petra X rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015-reviews, psycho-neurology-crime, 2015-read

Hallucinations come in more varieties than you can possibly imagine - and Sacks details them all, exhaustively so, whether they are visual, tactile, audio or more rarely of smell and a combination of any of them. He details the causes whether it is an organic brain problem, temporary or permanent, or a more generalised reaction (dehydration and exhaustion), unwanted or deliberate - drugs. Almost more than you might want to know.

The "best" sort of hallucinations, are those that feel absolutely re Hallucinations come in more varieties than you can possibly imagine - and Sacks details them all, exhaustively so, whether they are visual, tactile, audio or more rarely of smell and a combination of any of them. He details the causes whether it is an organic brain problem, temporary or permanent, or a more generalised reaction (dehydration and exhaustion), unwanted or deliberate - drugs. Almost more than you might want to know.

The "best" sort of hallucinations, are those that feel absolutely real and pleasurable but you know aren't, so you know you are quite sane. A good example of this was an old woman freed of Parkinson's who begins to hallucinate erotic episodes on a regular basis. She knows they are hallucinations but enjoys them so much that she sets aside time for them.

Synchronicity - I recently read Nellie Bly's 10 Days in a Madhouse where she, a journalist, pretended to be crazy to get into a madhouse to report on it. None of the patients were taken in by her but all the doctors were and she couldn't get out of her own accord. In Hallucinations, there is an anecdote about eight researchers who went to A&E and reported hearing voices. All were sent to the psychiatric ward - schizophrenia - and as with Nellie Bly, all the doctors but none of the patients were fooled as to the sanity of the researchers. What does this tell you? Nothing good, right? You don't have to be schizophrenic or in any way psychotic to hear voices. Hallucinations might well have an organic cause.

One of the most interesting points of the book is to do with Dostoyevsky and his book, The Idiot. Dostoyevsky was an epileptic subject to a type of vision called "ecstatic hallucinations" just before his fits. These ecstatic hallucinations are much liked and sought after by those who experience them and depending on the person can be interpreted as religious in nature. This apparently influenced The Idiot who was also an epileptic.

One person detailed by Sacks had ecstatic religious hallucinations very often and converted to sixteen different religions before ending up with an ecstatic atheist hallucination which is where he ended up. It is speculated that Joan of Arc and many other historical figures claiming out-of-this-world religious experiences may also have been subject to this hallucination.

The other most interesting point in this book is that of phantom limbs. We've all heard of people who've had a limb amputated and continue to feel it, but I have never heard how useful this is. When an amputee gets a prosthethetic limb they are able to use that feeling of the phantom limb to incorporate the prosthetic one in a much more natural and useful way. This is why some people can do amazing feats with artificial limbs.

What was also interesting but very creepy really is that some people who have been born without one or more limbs also feel these missing arms and legs. It is as if the brain knows where something should be and does its part, but there's nothing corporeal for it to act on, so it just feels.

All in all a very interesting book covering everything from migraine auras, through drug experiences - Sacks tries everything, enjoys most things and details perhaps too many of them in the book - to organic misfunctionings of the brain as well as mind. Worth reading even if I did drift off a bit with some of the physical brain descriptions. Maybe you have to be a neurologist to appreciate those.

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Mar 26, 2013 David Rubenstein rated it liked it

Shelves: psychology, medicine

This book is a comprehensive review of all types of hallucinations. It is packed with case histories of people with a relatively common condition called the Charles Bonnet Syndrome, as well as hallucinations induced by Parkinson's, migraines, deliriums, narcolepsy, sensory deprivation, and hauntings. The multitude of descriptions of hallucinations gives the reader the idea that hallucinations are not all that rare--and this might be true. It is clear that hallucinations are under-reported, becau ...more

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Jan 23, 2018 JZ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: aubk, favorites, read-2018, non-fiction, science

I understand so many more aspects of my brain damage from reading this and "Blink." There's so much to learn about who we really are and what we really see and know. No wonder I studied philosophy in college. I'm remembering it all, and learning even more. Fantastic book. A great reference, and so very readable and clear. There are way too many unreadable books out there by educated men who can't explain anything simply. This book is a pleasure to listen to. ...more

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Jan 09, 2017 Mary rated it really liked it

Shelves: science

In Hallucinations, neurologist and writer, Oliver Sacks explains and examines some of the causes of hallucinations. He begins by describing Charles Bonnet Syndrome and ends with a discussion of phantom limbs. He uses his own experiences treating patients and corresponding with the public to describe certain conditions. He also uses examples from literature, other physicians' case studies, and the experiences of well known people.

If you are interested in the workings of the brain, it's diseases ...more

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Apr 20, 2013 Erica rated it it was amazing

Fascinating stuff. This is the second book by Oliver Sacks I've read, and based on these (the other was Island of the Colorblind), I can't wait to read more. I especially enjoyed reading about sleep paralysis and "night-mare". ...more

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Jan 12, 2017 Holli rated it really liked it

Shelves: listened-to-it

Fascinating. Some chapters were more interesting to me then others. Overall, I found it very interesting and I learned a lot about the brain and hallucinations. :)

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Oct 28, 2013 Timothy Finucane rated it liked it · review of another edition

This book is a good look at all the various ways the human brain can manifest hallucinations and the conditions under which it can occur. It was truly interesting to discover all of the situations with which hallucinations can occur, and just how real some of them can appear. It is a real eye opener for anyone who may have loved ones with some of the conditions mentioned in the book.

While the book does a very good job laying out all of the first hand experiences of the author and those he's inte

...more

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Jun 28, 2013 Kathy rated it liked it

Shelves: x-jan-17-thru-dec-17, read-non-fiction, read-science, x-feb-13-thru-jan14, read-twice

Ah, the brain is a wonderful and awe-ful organ. Sacks tells fascinating stories of its peculiarities and explains, sort of, what biological factors are involved. He does so with style and simplicity, which explains, I think, his popularity and the success of his many books. A few of his statements could, again in my opinion, be disputed, but the book was too interesting to stop and make a case.

Maybe just because I want to, I detect just a bit of wiggle room in Sacks' discussions to allow for th ...more

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Nov 08, 2012 Clay rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

Oliver Sacks writes an informative compilation of the types of hallucinations that people experience, the conditions in which they are experienced, and what medicine has to say about it. His coverage spans hallucinations of the mentally ill, the blind, the drug experimenter, and the everyday person (among many many more).

How simultaneously frail and wonderful our minds are.

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