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Awakenings
by Oliver W. Sacks
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Perennial (1990-11)
ISBN: 0060973684
EAN: 9780060973681
Dewey Decimal #: 616.832
Binding/Media: Paperback - 464 pages
SKU: M2-QPF8-GI55
Condition: Very Good
Comments: Trade paperback from Harper Perennial (NY:1990), 1st Harper Perennial edition (First Thus), this is Awakenings by Oliver Sacks. Clean and tight, with some age-tanning to pages. Nice copy of non-fiction work on which the film of same name was based. With black and white photographs, not from film but of patients suffering with sleeping sickness after WWI.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Here is the movie tie-in edition of bestselling author Oliver Sachs' classic account of victims of a decades-long sleeping sickness who were "awoken" to a new life by the use of the drug L-Dopa. The film, directed by Penny Marshall and starring Robert DeNiro and Robin WIlliams, is scheduled for release in the fall of 1990. 8 pages of photos. $50,000.
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Amazon.com Review
It hardly seems fair that so many great doctors are also great writers. Perhaps it's qualities like sensitivity, craft, and dedication that keep physicians like Oliver Sacks in hospitals all day and at writing desks all night; if nothing else, these qualities shine in books like Awakenings. This powerful set of case histories rises above its pathological foundation to find new literary territory, a medical-spiritual synthesis equally stimulating for the mind and the soul. It's no wonder Hollywood producers chose to turn it into a feature film--anyone can see the universal human struggle against bondage and despair in these pages. The sleeping-sickness epidemic of 1918 caused hundreds of survivors to slip into a bizarre rigid paralysis with similarities to advanced Parkinson's disease. These patients, only occasionally able to communicate or move, were nearly all institutionalized for life, their ranks increasing every now and then with similarly afflicted men and women. Sacks came to work at a long-term care facility shortly before the first exciting results with L-dopa and Parkinson's in the late 1960s; his patients soon embarked on dramatic, difficult recoveries from up to 50 years of torpor. He documents their spiritual and medical obstacles with great care to portray their individual personalities, long suppressed but finally released. Though many great doctors are also great writers, few can compare with Oliver Sacks for expressing the relation of medicine to the human spirit. --Rob Lightner
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Customer Reviews
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Awakenings
Rating  (3)
Date: 2010-07-06
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This story is fascinating! I watched the movie and then wanted to learn more, so I bought the book. The stories really make you appreciate your life.
This book, however, has a lot of medical jargon, so it is hard to follow at times. Also, Dr. Sacks writes in a professional manner. It isn't like a memoir or a typical novel that you would read. It can be had to follow.
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Awakenings
Rating  (5)
Date: 2009-06-26
Well written and understandable. I love how Oliver Sacks did the time sequencing to better understand the progression of his patients. I loved this book.
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Essential Scientific Reading For Those Living With Parkinsonian Conditions or People Seeking a Scientific Understanding of Them
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-09-24
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
I found this book of extreme importance as did my psychopharmocologist in understanding Parkinsonism (this is apart from Parkinson's which most people are familiar with) which is being identified clinically in myself from being enduced by the current generation of neuraleptics as tardive psychosis (brief note,this study as well as being part of an anti-psychotic in government study that can't cause it are in the process of being finalized for a standard psychiatric journal). In Oliver Sacks vivid depictions of Parkinsonism in this case enduced by encephalitis and the partial recovery with L-Dopa (there are newer and better treatments now) this book is not just a good series of "case studies" or interesting stories but a good scientific briefer although one that can be understood by the public about these conditions. And although what was described in the way of treatment was ultimately unsuccesful in people who have experienced this personally and did obtain treatment understanding what it was like from the writings of a renowed neurologist brought a greater understanding of it which in concordance with professionals I brought it to the attention of has potentially brought about some change. And considering that this was a work of research albeit one that tragically failed in its misunderstandings its important to understand the potential for success stories that take its blueprint and use it for further research. And as the beneficiary of this research I can say I am thankful it existed to begin with and for other people experiencing this as well as clinicians who may be unfamilar it is essential scientific reading as well as your average person who would like to be more informed. And I hope that would include all of us.
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A deeper dive into the disease
Rating  (4)
Date: 2007-12-30
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
You saw the movie and now you're hankering to learn more about the backgrounds and the treatments of the patients brought to the silver screen in "Awakenings". If you're hoping for a pop-sci version of the film, you'll be disappointed. The screenplay took poetic license with the original text, dressing it up with more drama and humor than you'll find in the book. On the other hand, if you're looking for an in-depth chronicle of the disease, which reads at times like a medical journal, then this book will certainly satisfy you.
Sacks is both a tireless writer and a devoted practioner of medicine. The book reflects who he is. It's thoroughlly annotated with footnotes, and includes a lengthy glossary to help you sort out all of the medical jargon which is used judiciously throughout the text. It was definitely an eye-opener reading the book after seeing the movie. But they're very different projects. See the movie if you're interested in an entertaining and fascinating story about a handful of awakenings in the late 1960s. Read the book if you want the deep dive into the disease and Dr. Sacks' lifelong devotion to its treatment.
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Most of the people who bought this book...........
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-09-20
2 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
....probably threw it away without finishing the first page. And that's sad, because it's a fine book, 95% of which can be understood by any intelligent person willing to work at it. I bought this in a bookstore shortly after seeing the movie...it was sold in a very nice display, meant to capitalize on the movie. This I consider to have been improper [NOT illegal; this is America] marketing; within the first paragraph, Dr. Sacks is talking about the difference between upper and lower motor neuron lesions [THAT brought back memories], infinite motion, infinite rigidity...99+% of the poor folks who wasted their money were blown away. The rest of us were hooked by a fabulous book.
Most will know the story...in the years after WWI, an epidemic of viral encephalitis swept the country. Over the next several years, some of the survivors developed a severe form of Parkinson's, gradually becoming completely immobile, and landing in nursing homes. This was not a vegatative state; as we found out much later, these poor souls were fully aware of their plight. In the summer of 1969, Dr. Oliver Sacks took a job in a New York City long-term care facility, and decided to give some of these post-encephalitis patients what was then a brand-new drug, L-Dopa. The miracle was profound; the patients "awakened" [not really the right term]....alas, the miracle was temporary...side effects appeared, the therapeutic range shrunk, and the patients went back to their old state, or worse. Actually, some of the "cures" were more or less "permanent", but these were a minority. "Awakenings" is a series of case studies, the story of agony, short-term ectasy, then more agony. Medicine is like that; all progress meets failure along the way. This book lets the reader know what that feels like to the doctor. L-Dopa, with its derivatives, is still around; it's still dangerous for anyone not an expert to use.
Oliver Sacks is a Neurologist, and writes like one [and like a philosopher]. That's OK. He combines skill with compassion and basic human decency; if any of my family needed a Neurologist, I'd want Oliver Sacks. Neurology, like Oncology, is a sad specialty, with a lot of unhappy endings. Despite having an interest, and aptitude, that's probably why I didn't end up in it. This is a truly profound book; unless you're a Neurologist [not just a physician], you will need the glossery. However, your effort will be well rewarded.
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