Oliver Sacks

About the author

Oliver Sacks (1933–2015) was a British neurologist and writer whose gift for rendering the inner lives of patients with neurological disorders earned him the New York Times's designation as a 'poet laureate of contemporary medicine.' Born in London, he trained at Oxford before building his career in the United States, completing residencies at UCLA and working at Beth Abraham Hospital in the Bronx. His encounter there with survivors of the 1920s encephalitis lethargica epidemic produced Awakenings (1973), later adapted into an Academy Award-nominated film.

His bestselling case-study collections, including The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, inspired operas, plays, and films.