On the Move-Oliver Sacks

****/*****                                                                                                                                       Autobiography

On the Move: A Life

Oliver Sacks

Oliver Sacks was a neurophysician. He was a prolific writer. Through his many books, he popularized neurosciences in lay public. His books, Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, An Anthropologist on Mars, to name only a few, held many curious non-medical people, in thrall for decades. His often baffling, but story-like, endearing narration of case histories, must have charmed many doctors alike. I am one amongst the latter.

These are his memoirs. Sacks was born, brought-up and studied in Britain. His remaining life was spent in USA. He lived an unorthodox, almost a maverick life, at least till his middle age. He discovered early that he was a homosexual. Mid-twentieth century Britain was not a conducive society for a homosexual. Sacks has written unflinchingly, frankly and unaffectedly about his bohemian life as a neurophysician and constricted, perhaps deprived social life, due to his sexual preferences.

He was a passionate writer. He shunned social engagements all his life, to proportion adequate time for his writing in his daily schedule. He writes that he considered himself a teller of tales. He wanted that his books should be easy to read like a storybook. He did not believe that a book which a layperson can enjoy, is not a scientific book. I did not appreciate his prose style in his books that I have read. His description of his patients is fascinating. But his writing becomes labored, long-winded and muddled when he ventures to explain the symptoms and the disease. I found his memoir very unlike his old writings. He writes here with an easy hand, remarkable lucidity and a stunning clarity of thought. His writing sates one’s hunger for refined prose too. His simple prose describing his love in his teens and twenties and in his eighth decade, are enormously touching. The matter-of-factly narration lends a poignant charm to his story. In the book he writes about his many friends, teachers, colleagues and relatives. Again, the character-sketch he weaves with his words, makes the person come alive in your mind’s eye. He talks about various books he wrote in almost six decades of his writing life. His achievements as a Neurophysician and a writer of popular, yet critically acclaimed books, were formidable. But his memoirs do not sound grandiose anywhere. His guileless personality, honesty, empathy for his brother human beings, and zeal to enjoy life, shine through these pages. In his younger days and for decades, he was a motorcycle and weight-lifting enthusiast. He was passionate about these. He has written interesting account of these experience, occupying many chapters of the book. For some year he lived with addiction of brain-stimulating drugs. Once again, he writes about this aspect of his life candidly and unaffectedly.

These are well written memoirs of a gifted person. Sacks led an irreverent life, both in his profession and personal space, not out of disdain for convention, but because these were his innate tendencies. He has chronicled his growing-up years, his inner conflicts, his friendships, his loves, his professional life, engagingly. Book reads most smoothly and leaves a deeply satisfying impression, of having known a remarkable human being.