Not all famous people have many letters worth reading as a stranger outside academia. But, Oliver Sacks had such a letter-writing habit, and was such a talented writer that his letters create an excellent memoir of sorts of Sacks's life. I don't usually think of public figures like Sacks as they were in high school or college, and Sacks was quite an interesting young man, reminding me more of some of the popular fitness Youtube people, rather than the tweedy academic image one might have expected for a successful scientist and writer. Readers who need these letters as sources for papers will probably enjoy this collection enough to read the whole book, not just the relevant letters for their research question. Reading this book also might make readers consider developing a letter writing habit despite living in our fast-paced social media world.

There is a moment in Letters, written by Oliver Sacks and edited by Kate Edgar, that encapsulates Sacks’ writing style, which is generally erudite to the point of being charmingly pompous. In a correspondence to a school friend and geneticist, Richard Lindenbaum, written on January 12th, 1973, Sacks pens that the sudden death of his mother, while she begrudgingly vacationed in Israel, had “shattered” his father; had made his brother Michael “instantly catatonic;” had left his Auntie Len dying “of grief;” and, had his mother’s dog, Butch, bursting “into a loud terrible canine howling” for “some hours” until he “sank down motionless, and then ceased to eat.” Sacks claims, “Absolutely, without a doubt, that dumb loving beast perceived in a moment the taking-away, the permanent gone-ness of Ma’s loved presence, and at once became sick with loss and grief.” As for Sacks himself, he deconstructs his heartache by robotically defining the difference between grief and depression, and then claims he cannot think of real images of his mother’s kindness and tenderness; but rather only her “dark, censorious, suspicious, cruel, punishing, side,” which stops him from grieving and makes him “glad it is gone (and wish only it were not so deeply incorporated in myself”).

The rest of the review is coming out in American Book Review.
DOUG

With the dependence on email, much of personal correspondence will be lost. Oliver Sacks, who spent decades examining unusual neurological and cerebral disorders has gifted us with his letters. These give insight into how he formed his personal and professional beliefs. I was particularly interested in his early years. This is a fascinating exploration into one of the most formative minds in the field of psychiatry. Anyone who has read any of his books looking at case studies will be thrilled with this book.

Thank you NetGalley, Kate Edgar, and Knopf for giving me the opportunity to read the ARC for this book. All opinions are my own.

I am an avid fan of Dr. Sacks, and was very pleased to be able to read "Letters" to get a more personal insight into his life. I have read biographies written by friends of his, however, being able to get glimpses into his life through his own writing is what I have always wanted.

"Letters" is, obviously, is compilations of letters written by Dr. Sacks that gives us insight into his personal life. Deeper reflections on his family and younger years, and friends of the time. It is an interesting read if you are a fan of his, but it can get tedious to read at times. Dr. Sacks had a particular writing style in his books and his letters, so it does take a while to parse through the material. However, the information gained from this book has helped me fill out the idea I have of him in my head. Obviously, I will never get to know him quite like Kate Edgar the editor for this book; a friend who had so many of these letters she was able to compile them into this collection that let's us see deeper into who Dr. Sacks was.

If you have been a fan of Oliver Sacks I highly recommend this book for your next non fiction read.

Thank you to Kate Edgar, Knopf, and NetGalley for an Advanced Reader's Copy of this title!

If you ask any pre-medical or medical student for a medically-themed book recommendation, one of the titles on that list will likely be "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat". If you press them, they may remember that this book was written by a man named Oliver Sacks, though beyond that I'm not sure (as I didn't know until much later than I should have), who Oliver Sacks was, and what he meant to medicine.

"Letters" is a unique autobiographical and editorial picture of the "great observer of the human species", the eminent British physician who would not only serve patients at the bleeding edge of neurology starting in the 60s, but who would reshape the way physicians, practitioners, and laypeople viewed patients suffering from a number of neurological conditions, through essays, editorials, lectures, and, of course, the books for which hie is well known and loved by popular science readers and aspiring medical students alike.

But he was much more than that. As I came to learn through "Letters" he was a prolific and voluminous writer, and it seemed that he (and his correspondents) kept records of the many missives he sent throughout decades of his life. Collected and presented here by his longtime editor, we get a glimpse into Dr. Sacks thoughts not only about medicine and medical training, but the progression of his patients under regimes of new neuromodulatory drugs, the inner workings of academic medicine in California and New York, and the many ups and downs of his career and his overall insistence that he should not have been a doctor. But equally as interesting is the way his career was shaped by his personal and professional relationships, his hobbies and special interests outside of medicine - especially music, and his thoughts about how all these bits and pieces ebbed and flowed into each other.

Dr. Sacks, as evidenced by his letters and his own self-reflection, saw and felt the world deeply, which clearly caused him as much joy and triumph as despair, personally and professionally. I found his perspective and place as a foreign-born, Jewish, closeted gay man living within many of the great events and crises of half a century of change in America fascinating. Far removed from the tidy well-pressed images of doctors in this time period, Dr. Sacks rode motorcycles, wore leather, was a competitive weightlifter, had a problem with addictive substances during his career, and made enough of an amateur study of plants to write books and essays on the subject. From the Cuban missile crisis, to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, to the delight and frustration of emails and iPods, readers also get a glimpse into the cultural and societal forces shaping the world and medicine through Dr. Sacks' eyes.

I am very in awe of Kate Edgar and the monumental task of collecting, organizing, and shaping of a lifetime of correspondence into a single volume of work that is digestible, interesting, coherent, and moving. I did not realize that this book was getting on 800 pages long (with about as many footnotes!), but I found myself digesting large chunks at a time, laughing (my favorite line is about Dr. Sacks lamenting how old and bald he has become, with the author's footnote alerting the reader that he has just turned thirty), tearing up, and reflecting on how my own world has changed in my brief foray into medicine thus far. I am still thinking about this book more than a week after I finished it and have talked about it in several of my medical residency interviews, and I hope it becomes a staple read for medical students who are interested in the life and revelations of this force of nature and medicine.

I have been an avid reader of medical narratives since picking up the book “The Incurable Wound” by Berton Roueche. In my quest to find other books detailing medical case histories, I came across the works of Oliver Sacks.

I think I was introduced to the works of Dr. Sacks with the book “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales,” and the last book that I read of his was “The Mind’s Eye,” where he discusses cases where the ability to see has affected their lives, including Oliver Sacks himself, who suffered from ocular melanoma, which ultimately took his life.

“Letters” is a book that collects letters that Dr. Sacks had written throughout his lifetime to various people, including his parents and siblings. He had a wonderful way of describing people, events, and what we would consider the most mundane things. It was easy to plunge deep into his world.

While Dr. Sacks had a gift for writing, it can be a bit pedantic despite the beautiful prose. I occasionally found it tough going and will admit skimming parts of it, but I also paid great attention to those letters that centered on his work, especially that detailing the backgrounds of his clinical writings.

I would recommend this book to someone who is familiar with Dr. Sacks’ work and is interested in the back stories of his clinical writings. I do not think this book is really for a casual reader, who might find it a difficult read, but for those of us who are fans of Dr. Oliver Sacks, this book is a delight.

4/5 stars

[Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for my honest and objective opinion, which I have given here.]

I am a longtime fan of Oliver Sacks, and since his passing, any feelings that he is still here are so lovely. I loved the format of this book and will be thinking of its content/message for a long time. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC and opportunity to share my thoughts!

We have this impression of the great thinkers of history as stoic and orderly. Early to bed and early to rise very serious sort of folk. These letters remind us of their humanity. When I first saw the quote in one of Charles Darwin‘s notebooks, “I am very poorly today,” I remembered my own days of despair in a chemistry lab.
OS‘s letters in this collection illustrate this fact poignantly. He is distracted constantly, unable to pay his bills, can’t clean his house or keep his bike in good repair yet he is also a brilliant thinker able to solve many of the neurological mysteries of his day. He coped by self-medicating and having hypersexualised drug-fueled weekends. Maybe not the best for his longevity? Maybe it was the only relief he could conceive of at the time.

The editors did an excellent job editing the text and cleaning up punctuation to make it pleasantly readable and engaging while I presume still remaining true to OS original feelings and intent.

Letters by Oliver Sacks is a compelling collection of personal correspondence that reveals the profound insights and heartfelt reflections of the renowned neurologist and writer. Through his letters, Sacks shares his intimate thoughts on a range of subjects, from his experiences with patients to his own existential musings. The book not only showcases Sacks’ deep empathy and intellectual curiosity but also offers a window into his personal life and relationships. His eloquent prose and thoughtful observations make Letters a moving testament to the power of communication and the shared human experience. It’s a must-read for fans of Sacks and those interested in the intersection of science and humanity.

An interetsing read. Certainly not a book that will keep you awake all night while you try to finish. If you are familiar with Dr. Sacks work, this is a wonderful book for you. Though there isn't anything earth shattering or exciting about it, if you enjoy a sneak peak into the every day life of VIP's (Very Interesting People) - this is a wonderful book.
I'm giving 3 stars only because it's slow, but I'd give it 4 for quiet interestingness.

I came away from this book feeling like I've read a biography of OS rendered in a series of chronological but unfocused anecdotes. This was not my expectation going in. Other anthologies of personal letters I've read have been edited and distilled to reveal poignant, important, and enlightening observations by the author, but this collection seems to be more scattershot and focused on chronology rather than on importance/interest. I've been very interested in OS's work in neuroscience, his interesting revelations about the human psyche based on cases he's worked on, and his philosophical musings on life. All of these are covered very well and in better writing style in his other books. His letters here came across as largely prosaic and belabored. Many of them gave me little beyond anecdotal accounts of his daily life and family relations (which I did not find especially interesting, and that after a while felt more like distracting "filler" material), lacking the scientific underpinnings and clear explanations found in his books. I regret to say it, but despite my admiration for the man, this is not a book I would likely purchase or recommend.

Oliver Sacks was a brilliant scientist and an equally brilliant writer. This compilation of his letters is an important contribution to his body of work, providing additional insight into his life and accomplishments. However, you will only get the full meaning of this volume if you have already read at least one of his other books. (I recommend "An Anthropologist on Mars" although there are many others.) Highly recommended under those terms.

I love books of letters or correspondence and this one did not disappoint. Oh, how I would have loved to sit and talk with him a while! What a storied life he led and we are fortunate to have a glimpse into his worlds. Sacks fans, don't miss this one!