The man who mistook his wife for a hat.

It’s always exciting to open a new RA Favorite Book not sure what to expect, especially with a title like: The man who mistook his wife for a hat.  When I saw the author’s name, Oliver Sacks, a British neuroscientist, I was confused as I had read his books and thought it a strange name for a scientific book.  It doesn’t take long to understand the book’s title, as Sacks shares his early life through case studies his patients.  The man who mistook his wife for a hat, really did.  He was a well-known musician and teacher but had an inability to judge items and objects as he got older.  He provided a series of twenty-four cases ranging from “cognitive-loses” to “excesses of cognition,” such as people with Tourette’s syndrome.  There were very few people who recovered from their illnesses for full recovery, but many were able to live with the problem to some level in their life.  Each story was a first for Sacks and he worked on each case with the same level of curiosity to try and answer the symptoms with something that would help the person, whom most times were ‘normal’ and changed over a short period of time.  For neuroscience and future-physicians it is a good approach to medical inquiry, seeing symptoms, but not being tricked that they are the same for each person, as he shows they never are for two people.  I enjoyed reading the cases and have even a greater sense of appreciation for those who study the brain.  Good read.