He spent his final days doing what he loved—playing piano, writing to friends, swimming, and enjoying smoked salmon.
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Celebrating Dr. Oliver Sacks: best-selling author and neurologist. Audible's new original podcast "Radiant Minds: The World of Oliver Sacks" is available now.
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A beautiful way to perform one of the world's great musical treasures.
youtube.com/watch?v=kbJcQY
Oliver Sacks died early this morning at his home in Greenwich Village, surrounded by his close friends and family. He was 82 years old.
When do the deterioration of the brain and the slipping away of the mind become the loss of the self?
Deeply moved by the wonderful outpouring of appreciation & support the last few days. I look forward to lots more writing, swimming and Bach
We love these book benches in Bulgaria! What would you sit here and read?
We love this photo of Oliver Sacks and Robin Williams playing Santa in the early 1990s. After meeting on the film Awakenings, Oliver and Robin had a lifelong friendship. We hope you can be with friends and family of your own this holiday, whether digitally or in person!
Thanks everyone for remembrances of Oliver Sacks on his 84th birthday. Wherever he is, he is glowing mightily, and thinking "Polonium!"
Today wd have been Oliver Sacks 83 bday - bismuth! Its iridescent crystal reminded him of tiny Hopi cliff dwellings.
Oliver Sacks and Robin Williams play Santa for a fundraiser ca. early 1990s. Happy holidays to all!
Today, July 9, would have been Oliver Sacks’s 90th birthday. Oliver loved to mark his birthdays by which element on the periodic table he had arrived at.
As readers of Uncle Tungsten might know, element 90 is thorium, named after the Norse god of thunder.
Today would have been Oliver Sacks’s 87th birthday. Oliver loved to count the years by their equivalent element in the periodic table, and element 87 is francium, discovered in 1939 by Marguerite Perey, a young woman working at the Curie Institute in Paris.
According to new research, something extraordinary happens during a performance: the more people are enjoying the music, the more similar their brain activity is to that of the musician. Musicians and crowds really do connect, at a neurological level.
I had a wonderful time meeting this 3 m/o orangutan at Monkey World Ape Rescue Center in Dorset, England last week.
On memories of gefilte fish and a life well-lived, Dr. Sacks's final article is in this week's and online:
The definitive documentary on the life of Dr. Sacks coming in 2018! More news to come... twitter.com/VulcanFilms/st
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Have you seen how satisfyingly the full Oliver Sacks gift set from fits together?
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May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Oliver Sacks wrote about therapeutic communities and their history. In Everything in Its Place, he says: “The millions of mentally ill remain the least supported, the most disenfranchised, and the most excluded people in our society today.”
Congratulations to on her beautiful new book, ‘Figuring’, which explores love, humanity, and history through the interconnected lives of people across four centuries, from Johannes Kepler to Rachel Carson.
Seven years ago today Oliver Sacks died, and the world lost a brilliant mind. We’re so glad Oliver can live on and continue to inspire new generations of neurologists, writers, and thinkers through his books.
Can't wait to see this new film on Dr. Jane Goodall #OliverSacks called her a hero for the planet, and adored her!
The great #RobinWilliams was born on July 21. Oliver Sacks wrote, "One of the most amazing experiences of my life was working with Robin Williams, watching him become me, in the filming of my book “Awakenings,” in 1989.
Oliver Sacks on the Three Essential Elements of Creativity by Maria Popova:
brainpickings.org/2017/11/09/oli via
📖 We are proud to announce a final collection of essays-many never before published, coming your way on April 23! EVERYTHING IN ITS PLACE: First Loves and Last Tales, showcases Dr. Sacks's broad range of interests.
Pre-order a copy now 👉🏼po.st/EverythingInIt
#oliversacks
Happy holidays! We wish you a peaceful, healthy holiday season. Amongst the things we have to celebrate, this week marks the 30th anniversary of Awakenings — the film began a lifelong friendship between Oliver Sacks & Robin Williams, pictured here playing Santa ca. early 1990s.
.' opens today in virtual cinemas in the U.S. 🎟OliverSacksDoc.com "A vivid portrait of an ebullient, provocative, brilliant man who transformed the practice of medicine and spearheaded the neurodiversity movement."
Neuroscientists from Boston University have produced a mesmerizing video that shows waves of spinal fluid washing over the brain during sleep. Sweet dreams! 😴sciencealert.com/mesmerising-vi
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"There will be no one like us when we are gone, but then there is no one like anyone else, ever. When people die, they cannot be replaced... for it is the fate of every human being to be a unique individual, to find his own path, to live his own life, to die his own death."
Greta Thunberg calls Asperger's syndrome her “superpower,” and has found that traits common among people on the autism spectrum - bluntness, a distaste for deceit and hypocrisy, and a single-minded focus on special interests - have helped her in her work as a climate activist.
On this day in 1902, Russian neuropsychologist Alexander Luria was born. For Oliver Sacks, Luria’s approach to scientific narrative was an epiphany — In On The Move he writes, “Luria’s endeavor—to combine the classical and the romantic, science and storytelling—became my own.”
Another curious tale of the brain, the mind, and humanity, Dr. Sacks's piece, "Urge," is out now .
My thoughts are with Jimmy Carter and his family, with great admiration for his work and writings.
"Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears...But for many of my neurological patients, music is even more — it can provide access, even when no medication can, to movement, to speech, to life." - Oliver Sacks
to be "a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet ... has been an enormous privilege and adventure." #Gratitude ht.ly/Ho9e30gOfex
🇬🇧 🇮🇪 will premiere in cinemas across the UK & Ireland for ONE NIGHT ONLY on Sept 29, followed by a virtual discussion with Kate Edgar, @BillHayesNYC, & . On digital on Oct 4. Tickets now on sale! altitude.film
Some researchers believe that by writing our own stories, we can change our self-perceptions and identify obstacles to better health...
A genius whose warmth and humanity came first: my thoughts on Robin Williams, a friend I will always treasure.
Happy National Library Week! This is Munich's Municipal Law Library, built to resemble a forest, with the railings formed out of vines and leaves and the light fixtures rendered as vines growing from the wall. Reply with your favorite library! 📷: IG user
Dr. Sacks's new book, Gratitude, a collection of essays on life, age, and mortality is available for pre-order now!
"I love listening to patients. It's a great privilege being given a whole life and a whole story....I always try to imagine myself into the patient's position." -Oliver Sacks
"I think all human beings are essentially courageous, and may be made more so by facing affliction." -Oliver Sacks
ICYMI: Gorgeous tribute to Oliver Sacks and his new book, The River of Consciousness. ht.ly/nQCP30gwwqw
Want to learn more about my upcoming memoir, On The Move? Read my latest newsletter at
Enjoyed re-watching a favorite documentary, The Life of Mammals. Wonderful to see the diverse and exuberant life of this beautiful planet.
Thank you everyone for the well-wishing and congratulations on my 81st (or thallium) birthday!
"I am a man of vehement disposition, with violent enthusiasms, and extreme immoderation in all my passions" -Oliver Sacks
Photo by Bill Hayes
🧠 🎶 In Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks writes that the corpus callosum, which connects the brain's two hemispheres is bigger in professional musicians. Do you have a music brain?
📸: @technologynetworks
“We Lived Happily During the War” is part of a collection called “Deaf Republic" by Ilya Kaminsky, a Deaf Ukrainian author. It tells the story of a town whose inhabitants “go deaf” after the soldiers occupying it kill a Deaf child. We can’t recommend this beautiful book enough.
Bach was born March 31, 1685. Oliver Sacks had a lifelong love of his music, and is studying one of his favorite Bach scores in this photo. In his book "Uncle Tungsten," Dr. Sacks shares that when asked at 5 what his favorite things were, he answered "smoked salmon and Bach."
Great video lessons on neurology and the mind from MIT professor Nancy Kanwisher
nancysbraintalks.mit.edu
'Alive Inside' shows the power of music as therapy for dementia patients, now playing at in NYC ht.ly/zm2S3
Five years ago today, Oliver Sacks died at the age of 82, but his legacy and inspiration live on. Here are some of the wonderful responses we received when we asked what you wish you could have said to Oliver. (Photo courtesy Bill Hayes)
Curious about the psychology behind self-motivation? Great on the science of empowerment and discipline.
tedxtalks.ted.com/video/The-Psyc
Dr. Oliver Sacks outside his childhood home in NW London, in 1986. #oliversacks
We must seek both more understanding and more compassion when it comes to mental illness
This portrait features 198 doctors and nurses who have died of coronavirus in Mexico, a country which has seen one of the deadliest outbreaks of the virus.
Our gratitude goes out to all healthcare workers around the world who are on the frontline against Covid-19.
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Did you know that Oliver Sacks used to keep a small copy of the periodic table in his wallet, where most people keep their ID? This is a photo of Sacks' wallet, photographed in @BillHayesNYC's apartment.
Remembering Jonathan Miller, polymath and lifelong best friend of Oliver Sacks. As Dr. Sacks wrote in ON THE MOVE, if not for Jonathan, Awakenings would never have been published. He was a constant inspiration.
bbc.com/news/entertain
Did you know that in 2008 Oliver Sacks went to Buckingham Palace to receive his Commander of the Order of the British Empire? Here he is wearing his periodic table tie to meet Queen Elizabeth II.
When Oliver Sacks had a thought everything around him would fade into the background until he could capture it. Lowell Handler took this photo of Oliver dropping everything to write in the late ‘80s, while traveling the world documenting the lives of people with Tourette’s.
We are delighted to announce that Oliver Sacks: His Own Life will be broadcast throughout the U.S. on PBS’ American Masters, premiering at 9 p.m. EDT on Friday, April 9th. Stream via: pbs.org/oliversacks
#OliverSacksPBS #AmericanMastersPBS
🐙 Happy World Octopus Day! Oliver Sacks loved cephalopods and would have been delighted with the new Netflix documentary, My Octopus Teacher, which chronicles the year Craig Foster spent cultivating a unique bond with an extraordinary creature.
We love that the work of Oliver Sacks transcends culture and language, and that we have followers from all over the world. Where are you following us from?
In honor of Oliver Sacks's love for gardens, we're giving away 5 copies of the paperback edition of Everything In Its Place. To enter, simply share a picture of your favorite garden and tag the person you'd most like to be there with (virtually or IRL).
Photo by Bill Hayes
"I paint music," the beautiful artwork of a synesthete expressing music visually: ht.ly/LV8PE
Oliver Sacks on the healing power of nature, and his favorite gardens around the world.
Awakenings was nominated for three Academy Awards, and watching it again this week, we were reminded of how beautiful the sets and cinematography are, and how very movingly the Awakenings patients’ stories are told. Which scenes in the film had a lasting impact on you?
My new article on the mental life of plants, worms, and other organisms is online in this weeks issue of ht.ly/vsZje
"I think everyone is a poet, if given a chance. If they can become transparent to their own experiences and articulate these without distortion, then what comes out is the truth, and it's beautiful. Even if it's terrible, it's beautiful." -Oliver Sacks
Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal has art nouveau and Neo-Gothic architecture and was frequented by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling when she taught English in Porto - its gorgeous, curving staircase is rumored to have been an inspiration for the staircases of Hogwarts.
Blind people solve math problems using visual areas of the brain. More evidence for the adaptable brain. ht.ly/BVkI304QEes
Oliver Sacks loved swimming, and would often take incredibly long swims around City Island in the Bronx. One day he ended up buying a house while in the middle of a swim. Here’s how he told the story:
[Thread]
Photo by James Estrin for The New York Times
Oliver Sacks loved cephalopods, describing them as “the most intelligent and, to my eyes, the most beautiful of invertebrates.” Recent studies have shown that cephalopods evolved in a completely different way than nearly every other organism on the planet. sciencealert.com/octopus-and-sq
Happy #independentbookstoreday! We love seeing #OntheMove in the window of one of our favorites, Three Lives & Co
Robin Williams & Robert De Niro with director Penny Marshall on the film set of Awakenings, first released by Columbia Pictures on 20 December, 1990. Based on Dr Sacks's 1973 book, Awakenings tells the story of how he revived patients neurologically ‘frozen’ by sleeping sickness.
In 2014, a mother emailed us to say she was naming her first child “Olive” in honor of Oliver Sacks. Last week we got an update - it was “Dress Like a Book Character” Day at Olive’s school, and she went as her namesake! She’s holding a book that Oliver signed for her birth.
We are thrilled to support a gorgeous, fun, inspiring that delves into Oliver's animated life and mind: The Animated Mind of Oliver Sacks. We are supporting their #Kickstarter campaign and hope you will too! #oliversacks #animatedmind kck.st/2JP3SUi
"I think autistic people should be leading the societal conversation on autism now." So true.
Great piece by remembering and celebrating the life and work of Oliver Sacks.
worldsciencefestival.com/2015/08/world-
🧠 Happy #BrainAwarenessWeek! Oliver Sacks wrote that "We see with the eyes, but we see with the brain as well. And seeing with the brain is often called imagination." What's sparking your imagination today?
Great Sunday read for book lovers, 18 of the most beautiful libraries across the world: ht.ly/M8zfL
Curious about the oldest books in the world? explores the ancient tomes of bygone eras:
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Love, Lunacy, and a Life Fully Lived—@OliverSacks, the science of seeing,the art of being seen buff.ly/1L1DZ9F
