This book, The Man who mistook his Wife for a Hat, is a short book about some medical situations that Oliver Sacks, the author, has faced in his lifetime. It describes in specific details the many problems that he faced while examining his patients that were mostly retarded.
Many of the characters mentioned in this book are not able to tell the difference between a person and an object. They have lost their memory and forgot all about themselves and what kind of person they were. This book takes us into a further look on the physiological problems faced by many retarded people.
My favorite part of the book was called the “Cupid’s Disease.” This chapter was about an old women dealing with sexual desires for younger men. She began to flirt with younger men like she did in the older days when she used to work in a whore house. She seeks help by going to doctor Sacks, the author of this book. She starts to use medicine to relieve her problems. But when she uses the medicine, she doesn’t feel happy and exited like she was before Doctor Sacks gave her the medicine. So she finally decides to lay off the medicine on the weekends to feel happy again.
Another part of the story that I enjoyed was the chapter called “A Passage to India.” This chapter was about a young Indian girl that had visions of her home country India. She dreamt of the landscapes and the people there. She said that she was on a long journey back home but she was actually saying that it was time for her to die. After a vision of her finally finishing the journey and reaching India she died. I like this chapter because I think it would be a very nice way to die while dreaming about a place that you loved. I would rather die with peaceful visions than just dying in my sleep.
Overall, I personally did not enjoy this book because of the medical terms that were used. The medical terms got me very confused and sometimes even frustrated. I would only recommend this book to people who seriously know the...