Oliver Sacks studied unusual neurological disorders, and was known for humanizing patients in his scientific methods and in his writing. He wrote about autism, deafness, color blindness, Tourette’s, and inexplicable conditions. The New York Times once called him the "poet laureate of contemporary medicine."
But he had a tumultuous childhood, struggled early in his career, and was largely ignored by the medical establishment. Writer Lawrence Weschler was friends with Sacks for more than 30 years. He has a new book called “And How Are You, Dr. Sacks? A Biographical Memoir of Oliver Sacks.”
The cover of “And How Are You, Dr. Sacks?" Credit: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.