Hallucinations

The very title gives the reader a clue as to how the book is written: factual, clearly stated, and pretty boring. If the reader wants to learn a little about the subject, it's okay; but, if you'd like to be entertained, either by the subject matter or the writing, forget it.

OK, I admit, I have not yet had time to get into this one, but I love everything he writes! He writes complex medical cases in a way in which a good lay reader can understand. I'm looking forward to getting into this one.

A huge fan of Oliver Sacks, I found this book a little disappointing. With minor variations on the same theme each chapter became more difficult to read than the one before - in fact I am pretty sure I did not finish it.

I found this to be a very informative book filled with useful pieces of information that will be helpful to senior citizens. It seems that many things that older people "see" are the results of declining senses. I wish that I would have had access to this information earlier. I have been sharing all these anecdotes with my friends.

the title is above - why do I have to write it again!!

Somewhat too much information. Interesting, but slow reading. Often bored. Loved all Sach's former books. "Hallucinations" Would not pay regular price.

"Hallucinations" is a fascinating and eminently readable neurological parade covering all varieties of hallucinations. Dr. Sacks calls it a "natural history or anthology of hallucinations," a perfectly apt description.

It turns out that hallucinations are not that uncommon. In fact, I'd guess that most readers drawn to these pages will find themselves exclaiming at one point or another, "Yeah, that's happened to me, too!" But don't get me wrong; this book is not filled with the commonplace. On the contrary, anyone who loves reading Oliver Sacks knows that his books are filled with extraordinary and totally off-the-wall case histories. This book does not disappoint...at times it is jaw-dropping surreal.

The work is divided into an introduction and fifteen chapters. Each chapter covers a different broad category of hallucination and each category is based on a specific neurological disorder or cognitive deficit. Sacks believes that the only way to understand hallucinations is to read about the first-hand experiences of those that suffer from them. Thus, the book is made up almost entirely of first-hand accounts. Whenever possible, Dr. Sacks follows each individual case description with information about the impact these hallucinations have had on that person's life. Perhaps one third of these first hand examples come from Sacks' professional clinical case studies. Another approximate fifteen percent or more comes from Dr. Sacks' own unique personal experience (i.e., his experiences having hallucinations due to his migraine disorder or from experimenting with a large variety of hallucinogenic drugs and other substances when he was a young man). The balance comes from general historical or medical primary source materials. The book is the result of not only extensive medical research, but also a great deal of in-depth cultural and historical research. Many of the cases concern famous writers, composers and other luminaries from the last few centuries. Almost every page has footnotes, and there is a large bibliography at the end.

I cannot honestly complete a review of this fine book without mentioning that it can become overwhelmingly bizarre and, at times, even tedious. Reading again and again about the details of each person's outlandish, weird, and freaky hallucinations can become...well, boring. It reminded me of the many times in my life when I've been cornered by a friend or colleague who just had to tell me the details about some wacky dream that had occurred the night before. Such descriptions can be entertaining at first, but after a while, it just gets so weird, you find your brain rebelling and turning off...it is as if your mind takes control and says, "this is so bizarre I'm just not going to try to comprehend or visualize this stuff for you any more,"...and then it shuts off. Unfortunately, that is how I felt many times as I read this anthology. I was totally fascinated and then after much repetition of similar bizarre accounts, my mind kept shutting off and I found myself getting sleepy. As a result, I recommend reading this book in small bits and pieces over a week or two. Anthologies are not designed to be read in a single sitting.

Despite this caveat, I recommend this book. I've read most of Dr. Sacks' books. For me, this was not as good as some of his other books; however, it meticulously covers the subject. If I was less than totally enthralled at any time, I believe it was because the unique nature of the subject matter and the fact that it was an anthology and not meant to be read quickly. So, read it slowly. Enjoy it a little at a time. It will change your attitude about this marvelous and fairly common phenomenon.

No real insight or original thoughts. More of an autobiography about the authors drug use and medical issues than of real science. Full of himself and of uninspired "letters" as he frequently put it. I was expecting more cause and effect rather than endless descriptions of what people saw in their hallucinations.

This is the first book I'd read by Oliver Sacks. I expected to be amazed by insight, I guess. Instead I was looking forward to the end of the book. It's not badly written or anything, maybe the topic just wasn't my cup of tea. I think as far as neuro-books go I'll seek out Ramachandran again next time.

I have read a few Oliver Sacks books. He is certainly a competent writer. But he is a neurologist and not a psychiatrist. His earlier work was substantially based on very interesting neurological cases, which he appeared to have competently researched and of which I am a fan. Not recognizing that many personality disordered individuals not only do not have the capacity to critical evaluate their own experience and that many will report very dramatic, attention-seeking descriptions of their "hallucinations" really wrecked the verisimilitude of this work. Reporting someone's hallucinations as truth that wrote him a letter is like my taking my histrionic patients or antisocial patients at their word about what they are experiencing without considering other potential motives and other inconsistent aspects of their behavior, etc... A hallucination does not live a life apart from the patient. A competent psychiatrist has the tools to obtain a fully dimensional narrative and recognizes the richness of the psychiatric differential diagnosis. Sacks does not have those tools. Just as a neurological finding points to a certain process, individuals who hallucinate have associated findings. I agree with others who suggest Sachs appears to suffer from an egotism which would restrain a sensible person from attempting to claim an expertise they lack. Clint Eastwood said it best: "A man's got to know his limitations." I wish the guy would stick to his strengths in writing about the topics he knows and not just write because his name can sell books.

The Psychiatric field does not need another uninformed opinion. It hurts patients and it blurs the lines of an already troubled medical discipline (a non-lesion based medical science) when someone as prominent as Sachs puts out such unmitigated slop!

I had previously read "Hallucinations" on my Kindle and liked it so much that I ordered two paperback books to be sent to friends. One recently returned the book to me and said that she had found the book hard to read because of the print and the placement of footnotes. I inspected the book and found this to be so. I have had other large print books and found them to be easy reading although I do not need large print. This format is indeed not easy reading. The print itself is shiny and glaring to the eyes. The footnotes on the pages are annoyingly sized and placed.
Oliver Sacks has written a wonderful book but do not buy this version of it.

Dr. Oliver Sacks, the neurologist famous for his books "Awakenings" (also a Robin Williams move) and "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat," has written another gem. This time he tackles the fascinating subject of hallucinations.

If you think "Hallucinations" is just about seeing things, then you'd only be partially right. Dr. Sacks examines almost every possible hallucination, from auditory (people who hear songs playing or voices) to out of body experiences, and everything in between (phantom limbs, doppelgangers, sleep paralysis, drug induced images, and much more). He is very thorough with his topic and readers will come away with a new understanding of hallucinations, especially how common they actually are.

Sacks writes for both those educated on the topic and the casual reader. What I enjoy most about his style is how he addresses the scientific aspect of hallucinations and then gives examples through his own life or from stories of patients. These are fascinating and show how amazing the human brain can be when it's malfunctioning (?).

As fascinating and informative as the book is, I wish Dr. Sacks would've explored the possible metaphysical side of hallucinations a little more. Considering the role hallucinations play in religious and spiritual expression (like out of body experiences and religious visions), I expected a little more analysis. As an atheist, I don't think Sacks wanted to go down that road. Still, it would've been fascinating if he at least contemplated the possibilities (even if he debunked them).

Overall, I highly recommend this book. As far as non-fiction books go, this is a page turner. I wanted to keep reading just to find out more about how the human brain can give us experiences that seem so real, yet don't really "exist."

In the preface and in other places in the book, comes the reassuring information that if you have hallucinations you aren't necessarily bonkers. Whew! Mr. Sacks gives us another fascinating book about various aspects of the mind; in this case, hallucinations. The case studies that he has encountered as a neurologist, along with others gleaned from various colleagues and medical textbooks, provided a fascinating look into various types of hallucinations. This book does not cover any hallucinations due to schizophrenia, since that area could warrant a book of its own.

Although he often uses medical terminology that the average person may not understand, you don't lose a bit of the story. I have a fairly good knowledge of medical terms, so I was on the lookout for cases where the terminology would prevent understanding the concepts, and there were none. For example, he assumes that you know that the DSM is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, but if you didn't, no problem. Some of the topics include hallucinations caused by various medical conditions, isolation, and drugs (legal and otherwise). Chapters are devoted to hallucinations of smell, hearing, and several on visual. The book is peppered with fascinating case studies and copious footnotes. A thorough bibliography at the end provides a wealth of resources. One of the books he mentioned sounded so interesting. I hunted down a copy to buy. Another book I put on my the store "Wild Dreams" wish list (hint, hint).

One of the things I found fascinating, was that visual hallucinations activate the exact same areas in the brain that viewing actual physical items activate. So to the brain, hallucinations are just as real as something that is real. He also covers delirium, a common but unfortunately under-diagnosed condition that often affects senior citizens that are hospitalized.

Hallucinations are among the most captivating, yet misunderstood, phenomena of the mind. In the popular imagination, they are synonymous with losing one’s grip on reality and are considered evidence of a full-blown psychosis. However, there are a great variety of causes and forms of hallucination, many of which occur among the sane. What Sacks provides in this book is a survey of the forms of hallucination through exploration of cases and anecdotes. To emphasize the point that hallucinations aren’t just for the insane, Sacks doesn’t arrange the book around the idea sanity and insanity. Cases of mental illness are peppered throughout, but there are even more cases of people who fully realize that their hallucinated sensory experiences aren’t real. In fact, he starts with Charles Bonnet Syndrome, hallucinations among blind individuals who are often scared to discuss the phenomena for fear they will be labeled insane even though they know they aren’t really seeing anything. (The brain’s abhorrence of under-stimulation is a recurring theme in the book.)

As mentioned, the approach of the book is to discuss cases of hallucination, and not so much to delve into the research on causes and treatments. This anecdotal approach makes the book readable and offers a unique and intimate insight into hallucination, but it doesn’t drill down into the brain science as much as some might like. This will no doubt be a positive for many, and a negative for others. The author describes several of his own hallucinatory experiences related to drug use, drug withdrawal, and migraine headaches. As I understand it, that level of candor was par for the course for Sacks (though this is the first of his books that I’ve read.) At any rate, his personal experience offers a particularly vivid portrait, and moves the book beyond the sterile feel often found in scientific works.

The book consists of 15 chapters, organized by types / causes of hallucination. After an introduction and the aforementioned chapter on Charles Bonnet Syndrome, there’s a chapter on sensory deprivation hallucinations that’s aptly entitled “the prisoner’s cinema.” Chapters three and four are on olfactory and auditory hallucinations, respectively. The fifth chapter focuses on cases of hallucination experienced by those with Parkinson’s Disease. Chapter six is entitled “Altered States,” but it deals largely with drug-induced hallucinations (it should be pointed out other “altered states” of consciousness, notably sleep, are dealt with in other places), and it’s where Sacks’ personal story begins to be detailed. The next chapter deals with migraine headache related phenomena, and—as the author suffered from such headaches—his story is also imprinted on this chapter.

Chapter eight deals with epilepsy, and, like the Sam Kean book that I reviewed yesterday, is entitled “The Sacred Disease.” That name derives from the fact that those who develop temporal lobe epilepsy are sometimes known to become spontaneously hyper-spiritual in the process. In fact, many scientists now believe that Joan of Arc, Saint Paul (the Apostle), and [for my Indian readers] Ramakrishna were afflicted by this ailment. (Not based on their high degree of spirituality, but rather on accounts of sensory phenomena they were said to have experienced.)

Chapter nine examines cases related to hemianopia—a situation in which one occipital lobe is damaged resulting in a kind of “blindness” in half one’s visual field. While people think of blindness as being a problem with the eyes, it’s possible to have perfectly good eyes and optic nerves and be blind (on a conscious level) due to brain’s incapacity to process the input it is receiving. (Incidentally, in his book “Subliminal” Leonard Mlodinow describes engrossing cases of people who were blind due to brain damage, but--owing to a redundant subconscious systems--they could walk around without running into obstacles.)

Chapter ten describes cases associated with delirium, a common cause of hallucinations that can be the side-effect of any number of physical problems including fever, blood sugar imbalance, and liver failure.

The next two chapters are about sleep-related sensory imaginings. Chapter eleven details cases of hypnagogic and hypnopompic imagery, which are what we see as we are on the edge of falling asleep or awaking, respectively. Hypnagogic hallucinations may be as simple as shifting shapes, or more elaborate. If you’ve gotten this far in the book without any experience that corresponds to what Sack’s is describing, you’ll almost certainly have some experience with hypnagogic images. If not, you should stop consciously counting sheep (or whatever other daydreaming you do as you fall asleep) and just watch what your mind projects. You’ll know it when you see it because you won’t be able to control the imagery (though you can distract over it with conscious thought) and—as in dreams—it probably won’t make a lick of sense. Hypnopompic images are quite different, less widely experienced, and often more disconcerting. Chapter twelve presents cases dealing with narcolepsy (random spontaneous falling asleep) and sleep paralysis, a common experience on the trailing edge of sleep in which one can’t move and which often comes with imagined sensations of a more nefarious variety—hence the widespread lore of night hags and the like.

Chapter thirteen scrutinizes cases that are associated with traumatic events from one’s past. These can involve sightings of ghosts of departed loved ones or replays (flashbacks) of the traumatizing event. This chapter, in a discussion of dissociation, also foreshadows the phenomena of out-of-body (OOB) experience that’s dealt with in more detail in chapter 14. The theme of that penultimate chapter is seeing oneself. Beyond OOB, it deals with a variety of hallucinations of oneself, including those in which one’s body appears distorted (i.e. so-called “Alice in Wonderland” Syndrome.)

The last chapter discusses hallucinations in the tactile domain, and, specifically, the most widely investigated form of these phenomena—the phantom limb. Phantom limb syndrome is experienced by amputees, many of whom can still feel the lost limb. This has resulted in nightmarish scenarios in which an awaking patient complains of an itch on the sole of his or her foot only to be shown that they have no legs from the knee down.

There are no graphics in the book, but, because it’s based around cases, it doesn’t need them for clarification of complex ideas. There are footnotes, as well as a bibliography.

I found this book to be absorbing, and I learned a great deal from it. I’d recommend it for anyone who seeks greater insight into hallucinations or unusual mental phenomena more generally.

I’d always imagined hallucinations were dangerous, scary and rare; nothing like those tricks of imagination and under-stimulated hearing on a silent night. A voice says your name when nobody’s there—that’s just a dream isn’t it? Seeing those pulsating puddles of light before a migraine? But Oliver Sacks looks for the common cause, and combines the common experience with the strange, making his book Hallucinations an oddly immediate and compelling read.

Have you ever wondered why tired and stressed out pilots might see alien spacecraft, or where the universal monsters of fairytales come from. The mind plays intriguing tricks, it seems. And while this book includes rather more drug-induced visions that I’d expected, it also lumps together the ordinary and mundane with the only slightly odd and the increasingly strange.

The book touches on PTSD and its effects on the brain, stress and the illness once termed hysteria, cause, effect, and different types of memory. It’s an absorbing, endlessly fascinating read, and it’s far more immediate and personal than I’d expected. Not my favorite book by Sacks, it’s a thoroughly good read just the same.

Disclosure: Bought at an airport bookstore for reading on a plane.

Hallucinations

Hallucinations is Oliver Sacks’ 12th book since 1970, and one that I keep reading and rereading; it’s that good. Oliver Sacks is a neurologist, now 80, but he has been assembling materials for this book for the past 50 years, based on innumerable personal experiences, a long career as a clinician, and a vast knowledge of both world literature and the case study literature in his field. He is probably best known for one of his book titles, The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, and a Hollywood movie based on his book Awakenings.
The 3 questions I’ll try to answer in this review of his new book are these: what is Oliver Sacks trying to say, how well does he say it, and what important things, if any, does he leave out?
In Hallucinations, he describes in memorable, sometimes alarming, sometimes amusing, detail a large number of hallucinations he has experienced as a result of taking drugs, medications, having migraines, during accidents, falling asleep, waking up, and so on. Hallucinations is an often graphic account of the ways people have come to experience, whether by seeing, smelling, hearing, touching or tasting something that is not there (at the time), or something that is experienced in the absence of “consensual validation,” that is, as also experienced simultaneously by others.
In “The Island of the Colorblind,” he describes his experience taking kava (Piper methysticum), writing, “’Excellent,’ I thought, the neurologist in me aroused. ‘I have read of this, and now I’m experiencing it.’” In Hallucinations he describes in detail his experiences taking Artane (an anti-muscarinic, anti-Parkinsonian drug, which, by the way, has recently been reported to have been used recreationally by Iraqi soldiers and police), heavenly blue morning glory seeds (something no longer available as packaged seeds in the U.S. because they have been “doctored” to prevent abuse), morphine (by injection), chloral hydrate (once known as knock-out drops, sometimes seen in 30’s gangster movies – and an important component of Melzer’s Reagent, the solution mycologists use to test for an amyloid [blackish] or dextrinoid [reddish brown] reaction in spores or mushroom tissues), and a “pharmacologic launch pad” of amphetamines (“for general arousal”), followed by LSD (“for hallucinogenic intensity”) and a “touch” of cannabis (“for a little added delirium”). His jaw-dropping descriptions of these experiences alone is well worth the price of the book, and his chapter, “Altered States,” is what was excerpted in The New Yorker in the summer of 2012.
In Hallucinations Oliver Sacks gives no indication that he ever took magic mushrooms or synthetic psilocybin, which is odd considering how many other things he has taken, and how readily available it must have been to him when he was in Berkeley during the 60’s. His pages of experience on psilocybin come from an article by Daniel Breslaw that Sacks found in the 1961 book, The Drug Experience, edited by David Ebin (available for a penny plus shipping from the store.com), a book Sacks refers to as excellent. There is no information given in Hallucinations whether the psilocybin was consumed as a mushroom or in some other form, or what dose was given, but the article in the Ebin book says that it was synthetic psilocybin, given during a study (a “fishing expedition”) under hospital conditions, administered in a glass of water. No dosage is given, but the experience related is such that a high dose can be assumed: colors and geometrics are followed by full-blown imagery, things appearing suddenly small or large, and an utter fascination and absorption in seeing infinity in a grain of sand, in this case, a smudge on the wall.
Oliver Sacks should have known about R. Gordon Wasson’s 1957 Life magazine article about Psilocybe use in Mexico because it is referred to in the Daniel Breslaw article in the Ebin book, and this article appears immediately after one by Wasson on Psilocybe use in Mexico. In other words, Oliver Sacks, for whatever reason, decided this had no place in his Hallucinations. Being an avid reader, Sacks could not have missed the Roland Griffiths and Charles Grob 2010 Scientific American article on “Hallucinogens as medicine.” This article follows up on Roland Griffiths’ 2006 startling (for Americans) Johns Hopkins study on the use of psilocybin to elicit mystical experiences in a large percentage of its study group. Several of the people in that group have since, several years afterwards, reported that their single psilocybin experience in this study had been one of the most meaningful experiences in their lives. This is important to note because Sacks says (p. 229): “While people with such hallucinations may (or may not) enjoy them as a sensory experience, they almost uniformly emphasize their meaninglessness, their irrelevance to events and issues of their lives.” Oliver Sacks has never been to the Telluride Mushroom Festival, alas, or met any of the great number of people for whom psilocybin has been a “godsend.”
Also, despite giving an entire chapter to hallucinations caused by delirium of one kind or another, he fails to even mention the intentional use of the fly-agaric (Amanita muscaria), which is hard to explain, given the abundance of references available about its use and effects. If ever there was a deliriant of choice, especially in the Russian Far East, it is this mushroom. The documentation of its use goes back a couple hundred years, and is readily available, thanks largely to R. Gordon and Valentina Wasson’s research (See, for example, Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality, which is available used for $60 on the store.com). Also, Tom Stimson’s The Song of Mukhomor (available for purchase online) follows a group of mushroom hunters on a trip to the Kamchatka as they explore the uses, both mystical and practical, of Amanita muscaria among both shamans and ordinary Koryak villagers. Another, the Russian-made documentary film, Pegtymel, (also available for purchase online) is about reindeer herders in Chukotka, in the northernmost part of the Russian Far East, where there are ancient petroglyphs of images of people with mushrooms on their heads, and the film observes today’s reindeer herders under the influence of Amanita muscaria as they interact and bond with their herd, something that has to be seen to be believed.
That said, Hallucinations is a pleasure to read and reread, and it is a treasury of hallucinatory experiences. One reason for writing this book, as he says, is to argue the case for the common occurrence of hallucinations of one kind or another in the general population, that is, it’s not restricted to so-called sick people. Another is to counter the stigma in western countries, like Europe and the U.S., where hallucination is all too readily believed by too many people to either indicate madness or to precipitate it, while in parts of the rest of the world hallucinations are sometimes understood as direct intercession by a divine being, a way of communicating with humans about something in their lives.
Oliver Sacks’ book is a source book for all the casual ways in which we experience hallucinations in our daily lives, during our falling asleep and on our waking up, with things we hear all the time, and sometimes see, and even smell, or suddenly remember from some distant past. Reading this book can put into perspective other things we read but fail to understand. For example, David Arora has written an article [“Xiao Ren Ren: The “Little People” of Yunnan,” which is available online: http://davidarora.com/uploads/xiao_ren_ren.pdf ] about boletes in Yunnan, China, that, if not properly cooked, can cause people to see “little people” running about. This is a curious phenomenon, but by reading Hallucinations, we find that it is not all that uncommon among those experiencing hallucinations from a number of different causes. The “Alice in Wonderland” phenomenon, as reported in the literature on Amanita muscaria ingestion, is similarly experienced by others from different and unrelated causes.
Hallucinations is divided into 15 chapters, each examining a different condition causing hallucinations. We learn that Linnaeus had a doppelganger, a double whom he saw on occasion. We learn that Alfred Russell Wallace “hallucinated” the idea of natural selection during an attack of malarial fever. Freud heard voices, and twice coming at a time that he believed saved his life. Nabokov experienced both auditory and visual hallucinations while falling asleep. Dostoevsky was epileptic and experienced ecstatic seizures, hallucinations that included touching God. This is so profound an experience that, instead of wanting it prevented, some people suffering ecstatic seizures have learned how to induce them! Lewis Carroll suffered from classical migraines, and it has been suggested that these experiences allowed him to “see” his Alice in Wonderland, before he wrote it. Reading Hallucinations is like eating a box of quality chocolates. You don’t know what’s inside any one chapter, but you can be sure it’s filled with something delicious. To paraphrase something Oliver Sacks says in his book – “readers would more easily imagine such experiences if they read the book under” –mushrooms! Bon appétit.
-Gary Lincoff
(Review originally published in FUNGI, 2013, vol 6 no.1.)

It's amazing how our brains construct our perception, not always in sync with the real world. To those with brain disruptions hallucinations are indistinguishable from reality and therefore call into question our mental structuring of the world around us and how we interface with it. I found most fascinating the persuasiveness of hallucinatory physiology such as temporal lobe disturbances or just common stressors being responsible for events that many people would consider paranormal. For example, the fact that a large percentage of people in mourning are visited by their lost loved ones in sight or sound (human and sometimes animal) even for years after the death, and even when the sufferer is not religious or inclined to beliefs in the supernatural.

The human brain is so adaptable and creative. The surprising lengths it can go to when its neural connections are misfiring is like a glimpse of past evolution (or God?) as it must have experimented over eons to fashion us with effective means for perceiving, understanding, and enduring the world around us.

Another excellent Oliver Sacks book built on case studies, with a review of the history of the phenomenon (even back to antiquity), salted with personal experiences and accounts of youthful indiscretions. Many of the cases are weird or lurid, so the book is quite entertaining. The presentation is sufficiently scholarly that the cases will be useful paradigms for others investigating epistomology or religiosity, though Sacks touches only lightly on these issues. There is a good index and an excellent bibliography.

The cases chosen are mostly not people who are "crazy," and part of the point must be that the range of normal human ability and experience is much wider than most of us believed. I hope this is consoling to practitioners in mental health; I note that some other readers were offended to read that not only saints have visions and, yes, doctors often abuse drugs.

As far as science goes, there isn't much. Sacks observes that poking specific parts of the brain can produce certain effects fairly consistently, and he offers some conjectures and hypotheses as to why, but the bottom line is that we really don't know. This is how science begins, collecting and sorting observations, and poking things to see if something will happen. I think Sacks' books provide a valuable service in disseminating expertly documented case studies which others can build upon to devise better experiments and theories.

They are good reads.

This book isn't written in quite the same lively, richly allusive style that you find in many of Dr. Sack's other books, such as "Awakenings." The style here is more simple, straight-forward, and descriptive.

Dr. Sacks describes the kinds of hallucinations that can be attendant upon different conditions. Epilepsy, injury, high fever, blindness, and mind-altering drugs, each can produce hallucinations that are in some way typical of that condition and different from the hallucinations produced by other conditions. For example, certain kinds of epilepsy are often characterized by initial "sightings" of jagged, geometric patterns running diagonal across one's field of vision. On the other hand, blindness yields whole dramas enacted in front of a person - random operas of antic leprechauns riding white horses. Hallucinations can also be auditory, olfactory, and tactile, as well as visual.

Hallucinations are generally different from basic imaginings or dreams in that they seem to be "out there," rather than in a person's own skull or in "the mind's eye." These interesting distinctions are what Dr. Sacks hopes might eventually provide a window into the neurology of the brain, and ultimately into the basis of consciousness itself. So far though, despite certain clues being generated by high-tech brain scans, hallucinations remain just tantalizing and vivid fragments of the puzzle. The best a neurologist can do for now is observe and describe.

Dr. Sacks is able to provide first-hand accounts of many types of hallucinations, because he has led a wide-ranging, active life that has included bouts of fever, injury, and experimental drug use. So this book also provides some telling autobiographical insights. You get to know a little more about Oliver Sacks than you might have learned so far.

Many of the hallucinations described bear remarkable resemblances to common themes in ghost stories. You encounter your doppelganger; people appear and then fade transparently through the walls; you have a hair-raising sense of an unseen presence standing behind you. On the other hand, many visions lead to a sense of a larger goodness and beauty in the world. Your dead mother appears again to reassure you; you sense an angelic, superior being guiding you. As you read along here, you'll find many ways in which what we sense in altered states seeps through to profoundly influence our "real" world."

I enjoyed this book. This is a scientific exploration of many kinds of Hallucinations and delusions as well as Dr Sacs own reports of his explorations with hallucination inducing drugs. Sometimes it is a bit dry and Dr Sacs dismisses most mystic and spiritual explanations for hallucinations as outside the scope of his studies and expertise. So if you are of a mystical bent, this book may leave out many of the common forms of visions that mystics experience (interactive ones in particular). On The other hand this is an informative look at an obscure area and if you do have hallucinations this will probably be comforting. This book proved to be particularly useful for me as I had just finished reading it when I suddenly had to go into the hospital for a life threatening condition. When a combination of drugs and Oxygen deprivation caused scenes of strange dancers and life forms to float through the room randomly I was able to stay calm and report the symptoms because I recognized them for what they were, so thank you Doctor for helping make what could have been a very scary experience entertaining and educational.

Oliver Sacks is one of the finest writers in the field of popular science. Sacks uses examples of abnormal psychology to demonstrate how the mind works in such books as THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT. His writing is clear, engaging and often humorous. His 1973 book AWAKENINGS inspired the Academy Award winning film of the same name starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro. The NEW YORK TIMES HAS refereed to him as "the poet laureate of medicine."

In his latest book, Sacks explains the psychological significance of hallucinations. He describes hallucinations resulting from visual problems, sensory deprivation, drug use, and more. He describes various kinds of hallucinations, including visual, auditory, and olfactory. Sacks draws on a lifetime of psychological experience to provide examples of various hallucinations. Sacks tries to tack the stigma out of hallucinations, explaining that people who suffer from them are not necessarily mentally ill. Sacks explains how things such as out of body and near death experiences can be explained by science and do not require supernatural explanations. Most importantly, he explores how hallucinations are related to creativity. Perhaps the strangest phenomenon described in the book is "phantom limb syndrome," in which an amputee claims to feel sensations in their missing limbs. HALLUCINATIONS lives up to the high standards set Sacks' earlier work, and is recommended to readers interested in psychology.

Well-written book on a fascinating topic! Sacks normalizes the odder experiences of the brain by describing the range and variety of hallucinations. Most of us can find experiences we've had within this range ... or prepare ourselves to understand them should we have them in the future!. Humanity has a long history of attributing everything we don't understand to the supernatural, yet science is continuously finding natural explanations for these phenomenon. This book offers insight into how weird experiences frequently considered spiritual or demonic in nature have physical origins from within our own brains.

If you're familiar with previous books by Oliver Sacks, then you'll feel right at home with the style and substance of Hallucinations. As is typical of Sacks' previous work, it's a book full of case studies culled from medical literature, personal correspondence, his own patients, and even occasionally from the history books, written in compelling prose and peppered with lengthy footnotes. All of these case studies, as the title of the book suggests, focus on the varieties of hallucinatory experiences.

Unlike Sacks' previous books, such as Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat which mainly focused on one case study per chapter, Hallucinations is a much more comprehensive collection of briefer stories (a few of which are shorter versions of stories from his earlier books). Each chapter focuses on a particular type of hallucination, such as parkinsonian hallucinations, migraine hallucinations, epileptic hallucinations, etc. Noticeably absent, however, is the topic of schizophrenic hallucinations, which Sacks describes in the preface as requiring a book of its own.

In the end, there isn't much to tie these sections and stories together. I was hoping for an afterward where Sacks would lay out a lesson or moral we can learn from all of this -- perhaps a discussion reinforcing the commonality of hallucinations, which was the biggest lesson I've learned from the book. Still, it remains quite an enjoyable and educational collection. The story of his own use of hallucinatory drugs makes the book worth a read by itself. In fact, after finishing the book I'm left somewhat envious, wishing I could test-drive a couple of these hallucinations myself.

Oliver Sacks has assembled an astonishing collection of hallucinatory experiences and here presents and categorizes them. He describes out of body experiences, hallucinations that take place on the cusp of migraines, life-saving voices [1], phantom limbs, and many more. He shows that hallucinations are much more common than is often thought and that they need not be a sign of mental illness. One of the book's great strengths is its diversity of source material. Sacks draws on his own clinical cases, the experiences of those who have written to him, literature [2], medical history, and his own hallucinatory experiences. These make for a rich portrait both of hallucinations and how they have been interpreted over time. (He discusses the interpretation of some types of hallucinations as spiritual manifestations, although he falls squarely in the non-religious camp.) Sacks's own experiences with hallucinatory drugs leaves no doubt that the author knows of what he speaks.

A limitation is that, although the descriptions are largely in layperson-friendly language, any analysis of why the hallucinations take place tends to technical language, leaving a neuro-novice like myself largely adrift. As a result, the book begins to feel long with the balance between description and analysis upset. Despite the final chapters being filled with intriguing stories, they took me a long time to get through.

In the unabridged audiobook, Sacks gives a personal touch by reading the introduction himself.

I highly recommend this survey (even if you don't get through every page.

(I read this because my wife's stepmother appears in it and recommended it.)

[1] Sigmund Freud had that experience on two occasions (p62).
[2] Moby Dick appears twice!

Excellent text on sundry causes of hallucinations. Should be a must read for everyone who works in hospitals, care settings, or with people catagorized as mentally ill. This information could keep people from misdiagnosis, and the at times poor treatment received at the hands of misinformed caregivers.
It covers hallucinations as varied as post surgical disorientation, onset of senility, brain injury or lesions, sensory deprivation, trauma, PSTD, epilepsy and other causes. It appears that hallucinations are experienced by a larger portion of the population than many professionals and caregivers seem to be aware of.
Too often I have heard nurses tell family members that their mother is an alcoholic and her responses post trauma are proof of withdrawal from alcohol, when I know that this person is not an alcoholic and is more likely to be suffering from a head trauma and an abundance of sedatives...and have them tell me it's none of my business and that she should be placed in a home where her drinking can be controlled. Seniors are probably the most vulnerable to what appears as irrational behaviour post surgery than the average patient, yet are given no information on the likelihood of having experiences that can be frightening and disorienting. I think of people who have Parkinsons who might be frightened to express some of the things they are experiencing not wanting to be mis-labeled, as having mental problems.
I think of the story my aunt told me about my Great Gramma who when she was dying was sure that goats were filling up her bedroom. My Aunt was about 10 years old and a little distressed, and my Grandmother told her to go in and shush those goats out of the room and tell them they had to stay outside...which my Aunt did and her Grandma could relax and be grateful that the goats were gone. I am grateful for my Grams wisdom in not trying to convince her mother that there were no goats: giving her dignity in her final weeks.
Very informative.

I like to read Oliver Sachs because he loves to write. As a neurologist, Sachs is well aware of the neural substrate that underlies hallucinations (f.e., activation of the superior temporal sulcus that is required for perceiving hallucinated faces), however, all his books are phenomenological journeys into the underworld of human experience. Here he embarks on cataloging perceptual shifts that are experienced without having a basis in 'objective reality' which, for Sachs, include deja vu, jamais vu, out-of-body experiences and various types of ecstatic states.

For the most part, a hallucination is the brain's response to sensory deprivation of some sort. Faced with nothing, the brain supplies its own input, constructing a solipsistic experience that replaces objective reality. Such hallucinations can be experienced under a myriad of pathological and non-pathological conditions that include perceptual deprivation, migraine, epileptic fits,pre-dream hypnagogic states, deep grieving, cortical damage and delirium tremens. Some hallucinations are visual or auditory. Others are purely abstract. Some combine with ordinary vision so that the 'hallucinator' has no way of telling where the real world ends and hallucination begins.

As one delves into the hallucinatory underworld, one starts to wonder about the nature of experienced time and space and the fundamental predicaments of human experience. Stressing the importance of self-understanding, people often recognize hallucinations as such because they are devoid of emotional impact. More frightening are experiences that shake at the very core of the sense of self, such as "somehow not being in one's own skin" (P 142) or (as in Anton's syndrome), believing that one's loved ones are impostors.

Hallucinations can serve as a springboard for inquiry into the mechanisms of perceptual binding and compensation, philosophical debates into the nature of reality, and theological disputations on religious epiphany. Above all, this book should inform neurological and psychiatric investigations into what it means to be sane, as all too many people these days are medicated into the purple haze of 'sanity' by psychiatrists oblivious of physiological/mental causes of their clients' 'illness'. It is curious that we have thousands of articles delving into minute depictions of brain physiology whereas the types of monographs written by Sachs are few and far between. I would speculate that too many physicians simply do not have the time or interest to pursue the gentlemanly pursuits in art, music and science that would allow them to reflect on what it means to be a human being. Another important issue, showcased in the amateurish and ill-conceived DSM5, is the ever increasing tendency to pathologize the patient, where tiny departures from the norm are relegated into the psychiatric domain with treatments that too often include needless pharmaceutical intervention. Sachs seems to refuse to engage in medical industry-sponsored witch hunts. His patients are people who, while experiencing weird things, are not crazy. They are allowed to explore their experiences with their doctor who is a companion in their journey. While this compassionate approach is distinctively non-modern it should, one would hope, eventually find its way into our medical schools and clinics.

After enjoying Dr. Sacks' previous works my expectations were that this book would be a light treatment of a serious topic. I purchased it for my coast to coast roundtrip flights with the assumption that my mind would be so absorbed that I would be distracted from the length of the flight. It didn't work that way, I had to struggle through the last section. The book was informative. It made the case that hallucinating is often a normal response to an extensive list of mental and physical conditions and medications. Such knowledge is extremely useful to physicians, families of patients with chronic illnesses, or taking psychotropic drugs.

The writing was straightforward and clear, but had too many pages focused on the author's experiences and revelations derived from early experimentation with drugs (should have been condensed). There is no question that administrators of nursing units, directors of assisted facilities, caretakers of the chronically ill, and physicians of all backgrounds would benefit from the information shared in this book. There are extensive reference materials provided at the back for further clarification of specific ideas. However, as a reader, I was hoping this book was another narrative like the very popular: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. I missed Dr. Sacks' storytelling and can't recommend this as leisure reading for a general audience.

The most people think of hallucinations as things on people suffering from a psychosis have, it looks like the majority of hallucinations aren't caused by psychosis at all. There are all sorts of hallucinations that arise from all sorts of disorders, including migraine, Parkinson's, sensory deprivation (including loss of sight for whatever reason), and falling asleep and waking up- this last type can be terrifying.

The book starts with one disorder, Charles Bonnet Syndrome, which sometimes occurs in people who have lost their sight. Suddenly, they will begin to see again- except they are the only people who can see the things. Once told that the people (or whatever) are not real and that there is nothing wrong with them, some patients actually find the illusions interesting and amusing and even miss them when the hallucinations abate.

Those things we `see' in the dark as we're falling asleep are hypnagogic hallucinations; they usually have no emotional impact. Hypnopompic hallucinations and sleep paralysis, however, can be terrifying. Occuring as the person wakes, these hallucinations happen with they eyes open and are projected into the external environment and seem real- the monster is in your bedroom. Add sleep paralysis, where the mind is awake but the body hasn't gotten the message yet, and you can't fight or escape from the monster, dubbed in the past as the Hag or the Night Mare.

Told in Sacks' usual amusing but informative style, this book is rich in detail but easily understandable by the person with no neurological knowledge. In this book, Sacks tells us something of his own history with hallucinations due to drug use in the 60s. One doesn't expect this sort of openness in a medical book and I found it amusing as well as instructional; he can look at the drugs from the point of view of both doctor and user, providing an unusual balance. As always with one of Sacks' books, it's not to be missed if you have an interest in the brain.

This is an interesting book about the various types and causes of hallucinations. Before reading this book, I associated the word “hallucination” with visual images caused by drug use, dementia, and certain kinds of mental disorders such as schizophrenia. What I learned, however, is that hallucinations are much broader in scope, and can occur for such simple reasons as sleep deprivation, a lack of sensory stimulation, and emotional stress. Hallucinations can affect any of the five senses, and range from the simple (an imagined noise as one is falling asleep) to the complex (experiencing full visual, auditory, and olfactory cues that aren’t really there). The range and variety of hallucinations that Mr. Sacks describes in this book are truly fascinating.

I think this book should be required reading for care-givers of the elderly (both in the home and in the hospital). There is a tendency for people to equate hallucinations with insanity and dementia, but in fact these terrifying conditions are only two (rather extreme) reasons why a person might experience a hallucination. One can’t help but imagine that some elderly people who experience hallucinations might be misdiagnosed and written off as “feeble minded,” when in fact their conditions may be more benign, and – potentially – treatable.

`Hallucinations' is another accessible and readable book from Oliver Sacks. In his usual informative and entertaining style he explores the various facets of hallucinations and the situations and conditions under which they occur.

He looks at drug induced hallucinations, as well as those that stem from brain injury, illness and post-traumatic stress disorder. The chapter I found particularly interesting is the one that looks at hallucinations we may experience when on the verge of sleep and I was fascinated to read of minor hallucinations I have experienced at this time (things like hearing your name called, or music in your dreams). He also looks at the cultural responses to hallucinations and how different societies have revered or feared them.

Each chapter in this book had something to pique your interest and whilst some chapters flowed better than others, overall the book made for an interesting and enjoyable read. If you have read other books by Sacks then you will be well aware of his writing style and the respect he commands in the field of neuroscience and if you are new to books about this field then I can say this would make a worthy introduction. You would also do well to check some of his other books as he tends to write the most accessible and informative books on the subject at the present time.

All in all this made for an entertaining and absorbing read and one which I may revisit at some point down the line.

Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page where I have also reviewed his book 'Musicophilia'.

Hallucinations are widely perceived to be signs of severe mental illness, suffered by only a small fraction of the population. This fascinating book by renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks shows how much of a misconception this notion actually is. In fact, hallucinations are surprisingly commonplace, and the experience of them can be emotionless (a detached procession of exotically dressed people "seen" by a person with Charles Bonnet syndrome, which can strike people losing their eyesight), terrifying (the perception, in a patient with fever-induced delirium, that her body is swelling and shrinking grotesquely), or deeply meaningful (the sense of oneness with the universe inspired by psychedelic drugs). They can even be comforting, as in a bereaved son who wakes in the night to the presence of his deceased father.

The forms hallucinations take are as varied as the people who experience them. Often, they are associated with sensory deprivation, such as the vivid auditory hallucinations affecting individuals with hearing loss. Other times, they may not be associated with a particular sense at all; one parkinsonian patient describes the persistent feeling of an unseen "presence." In one especially interesting chapter, Sacks addresses out-of-body experiences, which can be induced by seizures, migraines, electrical stimulation of the cortex, or loss of blood to the brain. He describes the near-death experiences frequently associated with cardiac arrest, as well as the strange phenomenon of visualizing a "doppelganger" of oneself (this can occur with epilepsy or migraine).

The wealth of stories in this book helps dispel the taboo surrounding a phenomenon that, according to Sacks, affects primarily the sane. In accessible language, Sacks explains the neurological bases of various types of hallucinations. At the same time, he reminds us that most of us have had the experience of thinking we heard our name called, or having strange sensations while on the edge of sleep.

Besides sharing others' stories, Sacks draws from his own rich personal experience, including his experimentation with psychedelic substances as a young man. On one drug-addled morning, Sacks enjoys a surprise visit from two friends, only to realize--as he brings them their breakfast--that they were never there. On another occasion, he has a deep conversation about the philosophy of Bertrand Russell with a spider.

I came away from HALLUCINATIONS with a sense of wonder and intrigue. As in all his previous books, Sacks writes with great warmth and sensitivity, imparting a deepened respect for the complexity of the human mind, brain, and experience.

I wasn't too sure how I would feel about this book. I generally like Dr Sacks' work but I wasn't too thrilled by Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, Revised and Expanded Edition. But that's me, maybe I need to take another look at it.

I loved this book. Dr Sacks is an engaging, intelligent writer and manages to convey the information effectively. Dr Sacks introduces the various type of hallucinations and some things I didn't consider hallucinations. I never thought that what I might see when I start to fall asleep could be hallucinations. I just considered that was little dreams.
And I was glad Dr Sacks wrote about auditory hallucinations. If you tell your doctor you hear voices, that's generally a fast track to a stay in a psychiatric facility. So once in a very great while, I think I hear somebody call my name. The voice sounds vaguely familiar and I look around. And there's no one around. Apparently this is an auditory hallucination. I never realized I was prone to something like that. I just thought I had misheard some one.
Dr Sacks also has plenty of information about visual and olfactory hallucinations. I did not know that many people with poor vision have hallucinations. Dr Sacks manages to break this down so it makes perfect sense to me despite the fact I have no experience in neurology.

For me, it took me a little longer to read than a fiction work of the same size. I had to stop and absorb what was explained. It didn't stop me from reading it every chance I could. I really enjoyed this book and I recommend it highly to anybody who wants to learn more about how the human brain works. Well written, clear explanations and Dr Sacks' style of writing make this a very enjoyable book.

_enjoy_

Being a paranormal researcher, Oliver Sacks' Hallucinations is in invaluable addition to my bookshelf. When someone comes to you with reports of seeing things, whether in the paranormal field or in a medical situation, knowing what may be the cause is essential. Is it something external that is actually appearing in front of them, or is it something on a medical level? Throughout Hallucinations, Sacks discusses medical disorders he has encountered over time that cause tricks of the mind.

After reading Sacks' book, what I love most is that it does not feel like a medical textbook. There is not complex terminology, charts, and biological equations. Instead, there are stories about the disorders explaining the symptoms, and the effects they have. This makes Sacks book an enjoyable read for a broad audience; not only the medical field.

I frequently found myself sitting down anticipating to only read a chapter or two. I would end up highlighting some information to write articles about on my paranormal research web site. Two hours later I had read four or five chapters, without even realizing I had read that far. The book truly sucks you in. If you are curious about how the human mind can make things appear that aren't in the physical world, pick up a copy of Hallucinations!

This is truly a fascinating book, filled with examples of hallucinations of hearing, taste, touch and sight, and the varieties of syndromes, states of being and drugs that cause them. Hallucinations are much more common then I would have thought and are by no means a sure sign your going crazy.

I couldn't help but consider the religious implications eluded to by Sacks. After a book like this, much of what we read in the bible, from God speaking, revelations, prophecies, visions, miracles and dramatic conversions like that of Paul, all have the ring of Hallucination. It is quite understandable why with one sweep of the hand, naturalist dismiss the paranormal and every religious experience ever had by humanity. Even the professional skeptic Michael Shermer had a hallucination of being abducted by aliens, while driving late one night after a long bike race.

This book shows why seeing is not believing! If it was Michael Shermer, instead of doubting Thomas, who saw and put his finger into the nail scarred hands of Christ, it wouldn't have resulted in belief! And perhaps it shouldn't. The fact that there is mechanisms in the brain, that can create what seems objective reality (so we see, feel and hear what isn't actually there) does give one good reason to doubt any sensory experience of what isn't in accordance with the normal order of things.

But here is the difficulty, if there be a God and He wants to interact with us, then there is likely nothing he could do, that one could not justly write off as a hallucination. Now there is a possibility that God uses the very mechanisms responsible for hallucinations to communicate with mankind. Though, normally they are caused by malfunctions of the brain, possibly God somehow stimulates the mind to hear His voice, have visions, revelations and deep religious experiences. Sure, we can consider a conversion experience (like the many William James wrote about in A Varieties of Religious Experiences) a hallucination, but this does not automatically mean there can't be a supernatural element behind it. Joan of Arc may have been having hallucinations, but this doesn't necessarily rule out God's guidance. Science only can explain the natural. If there is a supernatural that moves upon the brain, it will of course cause activity in the brain that can be studied, but won't necessarily infer the supernatural. These consideration cause me to think that the content of hallucinations, is definitely something worthy of study. Many of the hallucination mentioned in this book are of rather meaningless content, though truly imaginative creations of the brain. But now what are we to do, with the cases, where people supposedly get detailed information of something they had no access to, or prophecies that come to past, or detailed visions of places they never been? What is one to make of revelations, sound guidance, profound truth and moral progress?

I have friends who regularly "hear God." This is an inner voice, that differs from their own inner reasoning. This voice is wise, compassionate, comforting, loving and inspires them to do what is right, even if its not in their own interest. Is this just the better angels of their nature speaking? It definitely is not a negative or malign influence in their life, it is beneficial to themselves and to humanity. I suppose it is all going to come down to ones presuppositions on how to interpret such an experience. I do think Christians are justified in their belief that its of God, despite of the naturalistic explanations to the contrary. Why? Because of the content.

Not Sacks best work, but still informative and interesting. As always, it's the case studies that make the book worth reading; without them, it would be dry and clinical. The brain is a marvelous creation, both fragile and resilient, and though human understanding of it is still minimal, it is growing by the day.
The chapters deal with the various causes of hallucinations, some brought on by patient behaviors (drugs) and some by unusual or even common medical conditions. The hallucinations he documents are of the visual, auditory or olfactory variety and the patients usually know they're not real visions, smells or sounds. He's not dealing with psychotic hallucinations, though some of the patients do lose touch with reality for a short while.
Sacks always provides insights into a condition most of us will have little contact with, unless we see it in aging parents.

As a psychologist picking up this book, I expected to be reading about mental health patients and their psychoses. But I should have known that author Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, would approach his subject from a different direction--in fact, with the exception of trauma-induced flashbacks, he does not talk about psychological-based hallucinations at all. Rather, Dr. Sacks focuses on examining the many different types of hallucinations which are neurological in origin.

In each of the fifteen chapters of this book, Dr. Saks features a unique category of hallucinations. Many are based on medical conditions such as blindness, migraines, epilepsy, occipital lobe injuries, Parkinson's disease, and narcolepsy. Still other forms of hallucinogenic experiences arise from altered states of consciousness, including sensory deprivation, the verge of sleep, and delirium. Finally, Dr. Sacks addresses several unique situations such as trauma-induced reactions, out of body experiences, and the phantom limb phenomenon.

As with his previous books (e.g., The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat), Dr. Saks relies heavily on use of case examples to illustrate. Unfortunately, this method, while sometimes fascinating, does not work as well here. Over and over again, Dr. Sacks shares stories of hallucinations experienced by his friends, colleagues, and patients, sometimes in lengthy and almost excruciating detail. These descriptions can be interested at first, but after awhile, it feels like someone else sharing their dreams (i.e., you may have a response of "wow, that's neat," but if it hasn't happened to you, you really can't relate).

Furthermore, I found this volume to be rather uneven. For example, the first chapter, on Charles Bonnet Syndrome (hallucinations that occur with blindness), is 30 pages long, and Dr. Saks provides case after case, seemingly without end. Yet he spends less than half that time on the following chapter. The choice of where to focus appears arbitrary, as some less-common syndromes are given more attention.

I've no doubt that Dr. Sacks is a gifted scientist who has much intelligence to share. This book is definitely well-written, and for those who have a strong interest in the subject manner, I would recommend it. For those who are looking for more casual reading however, I would caution that HALLUCINATIONS might feel a bit laborious at times.

Once again Oliver Sacks has taken what could be a dry and clinical book and made it mainstream. This book was fascinating to read.

This books categorizes the way we all ....well, Hallucinate.

Essentially many people over the course of their lifetime, see or sense something, that they know is not there. This can be due to a neurological issue, drug issue, or the odd states coming in our out of sleep, as only some of the reasons, we perceive something no one else can. In discussing this book, at work, it amazed me how many people spoke of various illusions they have experienced in their lifetime.

This book covers case after case anecdotally, in a logical order of various things that people see or sense and tries to understand the underlying cause. The author himself covered some experiences he had as well. To be honest, I was surprised at how many illusions the author recounted including some earlier fairly heavy drug use.

What made it so easy to read, was that it was like the author was in the room discussing what happened, some similar things that happened to other people and possible causes of this affect.

I found this quite interesting especially in areas where people who have lost vision, that it would seem the brain would try to fill in the void. (Charles Bonnet Syndrome). Over and over again, it would seem the brain uses data it has to construct in our senses, what for whatever reason it feels should be there, but isn't. Some things clearly were nonsensical. Others such as illusions of text or musical scales, clearly were drawn from the users experience.

You can search inside this book, so I won't go into detail on the Table of contents, but some of the areas covered are the following:
***Loss of vision illusions (the Charles Bonnet syndrome I mentioned above)
***Sensory deprivation as a trigger
***Hearing and smelling things
***Hallucinations unique to Parkinson's disease
***Drug based hallucinations
***Patterns unique to migraines
***Epileptic hallucinations
***Delirium
***Hallucinations coming in and out of sleep and ones associated with narcolepsy
***PTSD associated hallucinations
***Seeing oneself as a hallucination and phantom limb syndrome.

Another thing I really liked was the extensive footnotes on the pages, that were right where you could read them, rather than in the back of the book. It makes it nice to have the extra content, where it is most convenient.

Who knew there was so much to write about hallucinations? Who knew that hallucinatory phenomena were so widespread and pervasive in the human experience, indeed, central to the human experience? This book addresses all varieties of sensory misperceptions and illusions, such as music, apparitions, near death experiences, odors, visual distortions, and so forth, happening to "regular" people (often with a medical issue).

This is a multi-modal approach to the phenomena. Sacks draws on the literature, including literary descriptions, early scientific descriptions, individual first-person descriptions, modern day studies, and explanations from neuroscience. Along the way, the reader learns some interesting factoids, such as there are over 500 different oderant receptors in the nose, or that "music calls upon many more areas of the brain than any other activity -- one reason why music therapy is useful for such a wide variety of conditions".

To me this book was fascinating, and I had no idea how widespread sensory misperception could be. He cites an old survey that found over 10% admitted having such an experience. Some of what he writes about are on the edges of "normal" experience. For example, as I volitionally "play" a classic rock favorite of mine in my head, or drift off to sleep with various dream-like images, I don't consider those hallucinations, but when these same things happen without volition to people with various medical issues, then they can be. In this way the reader comes very close to understanding the individual experiences that Sacks writes about.

Sacks combines an absorbing fascination with the topic with a rich knowledge of the literature, along with a gentleness and empathy for the people he writes about, making this a wonderful book on the topic.

p.s. He for the most part excludes schizophrenic hallucinations, because they are so tightly involved in other circumstances and deserve "a book of their own". The focus of this book is hallucinations from other organic causes, e.g. medical conditions, epilepsy, drug use, sensory deprivation, etc.

This isn't a book I would ever read on my own. I've experience slight examples of hallucinations but simply don't find them of interest to me. Oliver Sacks is an excellent writer of non-fiction and that continues with this book which he describes as "anthology" of hallucinations. He isn't make an explicit argument about the meaning, causes or treatment of hallucinations but describing the various ways they occur.

The most fascinating idea about hallucinations for me is how history has been shaped by them. All those historical figures who had visions or heard voices probably experienced hallucinations. In times before science overcame religion, hallucinations were from God or the devil and one's believe in their truth could have tremendous social impact. Think Joan of Arc, St. Francis of Asissi, the Salem witch trials.

There is also the philosophical notion that you can't trust something to be true based on your senses. If your hearing, smells, sight, taste and feel can misguide you into believing something is "there" when it isn't, then when it is "there," we are still relying on our brain, not fact to make a judgement based on sensory data.

Sorry but the book's catalog of blind people who have visions and the like didn't interest me much. Most of the stories are mildly interesting but don't build into anything intellectual exciting. I did think about my father's dementia and claims that he saw feces rising out of toilets during in final months of life. But that I could now categorize his experience didn't make me feel less sad about it.

I was hoping Sacks would address the idea that multiple people could see the same hallucination. This, of course, sounds ridiculous but I do have a friend who "saw" a UFO and accepted a call from a neighbor who saw it as well. I guess this is beyond scientific study but I thought he might address the phenomenon at least in passing.

Oliver Sacks has through his previous ten books and numerous articles made a great and justified reputation as a pioneering researcher and storyteller regarding the pecularities and quirks of the human mind. Here he takes on the subject of Hallucinations and provides a truly respectable and interesting account of the various kinds of Hallucinations humans experience. He records the experiences of many of those who have been patients of his. And of course includes the most important results of other researchers on visual hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, hallucinations related to migraine, to Parkinson's,to 'sacred disease' Altered States, Narcolepsy, to being on the threshold ofsleep,to doppelgangers,hallucinations which come when we are delirous, and hallucinations of phantoms, shadows, and sensory ghosts. Perhaps the center of the book is Sacks own personal account of experimenting with drugs, and the meaning this had in his own life. A childhood sufferer from Migraine he during one of Amphetamine adventures read wildly through a nineteenth century tract on Migraine which he felt illuminated the subject as no modern research was doing. He noticed that after the reading his usual 'down' did not come, and he asked himself who might conduct such research for other areas of the mental life. When he understood that he himself was the best to do this he began that career of writing, in which the writing would become the most real part of his experience. In other words he no longer needed the extraordinary kind of experience which came through experiment with drugs. In this book he continues that adventure in writing and illuminates what at times is a boring subject but on the whole makes for a fascinating work, the story of human hallucination.

Hallucinations are more common than many of us imagine. And they aren't necessarily a sign of mental problems.

This assessment is made quite clear by neurologist Oliver Sacks who examines the subject with his usual mix of scientific research, personal experience, compassion and humor.

He describes the many sources of hallucinations, which may express themselves through any of the senses. Some are so common a human experience they will be dismissed as something other than what they actually are. In fact, they play such an important part in our mental lives Sacks speculates they have inspired art, folklore and even religion.

He begins with a discussion of a common condition called Charles Bonnet Syndrome that often afflicts older persons with visual problems and was first described in 1760. Victims "see" all manner of visual hallucinations and often decline to report them for fear of being labeled with dementia. The condition is triggered when the brain is deprived of perceptual information and tries to compensate with stored memories. He points out later in the book that memories are not always an accurate reflection of an event and may provide a distorted image.

Hearing voices is commonly associated with schizophrenia, but not all auditory hallucinations are linked to that condition. They may be as simple as tinnitus, the various noises associated with hearing loss, or as shocking as a verbal expression. Their causes also run the gamut of physical and psychological conditions.

Hallucinations are associated with such varied physical conditions as migraines, epilepsy and Parkinson's disease, other physiological conditions, sleep deprivation and physical exhaustion.

All in all, I found this a thoroughly interesting book and one I recommend to anyone intrigued by the miraculous working of the human brain.

In Hallucinations Oliver Sacks provides us with an in depth, thorough and personal journal into the world of hallucinations.

He starts by working through just what hallucinations can be (essentially discussing each sense and what hallucinations are like from each) and then describing the myriad of ways hallucinations can develop and the quality of each cause.

The journey is absolutely fascinating - especially when Sacks starts riffing about his own experiences with psychoactive medications.

Where the book is perhaps less strong is repetitiveness. After a few chapters it becomes hard to keep hearing and retaining details about every hallucination in the book. I was disappointed in the relatively minimal discussion about the cultural significance of hallucinations, which could have been a great way to structure the book to be more memorable and fun.

In the end this was a great and informative read, and an interesting topic, I guess just in a market saturated with pop-psychology, one expects high-standards of fun reading not just quality information.

This is truly a fascinating book, filled with examples of hallucinations of hearing, taste, touch and sight, and the varieties of syndromes, states of being and drugs that cause them. Hallucinations are much more common then I would have thought and are by no means a sure sign your going crazy.

I couldn't help but consider the religious implications eluded to by Sacks. After a book like this, much of what we read in the bible, from God speaking, revelations, prophecies, visions, miracles and dramatic conversions like that of Paul, all have the ring of Hallucination. It is quite understandable why with one sweep of the hand, naturalist dismiss the paranormal and every religious experience ever had by humanity. Even the professional skeptic Michael Shermer had a hallucination of being abducted by aliens, while driving late one night after a long bike race.

This book shows why seeing is not believing! If it was Michael Shermer, instead of doubting Thomas, who saw and put his finger into the nail scarred hands of Christ, it wouldn't have resulted in belief! And perhaps it shouldn't. The fact that there is mechanisms in the brain, that can create what seems objective reality (so we see, feel and hear what isn't actually there) does give one good reason to doubt any sensory experience of what isn't in accordance with the normal order of things.

But here is the difficulty, if there be a God and He wants to interact with us, then there is likely nothing he could do, that one could not justly write off as a hallucination. Now there is a possibility that God uses the very mechanisms responsible for hallucinations to communicate with mankind. Though, normally they are caused by malfunctions of the brain, possibly God somehow stimulates the mind to hear His voice, have visions, revelations and deep religious experiences. Sure, we can consider a conversion experience (like the many William James wrote about in A Varieties of Religious Experiences) a hallucination, but this does not automatically mean there can't be a supernatural element behind it. Joan of Arc may have been having hallucinations, but this doesn't necessarily rule out God's guidance. Science only can explain the natural. If there is a supernatural that moves upon the brain, it will of course cause activity in the brain that can be studied, but won't necessarily infer the supernatural. These consideration cause me to think that the content of hallucinations, is definitely something worthy of study. Many of the hallucination mentioned in this book are of rather meaningless content, though truly imaginative creations of the brain. But now what are we to do, with the cases, where people supposedly get detailed information of something they had no access to, or prophecies that come to past, or detailed visions of places they never been? What is one to make of revelations, sound guidance, profound truth and moral progress?

I have friends who regularly "hear God." This is an inner voice, that differs from their own inner reasoning. This voice is wise, compassionate, comforting, loving and inspires them to do what is right, even if its not in their own interest. Is this just the better angels of their nature speaking? It definitely is not a negative or malign influence in their life, it is beneficial to themselves and to humanity. I suppose it is all going to come down to ones presuppositions on how to interpret such an experience. I do think Christians are justified in their belief that its of God, despite of the naturalistic explanations to the contrary. Why? Because of the content.

Not Sacks best work, but still informative and interesting. As always, it's the case studies that make the book worth reading; without them, it would be dry and clinical. The brain is a marvelous creation, both fragile and resilient, and though human understanding of it is still minimal, it is growing by the day.
The chapters deal with the various causes of hallucinations, some brought on by patient behaviors (drugs) and some by unusual or even common medical conditions. The hallucinations he documents are of the visual, auditory or olfactory variety and the patients usually know they're not real visions, smells or sounds. He's not dealing with psychotic hallucinations, though some of the patients do lose touch with reality for a short while.
Sacks always provides insights into a condition most of us will have little contact with, unless we see it in aging parents.

As a psychologist picking up this book, I expected to be reading about mental health patients and their psychoses. But I should have known that author Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, would approach his subject from a different direction--in fact, with the exception of trauma-induced flashbacks, he does not talk about psychological-based hallucinations at all. Rather, Dr. Sacks focuses on examining the many different types of hallucinations which are neurological in origin.

In each of the fifteen chapters of this book, Dr. Saks features a unique category of hallucinations. Many are based on medical conditions such as blindness, migraines, epilepsy, occipital lobe injuries, Parkinson's disease, and narcolepsy. Still other forms of hallucinogenic experiences arise from altered states of consciousness, including sensory deprivation, the verge of sleep, and delirium. Finally, Dr. Sacks addresses several unique situations such as trauma-induced reactions, out of body experiences, and the phantom limb phenomenon.

As with his previous books (e.g., The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat), Dr. Saks relies heavily on use of case examples to illustrate. Unfortunately, this method, while sometimes fascinating, does not work as well here. Over and over again, Dr. Sacks shares stories of hallucinations experienced by his friends, colleagues, and patients, sometimes in lengthy and almost excruciating detail. These descriptions can be interested at first, but after awhile, it feels like someone else sharing their dreams (i.e., you may have a response of "wow, that's neat," but if it hasn't happened to you, you really can't relate).

Furthermore, I found this volume to be rather uneven. For example, the first chapter, on Charles Bonnet Syndrome (hallucinations that occur with blindness), is 30 pages long, and Dr. Saks provides case after case, seemingly without end. Yet he spends less than half that time on the following chapter. The choice of where to focus appears arbitrary, as some less-common syndromes are given more attention.

I've no doubt that Dr. Sacks is a gifted scientist who has much intelligence to share. This book is definitely well-written, and for those who have a strong interest in the subject manner, I would recommend it. For those who are looking for more casual reading however, I would caution that HALLUCINATIONS might feel a bit laborious at times.

Once again Oliver Sacks has taken what could be a dry and clinical book and made it mainstream. This book was fascinating to read.

This books categorizes the way we all ....well, Hallucinate.

Essentially many people over the course of their lifetime, see or sense something, that they know is not there. This can be due to a neurological issue, drug issue, or the odd states coming in our out of sleep, as only some of the reasons, we perceive something no one else can. In discussing this book, at work, it amazed me how many people spoke of various illusions they have experienced in their lifetime.

This book covers case after case anecdotally, in a logical order of various things that people see or sense and tries to understand the underlying cause. The author himself covered some experiences he had as well. To be honest, I was surprised at how many illusions the author recounted including some earlier fairly heavy drug use.

What made it so easy to read, was that it was like the author was in the room discussing what happened, some similar things that happened to other people and possible causes of this affect.

I found this quite interesting especially in areas where people who have lost vision, that it would seem the brain would try to fill in the void. (Charles Bonnet Syndrome). Over and over again, it would seem the brain uses data it has to construct in our senses, what for whatever reason it feels should be there, but isn't. Some things clearly were nonsensical. Others such as illusions of text or musical scales, clearly were drawn from the users experience.

You can search inside this book, so I won't go into detail on the Table of contents, but some of the areas covered are the following:
***Loss of vision illusions (the Charles Bonnet syndrome I mentioned above)
***Sensory deprivation as a trigger
***Hearing and smelling things
***Hallucinations unique to Parkinson's disease
***Drug based hallucinations
***Patterns unique to migraines
***Epileptic hallucinations
***Delirium
***Hallucinations coming in and out of sleep and ones associated with narcolepsy
***PTSD associated hallucinations
***Seeing oneself as a hallucination and phantom limb syndrome.

Another thing I really liked was the extensive footnotes on the pages, that were right where you could read them, rather than in the back of the book. It makes it nice to have the extra content, where it is most convenient.

Who knew there was so much to write about hallucinations? Who knew that hallucinatory phenomena were so widespread and pervasive in the human experience, indeed, central to the human experience? This book addresses all varieties of sensory misperceptions and illusions, such as music, apparitions, near death experiences, odors, visual distortions, and so forth, happening to "regular" people (often with a medical issue).

This is a multi-modal approach to the phenomena. Sacks draws on the literature, including literary descriptions, early scientific descriptions, individual first-person descriptions, modern day studies, and explanations from neuroscience. Along the way, the reader learns some interesting factoids, such as there are over 500 different oderant receptors in the nose, or that "music calls upon many more areas of the brain than any other activity -- one reason why music therapy is useful for such a wide variety of conditions".

To me this book was fascinating, and I had no idea how widespread sensory misperception could be. He cites an old survey that found over 10% admitted having such an experience. Some of what he writes about are on the edges of "normal" experience. For example, as I volitionally "play" a classic rock favorite of mine in my head, or drift off to sleep with various dream-like images, I don't consider those hallucinations, but when these same things happen without volition to people with various medical issues, then they can be. In this way the reader comes very close to understanding the individual experiences that Sacks writes about.

Sacks combines an absorbing fascination with the topic with a rich knowledge of the literature, along with a gentleness and empathy for the people he writes about, making this a wonderful book on the topic.

p.s. He for the most part excludes schizophrenic hallucinations, because they are so tightly involved in other circumstances and deserve "a book of their own". The focus of this book is hallucinations from other organic causes, e.g. medical conditions, epilepsy, drug use, sensory deprivation, etc.

This isn't a book I would ever read on my own. I've experience slight examples of hallucinations but simply don't find them of interest to me. Oliver Sacks is an excellent writer of non-fiction and that continues with this book which he describes as "anthology" of hallucinations. He isn't make an explicit argument about the meaning, causes or treatment of hallucinations but describing the various ways they occur.

The most fascinating idea about hallucinations for me is how history has been shaped by them. All those historical figures who had visions or heard voices probably experienced hallucinations. In times before science overcame religion, hallucinations were from God or the devil and one's believe in their truth could have tremendous social impact. Think Joan of Arc, St. Francis of Asissi, the Salem witch trials.

There is also the philosophical notion that you can't trust something to be true based on your senses. If your hearing, smells, sight, taste and feel can misguide you into believing something is "there" when it isn't, then when it is "there," we are still relying on our brain, not fact to make a judgement based on sensory data.

Sorry but the book's catalog of blind people who have visions and the like didn't interest me much. Most of the stories are mildly interesting but don't build into anything intellectual exciting. I did think about my father's dementia and claims that he saw feces rising out of toilets during in final months of life. But that I could now categorize his experience didn't make me feel less sad about it.

I was hoping Sacks would address the idea that multiple people could see the same hallucination. This, of course, sounds ridiculous but I do have a friend who "saw" a UFO and accepted a call from a neighbor who saw it as well. I guess this is beyond scientific study but I thought he might address the phenomenon at least in passing.

Oliver Sacks has through his previous ten books and numerous articles made a great and justified reputation as a pioneering researcher and storyteller regarding the pecularities and quirks of the human mind. Here he takes on the subject of Hallucinations and provides a truly respectable and interesting account of the various kinds of Hallucinations humans experience. He records the experiences of many of those who have been patients of his. And of course includes the most important results of other researchers on visual hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, hallucinations related to migraine, to Parkinson's,to 'sacred disease' Altered States, Narcolepsy, to being on the threshold ofsleep,to doppelgangers,hallucinations which come when we are delirous, and hallucinations of phantoms, shadows, and sensory ghosts. Perhaps the center of the book is Sacks own personal account of experimenting with drugs, and the meaning this had in his own life. A childhood sufferer from Migraine he during one of Amphetamine adventures read wildly through a nineteenth century tract on Migraine which he felt illuminated the subject as no modern research was doing. He noticed that after the reading his usual 'down' did not come, and he asked himself who might conduct such research for other areas of the mental life. When he understood that he himself was the best to do this he began that career of writing, in which the writing would become the most real part of his experience. In other words he no longer needed the extraordinary kind of experience which came through experiment with drugs. In this book he continues that adventure in writing and illuminates what at times is a boring subject but on the whole makes for a fascinating work, the story of human hallucination.

Hallucinations are more common than many of us imagine. And they aren't necessarily a sign of mental problems.

This assessment is made quite clear by neurologist Oliver Sacks who examines the subject with his usual mix of scientific research, personal experience, compassion and humor.

He describes the many sources of hallucinations, which may express themselves through any of the senses. Some are so common a human experience they will be dismissed as something other than what they actually are. In fact, they play such an important part in our mental lives Sacks speculates they have inspired art, folklore and even religion.

He begins with a discussion of a common condition called Charles Bonnet Syndrome that often afflicts older persons with visual problems and was first described in 1760. Victims "see" all manner of visual hallucinations and often decline to report them for fear of being labeled with dementia. The condition is triggered when the brain is deprived of perceptual information and tries to compensate with stored memories. He points out later in the book that memories are not always an accurate reflection of an event and may provide a distorted image.

Hearing voices is commonly associated with schizophrenia, but not all auditory hallucinations are linked to that condition. They may be as simple as tinnitus, the various noises associated with hearing loss, or as shocking as a verbal expression. Their causes also run the gamut of physical and psychological conditions.

Hallucinations are associated with such varied physical conditions as migraines, epilepsy and Parkinson's disease, other physiological conditions, sleep deprivation and physical exhaustion.

All in all, I found this a thoroughly interesting book and one I recommend to anyone intrigued by the miraculous working of the human brain.

In Hallucinations Oliver Sacks provides us with an in depth, thorough and personal journal into the world of hallucinations.

He starts by working through just what hallucinations can be (essentially discussing each sense and what hallucinations are like from each) and then describing the myriad of ways hallucinations can develop and the quality of each cause.

The journey is absolutely fascinating - especially when Sacks starts riffing about his own experiences with psychoactive medications.

Where the book is perhaps less strong is repetitiveness. After a few chapters it becomes hard to keep hearing and retaining details about every hallucination in the book. I was disappointed in the relatively minimal discussion about the cultural significance of hallucinations, which could have been a great way to structure the book to be more memorable and fun.

In the end this was a great and informative read, and an interesting topic, I guess just in a market saturated with pop-psychology, one expects high-standards of fun reading not just quality information.

Very interesting, particularly the second half.

(I started with a middle chapter, then read to the end, and read the early chapters last — an order I recommend.)

I read this largely because I've had hallucinations myself during episodes of sleep paralysis, which is both common and covered by the book.

It's surprising how many people have hallucinations without having any major mental illness.

According to Sacks, lots of average people occasionally see or hear things.

The book also covers some people who aren't so average and their hallucinations might give some readers the willies.

"In Charles Bonnet syndrome, sensory deprivation, parkinsonism, migraine, epilepsy, and hypnagogia, there seems to be a mechanism in the brain that generates or facilitates hallucination -- a primary physiological mechanism, related to local irritation, release, neurotransmitter disturbance, or whatever -- with little reference to the individual's life circumstances, character, emotions, beliefs, or state of mind." (p. 229)

Previous chapters cover each of these. Charles Bonnet syndrome is frequently experienced by people that have lost their eyesight, and he recounts talking with a patient in her nineties who was having vivid hallucinations of people walking by, on streets filled with drab horses. To her great relief, he was able to tell her that she wasn't crazy, she had CBS, and it was a frequent side effect.

Another patient lost his sense of smell, then noticed it had returned. He could smell his morning coffee again, and he told his doctor. Sadly, the doctor verify the sense of smell was still gone entirely -- he was imagining the smells.

The author talks about his own experiments with mind-altering drugs, and the hallucinations he experienced while having them. Myself, I've never experienced any hallucinations other than dreaming, so I'm glad he mixed in the downfalls of experiencing some of these things.

PTSD is towards the end of a great book. There were many things I did not know in this book, and there were more vivid scenes detailed than I see in most of the fantasy novels I read.

Highly recommended.

The human brain works in ways we are only just beginning to understand. We tend to trust what we see as being what is actually happening but this book shows how the brain can be fooled into thinking something is there when it's actually happening inside itself. Hallucinations can happen when we're tired, half asleep or just waking up. They can happen when our eyesight has gone and when it is in some way defective. If we have a limb amputated we are still convinced the limb is there.

But hallucinations can be auditory as well as visual. People can hear music all the time or hear voices speaking to them or talking in the background. There's a tendency to think it is only schizophrenics who hear voices telling them to do things but the majority of people who hear voices are not schizophrenic. The author quotes many examples from his own patients and the case histories make fascinating reading. He also tells of his own experiences with licit and illicit drugs.

I enjoyed reading this well written and interesting book and would recommend it to anyone who wants to better understand themselves and the way their brain works. There are notes on each chapter, a bibliography which gives the reader an opportunity to read more on the subject and an index.

Hallucinations is another fascinating, entertaining examination of abnormal conditions of the mind by Oliver Sacks. It's even more interesting (if I remember correctly) that Sacks wrote this. In Musicophilia, Sacks admitted that he suffers from auditory hallucinations. So, it's not surprising that he would finally explore the subject (in detail) as to the different causes behind hallucinations.

Sacks writes about hallucinatory conditions like Charles Bonnet Syndrome, and compares ordinary dream states with the hallucinations that CBS sufferers experience. (Unlike dreams, CBS hallucinators are wide-awake, and they cannot interact with them, unlike many dreamers. Sacks also explores a variety of hallucinatory experiences that include religious, auditory hallucinations, and those associated with delirium. Most interesting for me were the hallucinations associated with migraines. I often try to "sleep them off" but, have had hallucinations where I could see "doors" where they didn't exist, or also extremely lucid, experience that seemed real, but were not based in reality.

Overall, I highly recommend this book.

Just finished reading Hallucinations and it deserves the 5 star rating it receives from most readers. I have read several of Sacks' books the most recent being Blindsight. In Hallucinations he describes in detail and lucidly the unusual and sometimes fantastic neurological syndromes he has treated or knew about. He quotes extensively from works of other great neurologists and provides the titles of books on the subject that will interest the reader. Sacks' books have a unique appeal to lay persons who have an interest in the workings of medical science and particularly the brain and nervous systems. The only part that I missed is an attempt on his part to advance our knowledge in what is known about the location in the brain where disorders occur that cause the dramatic hallucinations he describes. In comparison, his colleague and another brilliant neurologist, V.S. Ramachandran's books take the reader through anatomical explanations of strange syndromes.This deficiency is of less consequence to the lay reader but to doctors it would be all the more exciting to know.

Hallucinations are a fascinating subject and Oliver Sacks is truly a great writer. I originally became interested in this book after reading a recent New Yorker article by Sacks about his years of weekend drug experimentation (which is included in this book.)

In *Hallucinations* the curious and erudite Sacks joyfully explores many different type of hallucinations and hallucination like phenomena ranging from sleep paralysis, to doppelgangers, to religious experiences. It is not always clearly stated, but implied, how these experiences may have shaped literature and society - even religion.

If you have read everything Sacks has ever written there may be a little repetition here, but never-the-less this book is highly recommended.

If you have further interest in this topis also read *Fire in the Brain: Clinical Tales of Hallucination* (1993) by Ronald K. Siegel. I don't believe Sacks references this book specifically (I may be wrong) but he refers to Siegel's academic works several times. *Fire in the Brain,* like *Hallucinations,* is a non-academic book directed to curious readers not necessarily involved in neurology or psychology.

Disclaimer: I am reviewing an advance unproofread copy that I received for free through the Vine program.

Well I absolutely loved this book. I'm a big fan of the author, having read a number of his previous books, about our strange fascinating minds and brains, considered through the lens of the stories of his neurology patients, over many years of a long fruitful practice. And I'm a big fan of hallucinations too, having been somewhat of a space cadet back in the 1970's/80's. So this was the perfect combination.

And Sacks definitely does not disappoint, in this regard. He also gives us some more personal details from his own life and his own hallucinations, which is a nice touch, in addition to the usual wonderful stories about his patients.

So I definitely recommend this book, as well as most of his previous books too! (the first one I read was "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat"; then of course there's "Awakenings" which was made into the movie; and prior to this current book, his previous one was "Musicophilia").

This book by Oliver Sacks follows the pattern of his previous books, so if you have read any of them you will know what to expect. The topic is explored through extensive use of anecdotes, told mostly by those who experienced the hallucinations. These experiences are more common than you might think. Some of the people featured in the anecdotes were otherwise quite normal, and some of them had serious issues.

There are many causes for hallucinations -- drug use, migraines, epilepsy and traumatic brain damage, for example -- and Dr. Sacks explores each one in its own chapter. It should be noted that the hallucinations of people with schizophrenia are not covered in this book because, according to the author, those require a book of their own. Dreams are also not covered. However, Dr. Sacks does present non-supernatural explanations for at least some psychic and ghostly experiences.

Although the book has a textbook feel, it is lively and good reading. Dr. Sacks is an amusing narrator and if you have heard him in any of his appearances on the "RadioLab" pocast, and can imagine the book in his own voice, it's even better.

The author gave a nice distinction among three easily confused terms relating to mental health and/or mental illness.
1. Hallucination - a false sensory perception of reality despite all proof to the contrary that it could not exist.
2. Illusion - also a false perception, but this is a distortion of a true thing that does exist. If one sees a 7 ft being, who exists, and calls him a giant, we may see that as a case of semantics. If one sees the same being but having all blue skin, that is a distortion of reality and an example of an illusion.
3. Delusion - this is a personalized belief that is highly improbable and not part of ones folkways or mores of one's culture. Extreme jealousy with no factual basis behind it could be one example. But an more dramatic example might be cannibalism. In some primitive cultures this would be acceptable and part of the folkways and mores, but if a person in our culture practiced it, he would be considered delusional whether or not he might think such a practice might give him supernatural powers or strengths.

The author spent a fair amount of time in one chapter and many references to Charles Bonnet Syndrome in other chapters. In this somewhat rare disease, the person has hallucinations, generally is blind, but the manifestations of things or people he/she sees are non threatening and the person who sees them recognizes they could not exist in the form, manner, or place thought to be visualized by them.

The chapter that I enjoyed the most was on hallucinations caused by sensory deprivation as seen in prisoners or those forced into a sensory deprived environment. In almost all of these cases the person creates a false environment with hallucinations to stimulate the mind to keep from going truly mad.

Another most interesting chapter dealt with auditory hallucinations. In this most interesting section, the author described 8 investigators who volunteered as pseudo-patients in mental hospitals for up to a year. Some were voluntarily committed and some involuntarily. They all claimed to hear voices, and these were of the threatening variety. Although they were all able to fool the staff they had less luck with real patients. One such patient told one of the pseudo-patients, "You're not crazy...You're a journalist or a professor." From these and other observations a truism was developed that stated, ALMOST ALL SCHIZOPHRENIC PATIENTS HEARD VOICES, BUT NOT EVERYONE WHO HEARD VOICES WAS SCHIZOPHRENIC. A tenet to which I wholehearted agree. To paraphrase Thomas Szasz,MD who said the same thing about 40 years ago, WHEN WE TALK TO GOD, IT IS CALLED PRAYING; WHEN GOD TALKS BACK TO US IT IS CALLED SCHIZOPHRENIA.

A very worthwhile read on an interesting area of the mental health field.

A very interesting journey into the complexities of the human brain. I found myself learning and retaining quite a bit of the information related to the different ways humans can experience these sense distortions. Most of us had only heard of mental imagery, hallucinations or perhaps about the voices heard by the unfortunate insane, but the famous and admired doctor, with a very enjoyable narrative and empathy for his patients, shares the types (visual, auditory, tactile), the causes, the symptoms, the treatments, and some of his own experiences with such delusions. We are all vulnerable to them and many of us will be faced with this phenomena at one time or another in our lives, not only due to accidents, illnesses, tragedy or even aging, but also via drugs, recreational or not. Also, some interesting proposed explanations for ghosts, near death and religious experiences. Indeed, a fascinating field with still too many unknowns.

Consistent with his past writings on unusual states of the human mind that shed light on major features of the brain and human psychology, acclaimed doctor and writer Oliver Sacks takes us on a journey through hallucinations, one of the oldest recognized forms of mental perturbation which, whether by design or by accident, human beings have experienced for thousands of years. With empathy, insight and wit, Sacks tells us both about the deliberate hallucinations induced by mind-altering drugs like LSD as well as the more unfortunate, often permanent hallucinations caused by brain trauma or injury. Just like he did in "The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat", Sacks introduces us to fascinating patients who are suffering from bizarre syndromes. He also details his own experiments with hallucinatory drugs. The message of the book is that rather than dismiss hallucinations as a disease, one must recognize them for what they are; a window into the brain's workings. It's clear that more research on the conditions described by Sacks should be funded.

Sacks' usual interesting catalog of neurological malfunctions, this time of the sensory processing and integrating systems that tell our brains what they "see" or "feel"or "hear" and how they can be fooled by the malfunction of some elements of the systems due to drugs, physical damage, sensory deprivation, fever, etc. Hallucinations are indubitally behind religious experiences, many literary and artistic visions, out of body experiences, phantom limbs, etc. An interesting collection of anecdotes and case studies, as usual.

Hallucinations, both visual and auditory, have long been associated with the clinically insane. Oliver Sacks works hard to disprove this stigma in his book, Hallucinations. He is a British-American neurologist, psychologist and writer. Sacks is a Professor of Neurology at New York University School of Medicine. Hallucinations are common symptoms and side effects of many disorders and drugs. Sacks goes into these disorders and drugs, one by one, with case studies, intricate research, and personal experiences. The combination of information about the disorder, outside research to confirm the creditability of his claims, and case studies to bring the disorders to life keeps the reader interested. Hallucinations would, however, benefit from fewer case studies, as they tend to run together and lose their intriguing quality.
Sacks explains that hallucinations are broader and more common than people generally think. A hallucination is created from real signals that cause action potentials, but do not stem from actual sensory stimulation. For every perception that the body has, there is potential for a hallucination. This includes visual, auditory, taste, smell, and the perception of the body. Readers are bound to identify with at least one of the situations described, either personally or through someone they know. He incorporates information from early researchers to lay the basic groundwork of the early ideas of the origin of hallucinations, along with information from modern studies to elaborate on the earlier ones. As this was an underlying theme for much of the book, a plethora of case studies illustrated this point. A majority of the case stories were about people losing their vision, for different reasons, and having hallucinations. Having so many of similar causes, the later ones became boring and overall not memorable. Sacks, a practicing neurologist, is aware of how often hallucinations can go undetected, and his own personal accounts work to normalize the phenomenon.
There are many known causes of hallucinations. These range from diseases to recreational drugs. Charles Bonnet Syndrome is covered extensively in Hallucinations and is a common cause of hallucinations especially in the elderly. Lack of stimulation, as in loss of sensory abilities, is a very common precursor to hallucinations. The body tries to compensate for the deficit of stimulation and create its own. With these types of situations, Sacks uses cases studies to show how hallucinations can actually enhance a person’s life. Instead of receiving no stimulation, people can enjoy the brain’s “creation”. Hallucinatory drugs are taken exclusively to experience what the brain can create, something outside of the consciousness. Sacks tells of his own extensive experience with hallucinatory drugs, which gives the book a fresh perspective outside of the case studies. Parkinson’s Disease, epilepsy, migraines, PTSD, strokes, and exhaustion are other common causes of hallucinations.
While the case studies help to tie in the medical information and historical research, it can become tedious at times. There are so many detailed accounts of individuals’ hallucinations that it reaches a point where it is too much. They all start to run together and the details lose their importance. There are multiple accounts of loss of vision and compensation of stimulation and many accounts of the drugs that he did with the stories that correlate. At the beginning the cases are extremely intriguing, but quickly, the often too similar cases, become off-putting. Sacks includes more case studies at the expense of the science of hallucinations. More underlying mechanisms and theories of hallucinations would have been appreciated.
Overall, Sacks does a wonderful job of combining case studies, research and personal experiences to debunk many preconceived notions of hallucinations. The phenomenon is well explained and easy for everyone to understand. The types and causes are thoroughly, albeit sometimes too thoroughly, explored. This enhances the universal quality of hallucinations that is often overlooked. I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars. Hallucinations is a great read for those interested in the field or for any life-long learner.

Dr. Oliver Sacks' latest book, simply titled "Hallucinations", explores the wide range of hallucinations experienced by all sorts of people, from the mundane to the truly unique and shocking. Dr. Sacks has been a practicing neurologist in New York for over 45 years, and served as a Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, and is now at the NYU School of Medicine. His interest in medicine and neurology has been with him from a young age, fostered both from his parents, who are physicians, as well as his personal experiences, such as suffering from migraines from an early age. Dr. Sacks has written many books centering on different aspects of neurology and neurological conditions, focusing on case studies as well as history, and drawing from both his own experiences as a neurologist and from his personal life. In "Hallucinations", Dr. Sacks draws from his immense personal, clinical, and scholarly knowledge of many different types of hallucinations and facets of neurology. In the blending together of these different elements, he creates a book that is entertaining and relatable to the layperson while still captivating those interested in neurology by providing a substantial medical and scientific understanding of the various hallucinations presented. I would strongly recommend "Hallucinations" to anyone who is curious about the workings of the brain, whether one is scientifically inclined or not.
Although "Hallucinations" is entirely broken up into chapters that separate hallucinations by type and seek to explain them through case studies, related historical interactions, and scientific neurological explanations, there are central points that Dr. Sacks continues to emphasize throughout the book. He emphasizes that hallucinations are widely varied as well as commonplace, and seeks to explain them neurologically in the still sometimes limited way in which they are understood today. Dr. Sacks also includes their relation to and importance of hallucinations in society, both historically and still today.
"Hallucinations" begins with a short introduction in which Dr. Sacks explains his personal interest in the subject as well as the method and organization in which the book was written. He describes his purpose for the book as to give the readers an understanding of both the prevalence and importance of hallucinations in society and their importance to the human experience. The rest of the book sections up hallucinations categorically by either medical designation or by sense. He begins with chapters on hallucinations derived from the lack of normal visual input, covering the visual hallucinations of blind people with Charles Bonnet Syndrome, then of visual hallucinations derived from sensory deprivation. He then moves to olfactory and then to auditory hallucinations, and covers a variety of tactile hallucinations in a later section. One of the most engaging sections is when he covers hallucinations derived from altered states. Dr. Sacks uses his experiences with drugs as a younger man to explain the various effects different drugs have on the brain and on ones consciousness. His personal life comes through again in the following section as he covers migraines. Dr. Sacks describes other conditions such as Parkinsonism and Schizophrenia in depth as well, covering these diseases and their related hallucinations in their own sections. The most unique and unfamiliar section in "Hallucinations" is the section on people who hallucinate themselves, sometimes even interacting with their own doppelgangers in certain cases. This book integrates case studies, history, scientific explanations, and personal experience into a book with a wide variety of foci, leaving the reader with a well-rounded and broad understanding of hallucinations as well as many interesting neurological conditions.
The first thing that I noticed while reading "Hallucinations" is how well Dr. Sacks makes a complex and intricate subject that the average person shies away from an approachable and captivating read. He does this in a variety of ways, the most noticeable being that Dr. Sacks keeps most of his explanations relatively free of complex neuroanatomical and neurophysiological terms that are unknown to the average person, and may very well distract people from the overall message he is presenting. When he does use technical words, such as in the section on migraines when he explains the chief symptom to be a scintillating scotoma, he takes ample time to tease out a clear and easily relatable meaning behind the more difficult term. Dr. Sacks also does an excellent job in creating captivating narratives within each section which serves to both personalize the otherwise strange and abstract phenomenon and to separate out the otherwise dense medical and neurological information. The backstories of the people involved in the case studies are usually included, and often descriptions of their own experiences with hallucinations, from interviews with Dr. Sacks or from other writings, are included in their own words. Thus the reader can empathize with the individuals who are experiencing these hallucinations. Dr. Sacks integrates his own experiences with hallucinations into the book as well, from his recurrent migraines, to his experimentation with hallucinogenic drugs. This effectively allows him to combine the minds of the patient and the physician into one, allowing for deep personalization and compelling narrative while being able to describe the hallucinations in both a personal and neurologically accurate manner.
Another way in which "Hallucinations" is made more palatable to the less scientifically inclined is the way in which hallucinations' affect individuals, and society as a whole, both in the annals of history and still today. In the section on seizures, he emphasizes that certain hallucinations, such as those sometimes brought about by temporal lobe epilepsy called ecstatic seizures, can be a source of religious inspiration, and may very well have affected historical figures such as Dosdoevsky and Joan of Ark. He also gives a modern example of a man who hallucinated the commands of God to kill has wife and himself. The impact of hallucinations is emphasized throughout the book in this way, giving readers an idea of the prevalence and importance of these phenomena.
At the same time, however, Dr. Sacks provides much scientific information in "Hallucinations", as can be easily seen in the thirteen solid pages of references in the bibliography, as well as the numerous in-depth footnotes which can sometimes fill up to half the page. The footnotes provide a great way to engage the more scholarly readers with additional information that Dr. Sacks is passionate about, such as exerts from specific scientific studies and historical documentation as well as other varied and interesting tidbits.
By combining personal, clinical, and historical accounts from a wide range of hallucinatory phenomena, Dr. Sacks not only presents captivating narratives for a popular audience while knowledgably covering the neurological basis for hallucinations, but he emphasizes the prevalence of hallucinations in society and effectively breaks down the stigma of insanity as a requirement for hallucinations. His medical expertise and his passionate curiosity for neurological phenomena make this a great book for people in the scientific field, while his eloquent writing in his ability to create a fascinating narrative and avoid technicalities while providing a thorough explanation of hallucinations makes this a great book for people of all levels who have an interest in the subject. Once I really got into the book, it took me only three days to get through. However, for those less scientifically minded, you may find it better to take the book in small doses as the volume of information may get overwhelming after a while, and I can see how section after section of disorders and sensory oddities could get a bit tedious for some despite the approachable and captivating style by which Dr. Sachs writes. Although the sections are organized logically, each is a stand-alone exploration into hallucinations, allowing for chapters to be read at ones leisure. Personally, this book left me with a sense of wonder and intrigue after each section, and it stimulated my interest in the complexity and mystery of the human brain. Overall, I would give "Hallucinations" five out of five stars.

Oliver Sacks has earned a medical degree from Oxford and is currently working at the New York University School of Medicine as a professor of neurology. His most recent book, Hallucinations (2012) uses the large collection of case studies of Sacks' patients accumulated by Sacks over the years and also incorporates information from other researchers and authors in the field of neuroscience, such as Owen Davies, Robert Hughes, and Colin McGinn. Sacks has published several books and made many contributions to others, The Oxford Companion to the Mind (1987), Clinical Applications of Music in Neurological Rehabilitation (1998), and A Journey Round My Skull (2008) to name a few. Some of his more popular titles include The Mind's Eye, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Awakenings, and Migraine. His latest book, Hallucinations, was published in November of 2012. This work bridges the gap between neuroscience and a popular reading audience by explaining this complex topic in a manner accessible to almost any reader.
Hallucinations is divided into fifteen different chapters. Each chapter discusses a different cause for hallucinations or a different type of hallucination. The first chapter is dedicated to Charles Bonnet syndrome while chapter two discusses hallucinations due to sensory deprivation, often seen in prisoners. The third and fourth chapters are dedicated to separate types of hallucinations. The former is hallucinatory smells and the latter is auditory hallucinations. Following that is a chapter that covers all sorts of hallucinations seen in patients with Parkinson's disease. While they are not internally caused hallucinations, chapter six discusses hallucinations from drug induced states. The next few chapters discuss different diseases. In chapters seven and eight we see hallucinations in patients with migraines and epilepsy. Continuing in chapter nine, Sacks discusses patients that have hallucinations due to their bisected vision. In chapter ten, Sacks moves on to hallucinations in people who are slipping in and out of consciousness while chapter eleven talks about those hallucinations that appear just before one falls asleep. The theme of sleep and delirium continues in chapter twelve with the discussion of narcolepsy. The next chapter covers hallucinations in people who have suffered trauma or extreme loss in their lives. Chapter fourteen then discusses how individual can hallucinate themselves in some extreme conditions. Finally, in chapter fifteen, Sacks explains hallucinations of phantoms or ghosts, such as an individual who hallucinates a limb after amputation. The flow of the book is easy to follow and each chapter connects to the one before or after it in some way.
Throughout Hallucinations, there are many different accounts of hallucinatory experiences, with images ranging from very plain geometrical shapes to people dressed in eastern clothes carrying huge baskets on their heads to frightening descriptions of grotesque images that appear out of nowhere. These descriptions help to break up some of the more technical but necessary explanations of the different abnormalities in the brain that cause these hallucinations.
Charles Bonnet syndrome, a hallucinatory condition seen in patients with some or complete loss of vision, is the first topic that Sacks discusses in Hallucinations and it is a strong introduction to what follows. He then goes on to discuss hallucinations that are the result of sensory deprivation, such as the hallucinations prisoners experience when they are kept in darkness for long periods of time. Entire chapters are devoted to describing hallucinatory smells and their causes as well as the causes of auditory hallucinations. Sacks also discusses hallucinations as symptoms of diseases such as Parkinson's Disease, migraines, epilepsy, hemianopia (bisected vision), delirium, and narcolepsy. Within this array of diseases, hallucinations manifest in many different forms and they often have predictable patterns that assist patients in planning their lives. For example, those with epilepsy often have geometric hallucinations before they have a seizure and this is a warning sign so they can take their medication or sit down in a safe position to prevent any other damage from the seizure.
There are also many types of hallucinations that do not accompany a condition. Sacks includes a very detailed section that describes his own experience abusing drugs and the hallucinations that came with that abuse. While not all drug are hallucinatory, people often intentionally abuse these drugs in hope of a life-altering vision.
Hallucinations also contains a chapter devoted to hallucinations resulting from past traumatic experiences. Sacks specifies that this type of hallucination is not a condition that can be attributed to a malfunction in the brain or that is caused by any type of injury or syndrome. There are also hallucinations that many people experience just before they fall asleep that are unconnected to any form of injury or psychosis. Sacks explains each type of hallucination using his own patients' case studies, his own personal experiences, or researched studies.
While Sacks does employ the occasional use of technical jargon to explain different types of hallucinations and conditions he always does so in a way that makes it understandable for a wide range of readers. Sacks goes into great detail about the areas of the brain that are involved in these hallucinations. For example, the occipital lobe plays a huge role in visual processing. For those who suffer some type of visual sensory deprivation, whether it is natural blindness or intentional deprivation, the occipital lobe is damaged or suppressed in some way. This means that the visual cortex becomes excited and this causes projections to occur in the temporal and parietal lobes, which are how blind people "see" people carrying fruit on their heads or strange geometric patterns. Sacks has spent his life studying all different aspects of the human brain and the technical information that he provides in Hallucinations is illuminating. Unlike much of the other information in the book, the sections that discuss the physiology of the brain are supported by concrete research. Throughout the book Sacks references different brain imaging techniques that have been used to detect different parts of the brain that respond abnormally during hallucinations.
Sacks makes it very clear that hallucinations are not reserved for the insane but in fact can happen to anyone at any time with the right combination of stimulus or deprivation. Although Oliver Sacks has an excellent reputation in the neuroscience field, using case studies as evidence to support an argument presents a particular kind of dilemma. Case studies are very subjective and because of this it is difficult to generalize them into a solid argument. Sacks does not use the real names of his patients to respect their privacy and while it is already difficult to question data from case studies, this makes it even more difficult because there is no way to check his primary sources. The bulk of the book is made up of these case studies as well as accounts of hallucinations that Sacks has experienced. Although his information from his collection of case studies and correspondence with individuals who suffer from hallucinations is very subjective and difficult to question, the reader must trust that the authority that Oliver Sacks has been given in the field of neuroscience is justified. It also helps that Sacks uses information from other studies to support his findings in his patients. I would recommend Hallucinations to anyone who is looking for a closer look at the vast imaginary capabilities of the human brain because it is an easy, enjoyable, and educational read.

I have experienced hallucinations since I was a child. Some are beautiful and some are frightening. I haven't told many people because they'd think I had some sort of mental problem. What I had was sort of sleep disorder and migraine. Dr. Oliver Sacks explains why I had these beautiful or frightening hallucinations and that made me feel validated.

I was also fascinated with other fascinating examples. This book is more organized than his previous work, The Mind's Eye

Hallucinations was a book that really went into depth on what it teaches. I say "teach" because this book is borderline textbook material. The author Oliver Sacks is a man with a lot of knowledge on neurology and he really shows all of his stars and stripes within this novel. He spoke on everything from hearing things to seeing things to giving first hand accounts on what drugs can do to the brain. I applaud his level of experience because he has been a test subject in a lot of his acounts he used to describe what the "Hallucinations" feel like.
I will not be completely positive in this review because there were things I did not enjoy. He was a very long winded and wordy author sometimes to the point of when I actually forgot what the subject was originally about. There are literally quarters of a page that are just one sentence explaining the indepth science of the topic. Now I consider myself an avid reader and one that can understand relatively complex concepts but there are some points where I was deeply confused. All in all this book was worth a read if you have an interest in the background of Hallucinations. You can always skim the science fluff and still walk away with a firm understanding and fun facts you can tell your friends at parties.

Hallucinations, by Oliver Sacks is an interesting book to say the least. It is the first book that I have read on topic and I found it not only to be informative, but extremely entertaining as well. Mr. Sacks does a great job mixing facts and terminology with the first hand accounts of his patients, as well as his own experiences dealing with hallucinations. The book is a pretty easy read, and once started, it is hard to put down.
If I had to recommend this book, obviously it is best for those who have an interest in the topic at all. I found it to be very informative, so I would also offer this title up to those who aren't the most knowledgeable on the topic, as it provides a solid foundation, and ensures you leave having learned something. It is a worthwhile investment of time and has opened me up to a whole new field that has always vaguely interested me. The only flaw with the book is the overly long footnotes. I can't help but feel as though they were filler most of the time. Other than that, it's a great book and it would be a nice addition to any literature collection.

Great book by Oliver Sacks on why we see things that are not there. From gods to aliens and other hallucinations such as Near Death to seeing people that have died to ones that may have sparked the imagination of writers and poets and how the minds imagination makes it seem real. With the latest research Oliver explains how and why we have hallucinations and why we see things that are not there. Highly recommended!

An Exciting Journey Through the Eyes of Hallucination

5/5 stars
“Hallucinations”, is a book written by Oliver Sacks diving deep in to the mechanisms of the mystery that is, hallucinations. What exactly is a hallucination? What neurological processes are occurring? Oliver Sacks presents dozens of thrilling clinical cases regarding hallucinations ranging in severity as well as frequency with the goal to describe and somewhat explain the underlying neural processes. In addition to being a distinguished physician, Oliver sacks is also a best-selling author and professor of neurology at NYU School of Medicine. Born in London to a family of physicians and scientists, he was exposed to medicine at a very young age. Consequently, received his medical degree from Oxford University and has also been known to experiment with various drugs including LSD, Marijuana, and amphetamines during his studies at UCLA. While reading extensively about the nature of migraines, Sacks had one experience with amphetamine use in particular where his thoughts became almost like controllable hallucinations. Controversially, Sacks indicates that his success of knowledge of the neural processes of hallucination would have not been possible without his experimentation with various drugs.
Essentially, through the fusion of storytelling and analysis, Sacks provides detailed possible explanations for what could be occurring during the hallucination process. He writes that hallucinations are often too quickly attributed to Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease or stroke. In order to avoid this misdiagnosis, Sacks uses various clinical cases to take a closer look at the circumstances leading to each type of hallucination. For example, Sacks describes that many instances of hallucinations are associated with sensory deprivation such as vision loss or auditory loss. Many patients suffering from hallucinations often keep quiet about these experiences for fear of judgment from their peers will automatically assume insanity. Overall, Sacks is attempting to inform people that hallucinations may not necessarily indicate a psychiatric problem, but alternatively could be due to various neurological, biological, or even environmental factors.
As a way of organization, the book is roughly arranged more or less by different types of hallucination. The book begins with visual hallucinations, perhaps the most common and well-known form of hallucination. Here, Sacks describes many stories of visual hallucination and possible causes of these instances such as glaucoma or blindness. For instance, Rosalie, was described as an elderly blind woman with no apparent mental impairments. However, she began to “see” people wearing Eastern robes. These people would often have atypically formed faces and would be marching silently up and down the stairs. The nursing home called Dr. Sacks for his expert evaluation in an attempt to figure out what was causing Rosalie to experience these bizarre hallucinations. Sacks concluded that Rosalie had Charles Bonnet Syndrome, a condition that affects the brain’s visual system and is commonly seen in elderly people who have lost their eyesight. Additionally, the reading moves on to describe a case of hallucination caused by severe dehydration. In this instance, a marathon runner was physically exhausted to the point of severe fatigue. During the race, the runner, Ray, saw his wife and mother standing on the side of the road. As he ran over to them, he was confused to find out that these people were actually complete strangers who did not even recognize him. Here, Sacks is again referring to the idea that hallucination could be caused by extreme physical circumstances. Furthermore, through bizarre stories of delirium tremens associated with alcoholics and imaginary smells associated with herpes simplex, the book excellently holds the attention of the reader.
Often, literature involving complex neural based exploration might not appeal to the average reader. However, through the unique first-person approach of storytelling within this book, even readers without a background in neuroscience can begin to briefly understand the underlying mechanisms of hallucination. For example, through the scope of my personal studies, we learned that phantom limb pain was due to reorganization of the primary somatosensory cortex after loss of sensory input. Additionally, this reorganization of representation occurs within specific regions of the cortical homunculus. To an average reader with no scientific background, this explanation would most likely cause confusion rather than allow for understanding of the sensation. Alternatively, Sacks explains this same phantom limb sensation in simple layman’s terms effectively lessening the background necessary to understand the mechanism. Rather than an assortment of facts, Sacks uses a creative first person approach as well as numerous case studies in order to explain a relatively complex basis in simple terms of each type of hallucination. This approach allows for a simple, yet interesting reading experience creating more incentive to continue reading. In every chapter, there is a new set of bizarre incidences or even personal experiences that allow the reader to visualize each type of hallucination. Therefore, this book earns a score of 5 out of 5 stars.
Ultimately, the occurrence of hallucinations is a very intriguing topic. Through the unique form of storytelling exhibited throughout the book, readers are constantly immersed in a sense of mystery. With such a vast range of stories, Sacks suggests some of the biological, environmental, as well as psychological factors that may account for such bizarre experiences. Throughout the entirety of the book, Sacks claims that hallucinations are often more common than perceived and could very well be due to factors other than the questionable sanity of an individual experiencing hallucinations.

I delayed reading this thinking it would freak me out (and it did, some). But it's another amazing book from Oliver Sacks. He's surprisingly honest and descriptive about his experimentation (in the 1960s) with mind-altering drugs, for one thing. His ability to describe mundane and unusual situations brought by altered mind states is so sharp, that it's like reading good literature.

I'm a quarter the way through this book, at most (listening to a CD and unlike another reviewer I like the reader)--three-plus chapters. This whole thing is just a string of case notes. They're Oliver Sacks's case notes, and they're about hallucinations, so it's all kind of interesting, but I think I'm going to quit, because it's not at all clear what the point is exactly.

He did tell us that hallucinations are closer to perceptions than to imagination, according to what parts of the brain are involved. This was according to some other guy's work.

Hallucinations is stunningly boring -- page after page of tedious descriptions of various hallucination types and causes. This is especially striking given how engaging Sacks' other books are. Unless one has some deep personal interest in hallucinations, I can't recommend reading this.

Hallucinations is a fascinating addition to the Oliver Sacks bookshelf. Is Sacks capable of an uninteresting observation or a boring turn of phrase? I have yet to observe either of the above in any of his popular works. Hallucinations is no exception. If you're at all interested in the mind, minds, and mental states -- in their myriad observed variations -- you must read Sacks. If you don't, you'll miss out on a fascinating, compelling, dare I say ennobling experience. I have nothing to add to what other reviewers have said about the specific content of this book. I only wish to underscore a) that it is vintage Sacks, and b) that it is a terrific read.

Hallucinations is a masterfully engaging read, in which Oliver Sacks yet again demonstrates an innate ability to seamlessly blend the art of storytelling with neuroscience. Oliver Sacks is recognized as one of the premiere authors in his field, having published 12 popular neuroscience books, including titles such as, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat, The Mind’s Eye, and Awakenings. The popularity of the latter led to its film-adaptation, which gained a nomination at the academy-awards. Born in London, Sacks attended medical school at Oxford University, followed by a residency and fellowship in neurology at UCLA. He then moved to New York, where he became a practicing neurologist. He has remained in New York ever since, and now is a professor at NYU School of Medicine. In Sacks’s most recent work, Hallucinations, readers are encouraged to delve into the depths of sensory hallucinations. Through a collection of case studies, personal experience, and historical references, Hallucinations provides a comprehensive view of the diversity associated with hallucinatory events.
Sacks’ goal in Hallucinations is to expose the reader to a variety of hallucinatory events commonly seen in disorders or altered states, while also explaining the neuroscientific principles underlying them. He excellently intertwines case studies with historically relevant material without diluting the actual substance of the neuroscience behind each hallucination. The book opens with his discussion of Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS), a condition in which complete or partial vision loss produces visual hallucinations of various complexities, some creating realistic scenes that become indistinguishable from reality. Related to CBS, Sacks then discusses visual hallucinations from sensory deprivation in scenarios such as staring at a monotone background for an extended period of time. Auditory and olfactory hallucinations, Sacks’s next topic, highlight how hallucinations are not limited to the visual sense. Together, these three categories of hallucinations give the reader a comprehensive overview of their etiology. The remainder of the book constitutes discussion of hallucinations due to brain damage, disease, and altered states of mind.
Hallucinations resulting from brain damage are presented in relation to bilateral injuries, which commonly results in patients suffering from hallucinations in half of their visual field. Sacks’ description of a particular case, in which a man suffered from “intelligent” hallucinations, was absolutely fascinating. Rather than visualizing random images, the man was able to fill in contextually relevant information into his surroundings. This is a prime example of how Sacks’ incorporation of cases studies into the information being presented effectively adds a compelling story-telling feature to the book. Moving onto disease-induced hallucinations, Sacks discusses auditory and visual hallucinations prior to the onset of seizures in epileptic patients. One common feature of these epileptic hallucinations is an intense feeling of euphoria or religious epiphany. I loved this portion of the book because Sacks creates a wonderful link between epileptic episodes and people in history claiming to have received a message of divine origin. Discussion of Sacks’ own experience with “migraine auras,” which are hallucinations that originate prior to the onset of migraines, is also detailed in this section. Sacks’ first-hand accounts are not limited to migraines, however, as the section on altered-state hallucinations describes Sacks’ experiences with drugs. Reading about a renowned neuroscientist tripping on LSD and morphine, in my opinion, is a sufficient reason in itself to read this book.
From the first chapter to the last, the main theme is never lost: the idea of providing readers with a comprehensive understanding of hallucinations. Sacks’ purpose is to obliterate the notion of hallucinations’ existence as rare entities, and to open the eyes of the readers to the diversity and common nature of these events. Sacks’ continually relates back to material already discussed, which helps readers to make connections. Further, at the start of each chapter, Sacks usually comments on the neurobiological aspect of the hallucination to be discussed. This works as a continual reminder to the reader that hallucinations are of neurological origin. For the sake of brevity, the provided summary only dips into the information Hallucinations entails, but I promise any reader will be fulfilled by the vast amount of examples provided. The discussed hallucinations include those of colors, letters, numbers, sounds, voices, still images, moving scenes, people, out of body experiences, nightmares, religious euphoria, smells, tastes, touch, music, and many more. In short, hallucinations cannot be categorized as simple events, but rather as a sea of intrinsically different pathways of neuronal firing occurring in one’s brain.
I awarded Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks five stars because it exemplified the perfect balance of talented storytelling, while effectively providing readers with a plethora of information. I cannot express enough what I think of the talent of Sacks in effectively engaging readers into his stories. As I read Hallucinations, never did I find myself drifting off in thought. The beautiful interplay between first-hand experiences and Sacks’ commentary created an experience that effortlessly focused my attention on the writing. The smooth flow of transitions between each chapter was vitally important in the sense that it prevented me, as the reader, from losing sight of the overall theme. Hallucinations, simply put, is a composition with the goal of providing the reader, whether a novice individual in the field of neuroscience or a doctorate professor, with an educationally informative, yet enjoyable story about hallucinations. Sacks was incredibly successful in accomplishing his goal, and the chosen content exemplifies the surprisingly common occurrence and substantial variety of hallucinations. Prior to reading this book, I had a pre-existing bias that hallucinations were rare events that only existed from psychological abnormalities or drug-induced states. Sacks shattered my preconceived notion of hallucinations, and provided me with the correct evidence to reform my opinion. I give this book my upmost approval, and recommend it to any reader looking for a pleasurable experience, those interested in neurobiology, or for those interested in the enigma associated with hallucinatory drugs, but who are unwilling to try them.

This book isn't quite as "Fun" as some of his earlier books, But it does seem to emphasize that Hallucinations are completely believed as real, regardless of how intelligent or introspective the patient/victim may be. It's as if there was a simple toggle switch that told us whether something were real or not, and such perceptions weren't subject to 'hard' thinking!
Also; I was hoping for instructions as to how to create my own hallucinogenic, imaginary friend, but it didn't cover that!

For me, it was eye-opening to learn about the wide variety and relative frequency of hallucinations in peoples lives. The possibility that these and related brain phenomenon interact with, or may be the source of, mysticism and spirituality could explain a lot about our world.

Sacks is a wonderful writer and I enjoyed every word of his previous books: his compassionate accounts of people with brain abnormalities are fascinating. This book was a disappointment because the case histories are very brief though I did learn that nearly everyone has had at least one hallucination visual or auditory, and his own experiments with induced hallucinations makes good reading. This is not vintage Sacks but people who enjoyed his other books should add this to their list.

Hallucinations provide a window into another world. A world where strangers visit, angels reside, and landscapes reverberate with all sorts of strange qualities. Walking alongside us through this world is Sacks and one couldn't ask for a better guide.

Starting us off, Sacks introduces the reader to Charles Bonnet Syndrome where a lack of visual stimulus leads to hallucinations. The visual area of the brain, in cases of blindness of various degrees, "overcompensates" and can produce panoply of imagery. Sufferers often see images of people totally unrelated to their lives engaged in various activities also unrelated to memories and experiences. One elderly lady would see a procession dressed in Asian garb silently glide through her visual field. Syndromes such as this, Sacks tells us, show how active our perceptual systems are when they are engaged in the act of perceiving.

Sacks guides us through many types of hallucinations, not just the visual. The phenomena of auditory, olfactory, and tactile hallucinations are also covered in engrossing detail. They are also differentiated such as between patients with neurological damage and problems and between that caused by psychotropic substances.

One case is recounted here from a man experiencing LSD hallucinations. The change in perception and how powerfully these alter our "world" is truly astounding.

A type of hallucination that I have had personal experience with is also covered in the book.

Imagine you are 10 years old and that your worst fear is werewolves. Everything about these imaginary creatures terrifies you. Then imagine that you find yourself awake in the early morning dark one day, unable to move with sleep paralysis. You watch as a werewolf enters through the doorway and leaps onto your bed, pinning you down with a bare-fanged muzzle snarling and dripping hot drool on your face. Everything about this experience screams that it is real - down to the very way that you can see the details of skin and fur in close relief inches from your nose. Needless to say, this was an extraordinary experience.

However, the werewolf was only there for about 15 seconds before I was able to shake the sleep paralysis. The creature that had been poised over me in a murderous rage fades and vanishes.

Reading this book I came to learn that this was an instance of two phenomena that often accompany one another: sleep paralysis and hypnopompic hallucinations. The aforementioned account is the only one that I have had that left a lasting impression. Sacks also tells us that these are often singular experiences.

If you want to know more about these mental and perceptual phenomena, more about how the human brain/mind works, and be pleased by good writing along the way, look no further than this book.

Very insightful writings if one wishes to understand Voices and Hallucinations and how the mind creates such.
Author fell into the trap of believing one must experience such to understand them. Kinda of like needing to commit a crime to understand its consequences.

I'm a Sacks fan, but this book was a bit tough to get through. It's really a deep dive into hallucinations, which is interesting up to a point, but eventually becomes monotonous and repetitive. I found myself interested enough to read through each chapter, but would eventually start skipping sentences or paragraphs. I think someone who is really interested in hallucinations might enjoy this much more than I did.

I like Sacks style. He provides lots of examples so one can appreciate the many aspects of hallucinations. Maybe we all hallucinate to some extent but don't realize it! I know I have experienced "events" I can't explain.
I recommend this book.

I don't usually like non-fiction of any kind, but this book is so remarkably interesting that I was telling everyone I know about it. For a medical topic, it was very accessible and flowed well through the different complexities of hallucinations.

I'd suffered myself, at both my computer and tv; it was what I deemed to be aural hallucination (or illusion), the same effect (I assumed) as experienced optically, sometimes in stage shows. The aural phenomenon was particularly tiresome on Channel 4's Countdown, during the 'actual 30sec countdowns', when the 'mute signal' is conveniently signalled for each 'count'.

I then saw a review of Oliver Sachs's book, which I eventually acquired from the store. But, due to preparations for Xmas, it has not (so far) been possible to read as much as 10% of the book, with the remainder to be read as soon as possible. A full review, confined to the aural phenomenon, would be my aim, If this would be acceptable after a month or two. I'm certain that Prof Sacks has produced a tome of an essential nature.

I hope this short review is acceptable to the store (and I invite advice and comments), Robert Gooding

It is a bit too detailed in parts, but one can skip if one is not interested in so much detail. As a psychologist I am interested in the topic, and I learned a lot. The author is a physician who has tried drugs, and gives a description of the experience which I never had. Hallucinations that occur as a result of sensory deprivation are important because they are generated as part of the the use of torture.

Hallucinations is a fantastic book for anyone with or without a background in neuroscience. Sacks keeps the reader's attention on the subject with stories from patients and easy to follow language. Can't wait to read more of his books.

The Purple Cow Revisited

I never saw an hallucination
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one!

My apologies to poet Gelett Burgess. For some reason, as soon as I ordered this book, I immediately thought of the "Purple Cow" poem from childhood and paraphrased it. That made me think Oliver Sack's book was really going to be mind-blowing, because it already was making me think interesting thoughts before it even arrived in the mail. When I got it a few days later, I immediately started reading it that night . . . and my hopes and excitement immediately started sinking. I quickly realized what was going to be so wrong for me about this book--the meanings of hallucinations were spelled out early on . . . but "these images scarcely yielded insights into the unconscious wishes, needs, or conflicts of the person". The meanings were no meanings. Hallucinations are mostly meaningless.

When they did have meaning in the book, Dr. Sacks quickly killed any ideas that there were any metaphysical meanings to the hallucinations. For example, if you think you hear or see deceased loved ones, or smell something you associate with them--such as a perfume, Dr. Sacks would say your grief was creating delusions in your mind. There goes the entire field of spiritualism. Also, one of the drug induced hallucination he had in his book sounded exactly like a near-death experience--including the light, lifetime flashback and a tunnel. There goes the field of near-death experience. Those interesting voices or images you might hear or see before going to sleep, or right at awakening? Hypnagogic or hypnopompic hallucinations. There goes a lot of interesting discussions in the metaphysical forums. Ghosts, angels, God? All exist only in your mind. Of God, the author states: "Thus the primal, animal sense of `the other,' which may have evolved for the detection of threat, can take on a lofty, even transcendent function in human beings, as a biological basis for religious passion and conviction, where the `other,' the `presence,' becomes the person of God." And that was Oliver Sack's final statement in Hallucinations.

It's not like I absolutely believe without a doubt in God and angels and ghosts and near-death experiences and after-death communication; it's just I absolutely can not believe it's all physical, it's all science, it's all medical, it's all in your head, it's all in your brain. I can not believe scientists and doctors are the gods of the human race. That all is so totally meaningless to me. Of course, others, such as those scientifically or medically inclined, may find meaning in exactly what I find to be meaningless. That is why I'm not stating or even suggesting that Dr. Sacks is wrong in his beliefs, or that there is something wrong with this book. It is an excellent, noteworthy book, that probably will prove very helpful to many who have or have had hallucinations. For me, however, it was not thought-provoking or motivating, as I hoped it would be. Except that it did motivate me to write one more take off of the purple cow poem:

The Purple Cow Spiritualized

I never saw a spirit
Even when I hoped to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I hope one day to be one!

I have read previous works by Dr. Sachs, and my rating of Hallucinations was tempered in comparison to one of my favorite of his works, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. In comparison, I felt Hallucinations was less relatable from a human interest standpoint. This book was not as adept at the story telling aspect, and at times I felt like there were recitations of history lessons and symptoms rather than a journey with the person experiencing the symptoms which would usually make his writing so captivating. I did find myself skipping ahead some paragraphs at times, as I felt he had already made his point and the additional narrative didn't add to my understanding or experience. Also, I felt that his arguments about hallucinations being more common place than most people assume weren't as captivating or astonishing as the book would imply they are. On the positive side, I still think he is one of the best at what he does: taking complex neuropsychological phenomena and making them more understandable by relating them in a more 'fiction' writing style rather than a textbook way. His personal reflections on hallucinogenic drugs were entertaining to read. Also, I appreciated that he added a new dimension for me to think about in terms of hallucinations not being the sole provenance of schizophrenia or psychosis. Overall a nice read.

A fascinating look at a very interesting subject. Most people equate hallucinations as strictly the realm of mental illness. We all hallucinate at one time or another, but few want to discuss their experience because of cultural taboos. Sacks shines light on the experiences of the insane, and in normal people as well.

The book is well written, with enough scientific insight to educate, but clearly written for the non-scientist. The information is presented in an enjoying and interesting way, including anecdotes from the authors own life.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and felt that I learned a bit along the way.

Very useful to me as a support book on my MOOC with Birmingham University, my MOOC being "Good Brain, Bad Brain: Basics". Oliver Sacks brings to life some of the theory of how drugs interfere with the functioning of the brain. What I really liked about Oliver Sacks book was the humanity and care that he showed to his many patients who suffered from different forms of hallucinations caused by different brain disorders.

I like the book but have put it down and turned to other things. This is never a good sign. But I will finish it soon; the material is fascinating. I have lost almost all the sight in my right eye and I did hallucinate once which why I was attracted to buying the book.

I have enjoyed other of Oliver Sacks' books. I find the writing a bit dry and a little bit too technical. This is a failing on my part not of the author.

I've read all of Oliver Sacks books, so calling myself a fan would be appropriate. I have found his last few books a bit disappointing, but I still love listening to him give talks and interviews, and find, also, that his enthusiasm seems to render all topics interesting. So, I decided to listen to this book instead of reading it.

What a mistake. Sacks reads the introduction, but that is all. It's quite a let down to go from Oliver Sacks' interested and interesting voice to the voice of Dan Woren, an American with the typical "non-accent" of an announcer. To make matters worse, Woren affects accents when he reads quotes. Freud's German, Charles Bonnet's French, an array of "old ladies" and a "man from the Bronx" are distracting, to say the least, especially when Woren seems to forget he's doing them. The beginning of a sentence starts with the shock of the accent and leaves this listener to wish he would simply cut it out, which he does by trailing off. Was there no director, editor, sound producer? Who makes these decisions?!

Without the charm and engagement of Sacks, this book is rendered fairly boring, more a catalogue of hallucinogenic states than an analysis. I wonder what I'd have thought if I'd read it. I do know that Sacks' talks on the subject are fascinating, so perhaps the audiobook is simply (simply?!) a disaster.

90% of book is purely anecdotal. Similar to listening to someone tell you all the dreams they had last week in excruciating detail, ad nauseum. Only about 10% of book is informational and of that at least 5% is common knowledge.

I am sure there is valuable information packed in this book for people searching for information about their problems or the problems of those close to them. For the casual reader interested in the science it is slow going.I don't need exhaustive case detail to understand the cause and effect.

I was disapppointed in this book because I was looking for a book that gave a more spiritual perspective to hallucinations but what I got was a book mostly about the author's experiences with getting high on different drugs. If I wanted that, I would have re-read Slash's book "Slash" in which he gives a very interesting account of his drug-induced hallucinations during his Guns N Roses days.

Brilliant man who is now dieing. As a physician I was able to understand the anatomical references, but also enjoyed the many stories associated with the patients he's seen, in order to write this book. Should be interesting to all.

There's never too much Sacks! This may be one of his lesser lights, but gives an encyclopedic review of all the causes and nuances of hallucinations. The vignettes are less curious and intriguing than usual Sacks, yet it's a good resource for the library and as usual is well written.

I've been a fan of Oliver Sacks for many years. He has a unique ability to make accessible to lay people the intricacies of the human brain and all the strange things that can go haywire.

I found HALLUCINATIONS fascinating for the most part, though I will say there were a couple of chapters where I found myself skimming the too-lengthy and bizarre descriptions of some of the individuals' particular hallucinations. Though this wasn't my favorite Sacks' book, HALLUCINATIONS was another excellent entry in an impressive body of work, and I'll be happy to read more books by this author in the future.