The Island of the Colorblind [Paperback]

An explorer of that most wondrous of islands, the human brain, writes D.M. Thomas inThe New York Times Book Review, Oliver Sacks also loves the oceanic kind of islands. Both kinds figure movingly in this book--part travelogue, part autobiography, part medical mystery story--in which Sacks's journeys to a tiny Pacific atoll and the island of Guam become explorations of the meaning of islands, the genesis of disease, the wonders of botany, the nature of deep geological time, and the complexities of being human.

"Magical . . . Sacks's fans are in for a treat." --Kirkus

"An explorer of that most wonderous of islands, the human brain,"  writes D.M. Thomas inThe New York Times Book Review,"Oliver Sacks also loves the oceanic kind of islands."  Both kinds figure movingly in this book--part travelogue, part autobiography, part medical mystery story--in which Sacks's journeys to a tiny Pacific atoll and the island of Guam become explorations of the time, and the complexities of being human.

"Sacks's total immersion in islands life makes this luminous, beautifully written report a wonderous voyage of discovery. As a travel writer, Sacks ranks with Paul Theroux and Bruce Chatwin. As an investigator of the mind's mysteries, he is in a class by himself."
--Publishers WeeklyOliver Sacks was a neurologist, writer, and professor of medicine. Born in London in 1933, he moved to New York City in 1965, where he launched his medical career and began writing case studies of his patients. Called the “poet laureate of medicine” byThe New York Times, Sacks is the author of thirteen books, includingThe Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Musicophilia, and Awakenings, which inspired an Oscar-nominated film and a play by Harold Pinter. He was the recipient of many awards and honorary degrees, and was made a Commander of the British Empire l#K