The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

I am constantly told at school that wider research is vital for success at A levels and for success in gaining a place at university, so whenever I can I like to read about medicine, be that through a blog update, BBC news, or in this case through a book.
From reading around medicine and no doubt from my work experience, I have learnt that I have a particular interest in neurology and the brain. I think I am attracted by the complexity of the brain and the strange and almost supernatural illnesses that are associated with neurology, so upon the recommendation of a professor whom I spent time with during my work experience, I read The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, by Oliver Sacks, published in 1985 .

The book documents the stories of Dr Sacks' patients that all have differing neurological disorders, ranging from loss of memories or inability to recognise people or objects to phantom limbs or those who are afflicted but are gifted artists or mathematicians.



With 24 different chapters all describing a different case, I was drawn in and fascinated by the sheer diversity and complexity of neurology and the brain, as the book introduced me to neurological disorders that I had not heard of before, such as polyneuritis or visual agnosia. The book itself is split into four sections, losses, excesses, transports and the world of the simple.
Losses is about people who have a loss or lack of a certain function of their brain.
Excesses 'an unusual disorder in neurology' is about patients with an excess function in the brain.
Transports, the part I personally found the most interesting and reminded me of fictional supernatural powers, contains stories of patients who have imaginations, dreams, spiritualities, feelings or other dreamy states or reminiscence.
The world of the simple, contains accounts of patients who many are autistic and as Sacks says have 'different forms of the mind which are very innocent, simple and transparent'.

My Favourite Chapters 

A brief introduction

Blogging has become a common and popular outlet for people to post opinions and new ideas, these blogs range from that of fashion to cutting edge scientific research to even personal blogs where people document their every day life. As a sixth former who follows many diverse blogs I wanted to join this way of expressing ideas and information and so I have created this blog, Med Steps, through which I hope to post about my attempts to reach my aspiration that is to study medicine at University and hopefully one day become a doctor who engages frequently in the cutting edge research that I read so much about on different blogs and on the internet.