Hi, everyone!
I just wanted to say that this time it was utterly difficult for me to choose a book I’d love to read, and it took me a lot of time because I longed to read non-fiction (btw my first one in English). However, I wasn’t sure that I would be interested in biographies, or that I would cope with some scientific or psychological literature considering its specific vocabulary. BUT! I was looking for copper, and I found gold because the book I’ve chosen it’s just perfect both in the subject matter and the way it’s written. And drumroll…..
It’s ‘The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat and Other Clinical Tales’ by Oliver Sacks. When I encountered this book, I got really intrigued by the unusual title, then I discovered that it’s a collection of case studies from the author’s career, written by a British neurologist who works with people who have stranger-than-usual brain issues. This is not only an informative work on neurological disorders but a humbling mediation on the beauty of imperfection. Sacks has an extraordinary writing style that keeps me glued to the book. The way he writes is not clinical and judgmental at all, but rather loving. Of course, Sacks involves some specific vocabulary and medical terms, but it is not overwhelming. The brain is a truly mysterious thing. I hope I will deeply appreciate this book, as it’s considered to be a classic of non-fiction.
And here is some interesting vocabulary from the book:
1) Deficit- a failure in neurological or mental functioning
2) Faculty- an inherent cognitive or perceptual power of the mind
Neurology’s favourite word is ‘ deficit’, denoting an impairment or incapacity of neurological function: loss of speech, loss of language, loss of memory, loss of vision, loss of dexterity, loss of identity and myriad other lacks and losses of specific functions (or faculties).
3) Appertain- be a part or attribute of
Higher Cortical Functions in Man treated only those functions which appertained to the left hemisphere of the brain; similarly, Zazetsky, subject of The Man with a Shattered World, had a huge lesion in the left hemisphere — the right was intact.
