Oliver Sacks died last month, following an amazing career as a neuroscientist and author.
More than a million copies of Dr. Sacks’ books are in print in the United States, in addition to being translated into over 25 languages and made into feature movies. His vivid accounts of his neurological patients had an incalculable impact on the public’s understanding of the brain.
The 82-year old author died at his Manhattan home following a battle with cancer, leaving behind thirteen books and countless articles, which opened up the complex and daunting world of neuroscience to ordinary people.
Dr. Sacks was the embodiment of focus, a theme we explore quite a bit at TSM. “I am very tenacious, for better or worse,” he wrote in A Leg to Stand On. “If my attention is engaged, I cannot disengage it. This may be a great strength, or weakness. It makes me an investigator. It makes me an obsessional.”