An Anthropologist on Mars cover art

An Anthropologist on Mars

A collection of fascinating case studies on the human mind

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Unlimited access to our all-you-can-listen catalogue of 15K+ audiobooks and podcasts
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

An Anthropologist on Mars

By: Oliver Sacks
Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Oliver Sacks
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £9.33

Buy Now for £9.33

About this listen

As with his previous bestseller, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, in An Anthropologist on Mars Oliver Sacks uses case studies to illustrate the myriad ways in which neurological conditions can affect our sense of self, our experience of the world, and how we relate to those around us.

Writing with his trademark blend of scientific rigour and human compassion, he describes patients such as the colour-blind painter or the surgeon with compulsive tics that disappear in the operating theatre; patients for whom disorientation and alienation – but also adaptation – are inescapable facts of life.

'An inexhaustible tourist at the farther reaches of the mind, Sacks presents, in sparse, unsentimental prose, the stories of seven of his patients. The result is as rich, vivid and compelling as any collection of short fictional stories' – Independent on Sunday

Brain & Nervous System Essays Neuroscience & Neuropsychology Physical Illness & Disease Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Human Brain Mental Health Health

Critic reviews

Writing simply and beautifully, Sacks uses individual case histories to reveal the infinite complexities of the human mind.
Sacks' great gift is his capacity to place himself in the position of his subjects, to see the world the way they see it and to empathize with their condition with great compassion but without patronage or pity.
All stars
Most relevant
Case series punctuated by intimate, delicate philosophy by the genius of Dr Sacks. Well narrated but Mr Davis' native US American and fake Italian accents definitely break the enchantment.

The genius of Oliver Sacks

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Sacks takes an idiographic and holistic approach to these case studies, and provides the listener with a rich, qualitative analysis of the patient's lives, focusing on how they've adapted in light of their condition, and use it to better themselves.

A wonderfully positive spin on Psychopathology

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.