I recently finished reading Oliver Sacks’ book Hallucinations. It’s a fascinating look at different types of hallucinatory experiences, from the visual scenes of Charles Bonnet Syndrome to hearing voices and feeling mystical religious ecstasy. In one chapter, Sacks also describes his own youthful experimentation with a number of psychoactive substances (LSD, morning glory seeds, morphine, and more) and he includes stories of his ampethamine-fueled weekends and withdrawal-induced delirium tremens from chloral hydrate.

What I enjoyed most about this book is that Sacks is careful to dispel the common misconception that hallucinations are necessarily symptoms of psychosis. Hallucinations of all sorts are far more common than we might initially suspect. While visual or auditory hallucinations may readily come to mind, Sacks also covers hallucinations and “misperceptions” of other kinds from parosmia to phantom limbs; questioning the accuracy of everything from our sense of smell to our sense of self.

Anyone who is familiar with Sacks’ writing is probably aware that his success as a writer is not simply due to his technical expertise or even his ability to clearly communicate complex concepts. Sacks shines in taking totally bizarre neurological conditions and nearly unimaginable experiences and reminding us that these are inherently human stories. Sacks helps the reader to connect and empathize with these patients and better understand the overwhelming breadth of possible human experience.

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