The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales

Author	Oliver Sacks
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Neurology, psychology
Genre	Case history
Publisher	Summit Books (US) Gerald Duckworth (UK)
Publication date	1985
Media type	print
Pages	233 (first edition)
ISBN	0-671-55471-9
OCLC	12313889
Dewey Decimal	616.8 19
LC Class	RC351 .S195 1985
Preceded by	A Leg to Stand On (1984)
Followed by	Seeing Voices (1989)

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales is a 1985 book by neurologist Oliver Sacks describing the case histories of some of his patients. Sacks chose the title of the book from the case study of one of his patients which he names "Dr. P" that has visual agnosia^[1], a neurological condition that leaves him unable to recognize even familiar faces and objects. Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat became the basis of an opera of the same name by Michael Nyman, which premiered in 1986.

The book comprises twenty-four essays split into four sections (Losses, Excesses, Transports, and The World of the Simple), each dealing with a particular aspect of brain function. The first two sections discuss deficits and excesses (with particular emphasis on the right hemisphere of the brain), while the third and fourth sections describe phenomenological manifestations with reference to spontaneous reminiscences, altered perceptions, and extraordinary qualities of mind found in people with intellectual disabilities. ^[2]

Content

The individual essays in this book include:

• "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat", about Dr. P, who has visual agnosia; however, before that diagnosis is reached, Dr. P consults an ophthalmologist when he develops diabetes, thinking that it might affect his vision. The ophthalmologist tells him that he does not have diabetes and instead refers him to Dr. Sacks, to whom Dr. P describes his symptoms of visual agnosia.
• "The Lost Mariner", about Jimmie G., who has anterograde amnesia (the loss of the ability to form new memories) due to Korsakoff's syndrome. He can remember nothing of his life since the end of World War II, including events that happened only a few minutes ago. He believes it is still 1945 (the segment covers his life in the 1970s and early 1980s), and seems to behave as a normal, intelligent young man aside from his inability to remember most of his past and the events of his day-to-day life. He struggles to find meaning, satisfaction, and happiness in the midst of constantly forgetting what he is doing from one moment to the next.
• "The President's Speech",^[3] about a ward of aphasiacs and agnosiacs listening to a speech given by an unnamed actor-president, "the old charmer," presumably Ronald Reagan. Many in the first group were laughing at the speech, and Sacks claims their laughter to be at the president's facial expressions and tone, which they find "not genuine." One woman in the latter group criticizes the structure of the president's sentences, stating that he "does not speak good prose."
• "The Disembodied Lady", a unique case of a woman losing her entire sense of proprioception (the sense of the position of parts of the body, relative to other neighbouring parts of the body).
• “The Man Who Fell out of Bed”, about a young man whom Dr. Sacks sees as a medical student. The young man sits on the floor and contrives a story dictating that the hospital staff pranked him by placing a severed human leg in his bed and the leg attached to him. He tries violently to tear the leg off but obviously fails as it is his own leg.
• "On the Level," another case involving damaged proprioception. Dr. Sacks interviews a patient who has trouble walking upright and discovers that he has lost his innate sense of balance due to Parkinson's-like symptoms that have damaged his inner ears; the patient, comparing his sense of balance to a carpenter's spirit level, suggested constructing a similar level inside a pair of glasses. This enables him to judge his balance by sight and after a few weeks, the task of keeping his eye on the level became less tiring.
• "The Twins", about autistic savants. Dr. Sacks meets twin brothers who can neither read nor perform multiplication, yet are playing a "game" of finding very large prime numbers. While the twins were able to spontaneously generate these numbers, from six to twenty digits, Sacks had to resort to a book of prime numbers to join in with them. This was used in the film House of Cards starring Tommy Lee Jones. The twins also instantly count 111 dropped matches, simultaneously remarking that 111 is three 37s. This story has been questioned by Makoto Yamaguchi, who doubts that a book of large prime numbers could exist as described, and points out that reliable scientific reports only support approximate perception when rapidly counting large numbers of items.^[4][5] Autistic savant Daniel Tammet points out that the twins provided the matchbox and may have counted its contents beforehand, noting that he finds the value of 111 to be "particularly beautiful and matchstick-like."^[6]
• "Eyes Right", about a woman in her sixties that has Hemispatial neglect. She completely forgets the idea of "left" relative to her own body and the world around her. When nurses place food or drink on her left side, she fails to recognize that they are there. Dr. Sacks attempts to show the patient the left side of her body using a video screen setup; when the patient sees the left side of her body, on her right, she is overwhelmed with anxiety and asked for it to stop.
• "The Dog Beneath the Skin", concerning a 22-year-old medical student, "Stephen D.", who, after a night under the influence of amphetamines, cocaine, and PCP, wakes to find he has a tremendously heightened sense of smell.^[7] Sacks would reveal many years later that he, in fact, was Stephen D.^[8]
• "The Autist Artist", about a 21-year-old named Jose that had been deemed "hopelessly retarded" and had seizures, however, when given Sack's pocket watch and asked to draw it, he composed himself and drew the watch in surprising detail.

In popular culture

Christopher Rawlence wrote the libretto for a chamber opera—directed by Michael Morris with music by Michael Nyman—based on the title story. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat was first produced by the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in 1986. A television version of the opera was subsequently broadcast in the UK.

Peter Brook adapted Sacks's book into an acclaimed theatrical production, L'Homme Qui..., which premiered at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Paris, in 1993. An Indian theatre company performed a play entitled The Blue Mug, based on the book, starring Rajat Kapoor, Konkona Sen Sharma, Ranvir Shorey, and Vinay Pathak.

The Man Who, an album by the Scottish indie pop band Travis, is named after this book.^[9]

In an episode of the television show Parks and Recreation, the surprising nature of Jerry Gergich's relationship with his gorgeous wife, Gayle (Christie Brinkley), is hypothesized as an example of a case in this book.

See also

• Proprioception
• Aphasia
• Blindsight
• Hemispatial neglect

References

External links

• Sacks, Oliver, "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat", Books (official site) .
• Sacks, Oliver, The Open Mind, Archive .

Similar Authors

• David Whyte (poet)
• Vilayanur S. Ramachandran
• Daniel Levitin
• Steven Pinker