The River of Consciousness

The blurb of the book tells us that only two weeks before his death, Oliver Sacks “oversaw” the contents. As engaging as the observations in this book are, the reader is sure to notice that it is very far ranging and doesn’t seem to be organized in any thoughtful manner. The writing about Darwin is very interesting indeed, and I was glad to know the great scientific discoveries of Freud as opposed to some of his theories. This is too bad because Sacks is a well known author and an interesting observer of all aspects of life from botany to neuroscience.

The best chapter of the book, “Darwin and the Meaning of Flowers,” makes the book well worth having. Just learning the new word “circumnutation” is an asset–that is, learning the power of movement in plants. Sacks moves on to the power of reaction in animals as well, and this proves very interesting to this reader. Many will want to add this book to their collection since it is the last book of Oliver Sacks, who we shall miss.