My lack of 'belief'

Video URL

You must be registered to use this feature. Sign in or register.

My belief in science

RELATED STORIES

My lack of 'belief'

Oliver Sacks Scientist

		Views	Duration
11. Music was a youthful respite from boarding school		812	01:00
12. 'I remember how my ribs stuck out'		741	01:03
13. You could always trust a prime		769	01:01
14. Seeking stability		758	00:15
15. The things boarding school has taken from me		960	01:33
16. Difficulty with human bonding	1	949	00:37
17. Misinterpreting Christopher Rawlence's signals		824	00:26
18. My lack of 'belief'		834	01:07
19. My belief in science		730	01:06
20. 'I'm an old Jewish atheist'		960	00:57

Comments (0) Please sign in or register to add comments

And belief... well, I think, from the radishes on, but probably from before the radishes, I... I very much, like EM Forster's essay, saying I do not believe in ‘Belief’. If belief with a big B means faith, or belief without evidence, or belief only as an emotion, then, I think, this is not something which I have too strongly. You have sometimes told me that you think my if there is a God ‘module’ in the brain or a religious centre, mine has atrophied or perhaps failed... failed to develop.

Oliver Sacks (1933-2015) was born in England. Having obtained his medical degree at Oxford University, he moved to the USA. There he worked as a consultant neurologist at Beth Abraham Hospital where in 1966, he encountered a group of survivors of the global sleepy sickness of 1916-1927. Sacks treated these patients with the then-experimental drug L-Dopa producing astounding results which he described in his book Awakenings. Further cases of neurological disorders were described by Sacks with exceptional sympathy in another major book entitled The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat which became an instant best seller on its publication in 1985. His other books drew on his rich experiences as a neurologist gleaned over almost five decades of professional practice. Sacks's work was recognized by prestigious institutions which awarded him numerous honours and prizes. These included the Lewis Thomas Prize given by Rockefeller University, which recognizes the scientist as poet. He was an honorary fellow of both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and held honorary degrees from many universities, including Oxford, the Karolinska Institute, Georgetown, Bard, Gallaudet, Tufts, and the Catholic University of Peru.

Title: My lack of 'belief'

Listeners: Kate Edgar

Kate Edgar, previously Managing Editor at the Summit Books division of Simon and Schuster, began working with Oliver Sacks in 1983. She has served as editor and researcher on all of his books, and has been closely involved with various films and adaptations based on his work. As friend, assistant, and collaborator, she has accompanied Dr Sacks on many adventures around the world, clinical and otherwise.

Tags: relationship, god, belief

Duration: 1 minute, 7 seconds

Date story recorded: 19-23 September, 2011

Date story went live: 02 October 2012