The blissful feeling having written "Migraine"

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Wanting to publish addendums to Migraine

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The blissful feeling having written Migraine

Oliver Sacks Scientist

	Views	Duration
121. The blissful feeling having written Migraine	297	01:11
122. Wanting to publish addendums to Migraine	266	02:11
123. The publishing of Migraine	274	02:20
124. Starting to see the Awakenings patients	322	00:46
125. The use of L-DOPA in the Awakenings patients	472	01:46
126. Positive reviews for Migraine	261	01:26
127. Drafting books on 'tics', sub-cortical functions and...	249	01:28
128. Responding to Luria's work on higher cortical functions	267	01:03
129. Letters to the editors of 'The Lancet' and 'JAMA'	243	04:07
130. Encouragement from James Purdon Martin	316	00:56

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I’ve never had such a good feeling, and a feeling of having made something real and of some value, that’s never been as strong as it was with that first book which was written in the face of such threats from Friedman and, for that matter, threats from myself. Curiously, or otherwise, I think I became hypo-manic when I returned to New York. I think it’s the only time in my life when spontaneously something like this happened. I was... I had a great sense of joyousness and, if you forgive the word, blessedness. I had a feeling that I was somehow surrounded by light and that other people were shadow people. I wanted to shout, ‘Hallelujah!’ But I was too... too good mannered to shout hallelujah. I went to concerts every night, Mozart operas, but also Fischer-Dieskau was in town and singing.

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: The blissful feeling having written "Migraine"

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: Migraine, Arnold Friedman

Duration: 1 minute, 11 seconds

Date story recorded: September 2011

Date story went live: 02 October 2012