Hallucinations

By Oliver Sacks

Hallucinations, for most people, imply madness. But there are many different types of non-psychotic hallucination caused by various illnesses or injuries, by intoxication--even, for many people, by falling sleep. From the elementary geometrical shapes that we see when we rub our eyes to the complex swirls and blind spots and zigzags of a visual migraine, hallucination takes many forms. At a higher level, hallucinations associated with the altered states of consciousness that may come with sensory deprivation or certain brain disorders can lead to religious epiphanies or conversions. Drawing on a wealth of clinical examples from his own patients as well as historical and literary descriptions, Oliver Sacks investigates the fundamental differences and similarities of these many sorts of hallucinations, what they say about the organization and structure of our brains, how they have influenced every culture's folklore and art, and why the potential for hallucination is present in us all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Nov 6, 2012
• ISBN: 9780307402196

Oliver Sacks

Oliver Sacks was born in 1933 in London and was educated at the Queen's College, Oxford. He completed his medical training at San Francisco's Mount Zion Hospital and at UCLA before moving to New York, where he soon encountered the patients whom he would write about in his book Awakenings. Dr Sacks spent almost fifty years working as a neurologist and wrote many books, including The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Musicophilia, and Hallucinations, about the strange neurological predicaments and conditions of his patients. The New York Times referred to him as 'the poet laureate of medicine', and over the years he received many awards, including honours from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Royal College of Physicians. In 2008, he was appointed Commander of the British Empire. His memoir, On the Move, was published shortly before his death in August 2015.

Reviews for Hallucinations

[tjwilson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating account of the wonders of the brain. Had no idea the brain could offer so much emotional and physical protection to the human body in the form of hallucinations. Also, very intrigued by Oliver Sacks's curiosity and found narratives. First book I've ever read Sacks's, and I will surely read more.

[bness2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I pretty routinely love Sacks' books, and this one is no exception. Even though I myself have had no hallucinations, induced or otherwise, I have always been fascinated with the topic. I do have lucid dreams, which are sort of related to hallucinations, but still are dreams, nevertheless. Fascinating book.

[sasham-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very educational but sometimes the technical / medical terms need to be read more than once. This was the first Oliver Sacks book I have read and I some times got the impression it was a drawing together of his other works all of which are referenced numerous times. Also the number and frequency of medical terms mean that some people may be put off entirely.

[gustavog_90 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Excellent Oliver Sacks as usual. Fascinating cases, insightful hypotheses.

[eclecticdodo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Oliver Sacks describes in this book many of the varied physiological causes for hallucinations (as opposed to the psychiatric causes). His style of meandering through a subject with the aid of numerous examples is very readable, and I found it utterly fascinating. I particularly enjoyed the section on migraine and now understand a lot more about my own migraine aura.

[nodosaurus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In this book, Oliver Sacks talks about many types of hallucinations. We first think of visual or audial hallucinations, but any sense can be suspect. He also covers disease-based, fatigue-based, phantom limbs, narcotics, shell shock/trauma, and others. Much of the book is case studies, he throws in some historical context and a little neurology. In some cases he discusses brain imaging relating to the hallucinations. The book seemed long, the case studies didn't really offer a lot of variety in many cases. Yet at times it became very interesting, but it wasn't sustained. There is a lot of information, but it isn't one of his better books.

[gglusman-660560 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Excellent Oliver Sacks as usual. Fascinating cases, insightful hypotheses.

[mike_b-645943 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Better than I expected.

[dmturner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As usual, Sacks does a stunning job of describing disturbing neurological states in such a way that you realize they are normal. He doesn't exempt himself from his kind, respectful, yet dispassionate examining eye, describing his own experiences of alternate realities. When you finish, you understand that our perceptions of reality are seriously skewed, and that the probing alien of today may just be the night-mare or the succubus of yesteryear.

[librarycin · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.25 starsOliver Sacks is a neuroscientist, and this book includes essays on the topic of hallucinations. There were chapters on blindness, Parkinsons, epilepsy, drugs, migraines, narcolepsy, and a lot more, as well as a couple of chapters on auditory and smell hallucinations.It was mostly interesting, but some parts did lose my interest. His books are like that for me (well, the few that I’ve read).

[bederson-208717 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was intriguing - it started out being highly engaging, but over time the hallucinations became less weird, but the core concept became more interesting. The core concept for me was the very tight coupling between the physicality of the brain and the strange wide range of hallucinations that people have. And the biggest surprise to me was the connection between hallucinations and religious visions that people have throughout the ages. This book begins to explain a huge array of human culture.

[ionas_7 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a comprehensive book. It turns out that hallucinations are not just seen by those suffering from mental illness; there are many different types.There is, for example, Charles Bonnet Syndrome, where blind people, those who have not seen anything for years, suddenly begin to “see things”. This is a reaction of the brain to the loss of eyesight.Complex visions may be seen. Incongruous figures may appear in the room. Most people with CBS will be aware that they are hallucinating while some hallucinations may be thought to be real.Faces, text, numerals, or musical notes may be seen.People subjected to sensory deprivation, e.g. those placed in dark tanks of warm water, may experience visual hallucinations.Hearing voices occurs in every culture and has often been accorded great importance.Voices may occur with anyone in situations of extreme threat or danger. Freud himself heard voices on two such occasions. Suicide attempts may be prevented by hearing a voice.Musical hallucinations are not uncommon.Parkinson’s patients, particularly those with post-encephalitic syndromes, medicated with L-dopa are prone to vivid dreams, nightmares and visual illusions or hallucinations.More than a quarter of the author’s patients with ordinary Parkinson’s disease experienced hallucinations after several years on L-dopa.But there is a more malignant form of Parkinson’s which is accompanied by dementia and visual hallucinations even in the absence of L-dopa. Examination of the brain may show abnormal aggregates of protein (lewy bodies) inside the nerve cells.In a chapter on altered states, the author describes his own experiences when taking drugs, e.g. Artane, a synthetic drug related to belladonna. He took twenty pills of Artane and found himself having a conversation with a couple of friends whom he thought had dropped in to visit him but it turned out this was a product of his imagination.The author experimented with many drugs and, among other things, had experiences of seeing a wonderful indigo colour.After taking large doses of chloral hydrate to get to sleep, then stopping, he began to see “bug-eyed monsters” – he had the DTs, delirium tremens. He had hallucinations for nearly 96 hours.Migraines often induce hallucinations too, often complex ones, and the author has also experienced these.There is a chapter about epilepsy which can give “ecstatic” seizures, and one about “hallucinations in the half-field”, when one loses vision in one eye.The final chapters encompass also “psychical” or “paranormal” experiences. OBEs and also visits by angels.One thing that bothers me about Oliver Sacks’ text is that his scepticism of spiritual matters shines through since he tends to classify spiritual experiences as “hallucinations”. I absolutely disagree that a spiritual experience indicates something wrong with the brain, on the contrary!I found the book fascinating; it introduced me to all sorts of experiences that I knew nothing about. Sacks’ language is not just extremely rich but filled with specialized words that not many will have heard of; neither are these likely to be found in the dictionary.I recommend the book for those interested in the brain and its abnormalities and will be reading further books by this author.

[detailmuse · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

From the Introduction:Here, then, is a sampling which I hope will give a sense of the great range, the varieties, of hallucinatory experience, an essential part of the human condition.“A sampling” it is -- essentially an accumulation of patient experiences that showcase the variety of neurological (note: not psychiatric) hallucinations, organized into chapters by sense (sight, sound, smell, etc.) or cause (sensory deprivation, intoxicants, Parkinson’s Disease, epilepsy, migraine, etc). And a “great range” it is -- the variety of experiences and the rates of incidence do suggest a commonality to the human condition. (Still, Sacks several times cautions against casually reporting hallucinations: “the single symptom of ‘hearing voices’ could suffice for an immediate, categorical diagnosis of schizophrenia even in the absence of any other symptoms or abnormalities of behavior.”)The book was interesting to read and somewhat informative (there is almost no exploration of the underlying science). But it’s rarely engaging (the exception being a chapter about Sacks’ personal experiences with transcendent/ intoxicant drugs). I love a narrative, I'll poke around in an encyclopedia, but this felt too much like reading a dictionary.It is interesting that, near the end of the book, I happened to be listening to a Science Friday podcast with neuroscientist David Eagleman, who talked about timing in the brain -- our temporal perception of action first then effect, and the problem of misattributing action/effect:Schizophrenia might fundamentally be a disorder of time perception. {…} You’re always generating an internal voice and listening to it. {…} But imagine you got the timing wrong, so that you think you heard the voice before you generated it. That would be an auditory hallucination. You’d have to interpret that as somebody’s else’s voice. {…} Instead of pumping people full of meds, what if we could just sit them down and have them play video games that recalibrate their timing?I know: Sacks is a practitioner while Eagleman is a researcher. But that’s the kind of scientific/exploratory material I'd expected here.(Review based on an advance reading copy provided by the publisher.)

[judy_aa · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hallucinations is a fascinating book but is the first of Sacks' works to, in my humble opinion, overstep scientific bounds. Hallucinations are tricky things and to lay out a history of hallucination by disorder based in large part on completely anecdotal evidence grates my skeptic's soul. At one point he even describes the hallucination of loved ones after death as a normal "neurological response to grief" but then fails to tie this to any empirical data. Or I was hallucinating at that point.

His chapters on hallucination as a consequence of illness, prescription side-effects, sensory deprivation, sleep paralysis and grief are very interesting. Chapters on hallucinations as caused by psychedelic drugs are much less interesting, almost self-serving. Pages and pages of descriptions of trips that all sound like Jefferson Airplane lyrics are for the most part, only of interest to the author.

Still, the book is well worth reading if you have an avid interest in neurosciences (Sacks assumes the reader has a working knowledge of the main parts of the brain and their functions and does not slow down for expositions in this area) and if you are fascinated by the blurry line between reality and dreams and dreams and hallucinations.

[rabbitholler · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sachs is always mindful of our souls, anything he writes about can touch the reader in a personal way. When I finished Hallucinations, some philosophical questions remained unanswered. The variety of experiences described, however, is wonderful. Doubles of oneself appear, always in mirror image; phantom limbs can be trained to behave, and Jesus really saves. Much of the book consists of quoted reports by patients and others, so by the end the question of personality is addressed indirectly. Some people react with fear, others with joy. Many report amusement, some have too much of a good thing. Which came first, the attitude or the feeling? I'm glad Sacks doesn't hypothesize about this, but respects each individual, and leaves doubts hanging, as doubt must do.

[thewasp_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fascinating insight into the experiences and causes of hallucinations in people who are not suffering from schizophrenia or other similar illnesses. This includes hallucinations that are seen, heard or smelt and are often triggered by trauma, grief or stress, or are chemically induced. It is amazing how the brain can provide a substitute reality when our senses are altered, such as in blindness, or the loss of a limb.I found this book very easy to read as well as highly informative.

[scrabblenut · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I found the descriptions of hallucinations to be repetitive and boring, which caused me to skip through the book and read some interesting bits. I would have hoped for more science and less description of hallucinations, which while fascinating to those experiencing them, are less fascinating to the rest of us.

[bell7_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In his newest book Oliver Sacks, a practicing physician known for such books as The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Musicophilia, turns his attention to hallucinations. While in popular culture we tend to think of hallucinations as being psychoses and in the realm of insanity, he focuses primarily on the sort of neurological disorders that sane people have. In fact, hallucinations may not be as odd as we think - haven't we all felt like there was someone behind us, or heard our name even when no one was around?Primarily organized around types of hallucinations - visual, aural, parkinsonian, phantom limbs, etc. - the book is a fascinating blend of history and case study. Perhaps I was most fascinated to discover the types of hallucinations that I've had, mostly as a child, when I was in that state between sleep and wakefulness and "saw" someone by my bed or in my room. There are other, less common, hallucinations explored, too, and I really enjoyed when he brought up the results of fMRI scans done during hallucinations. The connections between what one experiences and what goes on the brain intrigues me, and I'll definitely be looking to read some of Sacks' earlier works.

[akblanchard_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I can only take Oliver Sacks in small doses. This book was ok, but it read as strung together case histories (drawn from letters from his extensive correspondence) rather than as a coherent whole. i was disappointed in Sacks' decision to write about hallucinations caused by brain damage, drugs or other physical conditions (such as blindness) only, and not consider hallucinations brought on by mental illness.

[darcia_10 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Many people think hallucinations only happen to people with schizophrenia and other psychological disorders. In truth, hallucinations occur in 'healthy' minds, as well. With this book, Oliver Sacks provides data on diseases that can cause hallucinations, such as Parkinson's and migraines. He also talks about a variety of other causes, such as sleep deprivation and medications. Through it all, he shares anecdotes from history, his patients, and his own life.I found the subject fascinating. Sacks, a neurologist, has spent much of his life researching the mind and, in these pages, he shares some of what he has learned along the way. The language used is easy to understand. Medical terms are clarified and explained. The average person should have no problem reading this.While I did find the examples interesting, after a while it all became a bit repetitive. Information was often repeated in various chapters. And the book didn't have much of a conclusion. Despite that, I'd recommend the book to everyone. What you'll learn is well worth the time you'll spend reading.

[st5croixsue · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Using fascinating case histories, personal experience with drugs, and stories from other cultures, Sacks tells us about the organization and structure of our brains by describing visual, auditory, and olfactory hallucinations and visions produced by illness, fevers, sleep deprivation, drugs, grief, trauma and exhaustion.

[jerrycolonna · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating as most of Sack's material is. A little to dry.

[beamis12 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

All the ways people can experience hallucinations. One of the most interesting cases was for me the first one. a blind woman who was experiencing hallucinations, but turned out to actually have a disease that caused this. Also the history behind the various facets of this phenomena. A little to dry and to many facts and figures. Tended to skip around a bit but some it was very interesting so I am glad I read this.

[ursula_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Oliver Sacks is a neurologist who's written a number of other books that I haven't read. Through the course of Hallucinations, I was reminded that I hadn't read these other books, since from time to time he would mention a case and then follow up with "which I described in more detail in my book ____." I appreciate that he didn't want to retread ground that was covered elsewhere, but sometimes it felt a little like I was reading a bibliography, or listening to a series of movie trailers. Aside from that, this was an interesting look at a large range of things that can be classified as hallucinations. You know how sometimes when you're laying in bed at night with your eyes closed and you'll start to see patterns? Mine are usually kind of like an optical illusion - they'll be a series of shapes that seem to be moving toward me or away from me. I didn't realize those are hallucinations, but they are. The ones we typically think of are covered, of course, including ones induced by drugs and hallucinations that involve each of our different senses. The occurrence of phantom limbs is talked about, and I thought this was one of the more fascinating sections. The relationship between what the eyes see and the brain knows is complicated, and although the brain has a long memory for things it hasn't seen in a while, it does eventually forget. This seems to be a cause for pain in a phantom limb or for feeling like a body part that has been immobile and invisible to you for a long time no longer belongs to you. It wasn't extremely in depth about any particular type or cause of hallucinations, but instead provides a good overview. I stopped the audio a number of times to look up more information about occurrences he described just because some of them seemed too wild to be true, but of course they were true. What more can you really ask for in a book about hallucinations than to be entertained and left with a little wonder and head-shaking at the odd and amazing things that our brains can do?

[bragan_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Neurologist Oliver Sacks turns his attention to the topic of people who see (or hear, or, occasionally, smell or feel) things that aren't actually there. There's a little bit of overlap here with some of his earlier books, but I'd say there's more than enough that's new to make it worthwhile even if you've read everything else he's written. It's not an exhaustive look at the topic of hallucinations, because he doesn't really get into hallucinations that come with psychosis, such as schizophrenia -- a topic that seems like it could well fill another whole book by itself. He talks about a huge variety of other things that can cause hallucinations, though. Indeed, I had no idea there were so many things that could cause hallucinations! There's blindness (total or partial) or sensory deprivation, which can lead to the brain inventing images to fill the nothingness. There's drugs such as LSD, of course. And a number of diseases, including some I never would have associated with hallucinations. Migraines, which often come with visual auras, but can sometimes get even weirder. Fever delirium. Brain damage. Perfectly ordinary brains getting confused on waking up or falling asleep. And lets not forget phantom limbs...As usual with Sack's books, there are a lot of fascinating descriptions of things his patients and others have experienced, intermixed with some layman's-level explanations about what's going on in the brain when this stuff happens, at least as far as it's actually understood. There are also some relevant accounts of the author's own personal experience; among other things, Sacks took a surprising amount of drugs back in the 60s. In the end, also as usual, I'm left with a bemused appreciation of how incredibly complex our brains are and just how deeply weird things can get when they go a bit wrong. I also keep expecting to start hallucinating myself any moment, but hopefully that will pass.

[laurieindra · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not the best Sacks I've ever read, but still interesting. Learned some new things, that's always a plus.

[conniejo_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've read The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and this was along the same lines. Rather than being a series of case studies, this book looks at hallucinations topically. Different chapters cover scent hallucinations, hallucinations that occur during and around sleep, drug-induced hallucinations, phantom limbs, visual hallucinations in patients that have gone blind, have different types of brain injuries, different types and feelings for hallucinations, etc.I loved the way the topics and chapters were organized. Sacks is also great at covering interesting topics and providing just enough of an explanation without getting too technical. And he uses cases to illustrate each topic and chapter, with accounts from different doctors and patients.A very interesting book. I read it over the course of a few months, but it was always easy to pick back up and get into, since the chapters read like their own separate topics. I plan on reading Awakenings next.

[kamgeb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As always Oliver Sachs writes fascinating books with really interesting neurological stories. This also adds his usage of drugs which I had never heard of before. My only difficulty was that by the end I was getting a bit bored. The hallucinations I found more interesting were in the beginning of the book.

[kittyjay · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'll confess that this is the first Oliver Sacks book I have read, although I have seen his work mentioned all over and have always been intrigued. I was not disappointed with Hallucinations, an engaging book that covers hallucinations not caused by psychosis, such as seen in schizophrenia.

The hallucinations Sacks covers are diverse and cover an array of causes: from Charles Bonnet syndrome to sensory deprivation, from sleep paralysis to phantom limb syndrome. Together with a variety of historical sources and patient accounts, he has pulled together a book that covers everything but psychosis. Some hallucinations have roots inside the brain, such as the prelude to an epileptic seizure, while others come from more nebulous sources, like grief or trauma. He even delves into intentional hallucinations, the kind caused by taking psychadelic drugs, which he apparently has ample experience with.

Sacks writes fluidly and has a wry sense of humor that crops up every now and again; though he occasionally delves into decidedly more than "pop" neuropsychology, I never felt bored reading it.

Definitely interesting to those who are curious about the brain and its often strange workings.

[dbsovereign · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Oliver Sacks helps us see ourselves transformed into magical beings who can recreate the very fabric of our lives. When we see that what we have always done is actually the mind at variance with itself in some aspect, it can become pretty heavy. In a good way. Fun investigation into how many of us can be in thrall to these either pesky [or enthralling] apparitions.