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The Resource Hallucinations, Oliver Sacks

Hallucinations, Oliver Sacks

Creator
Summary
This book is an investigation into the types, physiological sources, and cultural resonances of hallucinations, tracing everything from the disorientations of sleep and intoxication to the manifestations of injury and illness. Have you ever seen something that was not really there? Heard someone call your name in an empty house? Sensed someone following you and turned around to find nothing? Hallucinations don't belong wholly to the insane. Much more commonly, they are linked to sensory deprivation, intoxication, illness, or injury. People with migraines may see shimmering arcs of light or tiny, Lilliputian figures of animals and people. People with failing eyesight, paradoxically, may become immersed in a hallucinatory visual world. Hallucinations can be brought on by a simple fever or even the act of waking or falling asleep, when people have visions ranging from luminous blobs of color to beautifully detailed faces or terrifying ogres. Those who are bereaved may receive comforting "visits" from the departed. In some conditions, hallucinations can lead to religious epiphanies or even the feeling of leaving one's own body. Humans have always sought such life-changing visions, and for thousands of years have used hallucinogenic compounds to achieve them. As a young doctor in California in the 1960s, the author had both a personal and a professional interest in psychedelics. These, along with his early migraine experiences, launched a lifelong investigation into the varieties of hallucinatory experience. Here, he weaves together stories of his patients and of his own mind-altering experiences to illuminate what hallucinations tell us 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, a vital part of the human condition
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Edition
1st American ed.
Extent
xiv, 326 pages
Contents
  • Silent multitudes: Charles Bonnet Syndrome
  • The prisoner's cinema: sensory deprivation
  • A few nanograms of wine: hallucinatory smells
  • Hearing things
  • The illusions of Parkinsonism
  • Altered states
  • Patterns: visual migraines
  • The "sacred" disease
  • Bisected: hallucinations in the half-field
  • Delirious
  • On the threshold of sleep
  • Narcolepsy and night hags
  • The haunted mind
  • Doppelgangers: hallucinating oneself
  • Phantoms, shadows, and sensory ghosts
Isbn
9780307957245
Instance
Label
Hallucinations
Title
Hallucinations
Statement of responsibility
Oliver Sacks
Creator
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
This book is an investigation into the types, physiological sources, and cultural resonances of hallucinations, tracing everything from the disorientations of sleep and intoxication to the manifestations of injury and illness. Have you ever seen something that was not really there? Heard someone call your name in an empty house? Sensed someone following you and turned around to find nothing? Hallucinations don't belong wholly to the insane. Much more commonly, they are linked to sensory deprivation, intoxication, illness, or injury. People with migraines may see shimmering arcs of light or tiny, Lilliputian figures of animals and people. People with failing eyesight, paradoxically, may become immersed in a hallucinatory visual world. Hallucinations can be brought on by a simple fever or even the act of waking or falling asleep, when people have visions ranging from luminous blobs of color to beautifully detailed faces or terrifying ogres. Those who are bereaved may receive comforting "visits" from the departed. In some conditions, hallucinations can lead to religious epiphanies or even the feeling of leaving one's own body. Humans have always sought such life-changing visions, and for thousands of years have used hallucinogenic compounds to achieve them. As a young doctor in California in the 1960s, the author had both a personal and a professional interest in psychedelics. These, along with his early migraine experiences, launched a lifelong investigation into the varieties of hallucinatory experience. Here, he weaves together stories of his patients and of his own mind-altering experiences to illuminate what hallucinations tell us 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, a vital part of the human condition
Cataloging source
DNLM/DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
1933-2015
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Sacks, Oliver
Index
index present
LC call number
RC553.H3
LC item number
S33 2012
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
NLM call number
WM 204
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Hallucinations and illusions
  • Cognition disorders
  • Perceptual disorders
  • Hallucinations
  • Perceptual Disorders
Label
Hallucinations, Oliver Sacks
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 297-309) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Silent multitudes: Charles Bonnet Syndrome -- The prisoner's cinema: sensory deprivation -- A few nanograms of wine: hallucinatory smells -- Hearing things -- The illusions of Parkinsonism -- Altered states -- Patterns: visual migraines -- The "sacred" disease -- Bisected: hallucinations in the half-field -- Delirious -- On the threshold of sleep -- Narcolepsy and night hags -- The haunted mind -- Doppelgangers: hallucinating oneself -- Phantoms, shadows, and sensory ghosts
Control code
769425353
Dimensions
22 cm
Edition
1st American ed.
Extent
xiv, 326 pages
Isbn
9780307957245
Lccn
2012002877
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Label
Hallucinations, Oliver Sacks
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 297-309) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Silent multitudes: Charles Bonnet Syndrome -- The prisoner's cinema: sensory deprivation -- A few nanograms of wine: hallucinatory smells -- Hearing things -- The illusions of Parkinsonism -- Altered states -- Patterns: visual migraines -- The "sacred" disease -- Bisected: hallucinations in the half-field -- Delirious -- On the threshold of sleep -- Narcolepsy and night hags -- The haunted mind -- Doppelgangers: hallucinating oneself -- Phantoms, shadows, and sensory ghosts
Control code
769425353
Dimensions
22 cm
Edition
1st American ed.
Extent
xiv, 326 pages
Isbn
9780307957245
Lccn
2012002877
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n

Subject

Library Locations

    • J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences LibraryBorrow it
      1 Hospital Dr, Columbia, MO, 65201, US
      38.939544 -92.328377

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