Oliver W. Sacks - Seeing Voices: A Journey into the World of the Deaf

Pros: A lot of interesting information. Clean writing.
Cons: Personal grumble: I wish Sacks had learned a little sign language.

Admitting that he never gave the deaf world much thought, Oliver Sacks nevertheless became intrigued by the experience of the deaf after he was sent a copy of Harlan Lane’s When the Mind Hears, a book on the history of the deaf, to review. ...

Pros: Unbelievably Interesting and Deep
Cons: Some of it gets a little too deep with scholarly discussions of syntax and grammar

Several years ago, I represented a deaf man who was accused of an assault. At least I remember it as an assault, the crime wasn’t the important thing really, what was fascinating about him was that he was deaf. He wasn’t the first deaf person I have...

Pros: Amazing look inside the world of the deaf: history, political movements, language acquisition
Cons: A bit slow in the middle (syntax, child development etc.)

I was browsing my way through the psychology section of a used bookstore the other day, when I came across Seeing Voices by Oliver Sacks, who also wrote Awakening and The man who mistook his wife for a hat. Sacks is an absolutely...

Pros: The Typical Rigor That Sacks Brings to the Table; Very Readable
Cons: Footnotes, Footnotes and More Footnotes

Once again, Oliver Sacks successfully teaches us something about the nature of the human nervous system--and, hence, something about the very nature of what it means to be human--by examining neurologic and cognitive development in a disordered state. In...