An Anthropologist On Mars Summary

An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks introduces seven neurological cases that happens to people around the world. Sacks deals with different aspects of the brain, such as, the lobes of the brain, perception, and neurological disorders. One of the cases Sacks mentions is “The Case of the Colorblind Painter”. The case involves an artist who can’t see color due to an accident he encountered. His colorblindness affects his daily life, including his dreams; he doesn’t see a wide range of colors in his life, only what he describes it as “a black and white tv screen”. When I was reading his case, I found it intriguing that one can develop colorblindness from an accident. I always thought that colorblindness was a genetic thing, but the fact that at any given moment, it can activate shows that the brain has more mysterious than intended. The powerful emotional aspect of the case makes it more powerful and shows a deep theme. It makes me realize that I shouldn't take anything for granted because at any given moment, something can be taken away.

The next case is “The Last Hippie” that deals with a similar situation as “The Case of the Colorblind Painter”. Greg joins the East Village drug culture where the people’s spirituality increases and has a “higher consciousness”. Later, he developed symptoms

that requires him to be admitted to the hospital and he discovered that he has a tumor that is destroying his pituitary gland that mainly deals with growth and is affecting the lobes of his brain like his occipital lobe. When reading his case, I learned a lot of how the brain deals with the human body, for example, Sacks wrote that damage to the brain can cause a change in behavior and movement and how the frontal lobe affects the behavior more differently than the other lobes. Also, the tumor the patient had was benign, meaning that it’s non life-threatening, but the fact that a tumor can turn into a threatening thing shows that a tumor is a mysterious and complicated thing that can switch up any time and at any moment.
The case of “A Surgeon's Life” involves a surgeon who has Tourette's syndrome and shows how the doctor dealt with the disorder in his personal and professional life. The thing that surprises me the most is that as a doctor, one needs precise and steady hands while operating and the fact that the doctor didn’t tick and he is able to control his tics when needed. This case interests me because it shows that a neurological disorder won’t stop anyone from doing what he or she loves to do best and that no obstacles can get in the way.
Next comes the case of “To See and Not See”, there’s a blind man who gets a surgery to fix his vision which ended well but later didn’t and he returned blind.

The case deals with the five senses and how one can adapt to his or her life without that one sense. I felt like this case showcases how the brain can adapt to any changes due to the stimulus adding to the surroundings. The thing that strikes interesting to me is the fact that something permanent like being blind can come back because for 45 years, the patient was blind and through surgery, he was able to gain it back for a little while and it gives the people the idea that the brain has more mysteries than

attended.
The case of “The Landscape of His Dreams” deals with a person who knows the details of his hometown due to seizures happening to the temporal lobe. The seizures affect the temporal lobe, which deals with hearing, and the hippocampus, which deals with the storing explicit memory. With this case, I learned that different parts of the brain and be affected with something like seizures and the outcome can vary.
The case of “Prodigies” and “An Anthropologist on Mars” deals with autism and the extraordinary and skillful things the 2 people did. In the case “Prodigies”, an autistic boy who is an amazing artist and Sacks wrote how some autistic people can develop skills like the boy did. Before reading this case, I didn’t know a lot about autism, but after I learned that the brain in the autistic boy has more neural connectivity than normal and that causes him to act differently than other people. The thing that I like about this case is that Sacks saw the boy as a human being and not like something that he can critique. “An Anthropologist on Mars” is about a patient who is autistic and uses the disorder to her benefits as a businesswoman. The emotional aspect behind this case is amazing because she doesn’t see her disorder as an obstacles, she sees it as something that can benefit a lot of people.
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know things about the brain and neurological disorders. After reading this book, I learned a lot about the history behind the disorders and the purpose of the brain and how it affects the human body and mind. The emotional part behind every case is something that is part of the recommendation; the fact that the patients won’t let the disorders like color blindness or Tourette’s syndrome, get in the way of what he or she loves.