The River of Consciousness

One of two titles neurologist Sacks (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat; Hallucinations) was working on when he died in 2015, this volume is a collection of essays, some of which were published previously in The New York Review of Books. Sacks begins with Charles Darwin and continues with pieces on Sigmund Freud, memory, creativity, illness, and consciousness. He alludes to writers who greatly influenced him, such as William James; adds digressive but informative footnotes; and refers to his own books when they provide fuller explorations of a topic. The author's unconventional points of view are potentially the most informative part of the work. He examines well-known ideas from lesser-known angles—for instance, that Darwin was also a botanist and supported his theory with botanical experimentation. Throughout, Sacks displays his marvelous skill with words, rich knowledge of medicine and science and their histories, observational skills, curiosity, and humor, and it's impossible not to feel the loss of this amazing thinker.