Dr. Oliver Sacks

Dr. Oliver Sacks is the author of the book and also a character in all of the stories. Although he is a character, Sacks is not the main character. Sacks, a neurologist, is only the medium through which the other characters are able to come alive for the reader. It is through Sacks' unique blend of clinician and humanitarian that many of the characters in the book become more than just patients.

Dr. Sacks works in a variety of clinical settings and encounters numerous patients who each touch his life in a different way. In the book there are very few stories from which the reader gets the sense that the patient is viewed as just "another patient." Instead Sacks takes personal interest in his clients and often seeks to pull out the more personal side of their story. Indeed, this is his entire purpose in...