8) An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks



Nonfiction strikes again!

This is a delightful collection of intriguing tales - true tales of unique medical cases. The seven stories range from here to everywhere and each bring up questions of what makes us who we are. From the colorblind painter (who sees the world as if it is black and white - and brings the questions of how we humans perceive the constancy of color in a world where there are so many hues and variations from full light to shade...), to a surgeon with Tourette's syndrome (and his symptoms completely disappear while he's performing surgery) to a high functioning autistic's words. Sacks is a wonderful writer and he inspires me to write as candidly as he does about his patients. Even though he is a neurologist, I like how he takes his conversations outside of a medical office, to their homes, or work, or simply where they are comfortable. And yes, he has conversations - not only as a physician to patient, but as a human being to human being.

-Lila