All i Want For my Birthday Free Essays

Mars Is a delightful and enlightening book that reveals the unparalleled complexity of the human brain. Sacks, an accomplished neurologist and author, presents seven case studies that highlight different neurological phenomena. In his case studies, Sacks follows a newly colliding painter, a man who can create no new memories, a surgeon with Trustee’s syndrome, a blind man who regains his sight, a painter obsessed with images from his childhood, an autistic boy artist, and a high-functioning autistic roofless. We will write a custom essay sample on All i Want For my Birthday or any similar topic only for you Order Now Sacks does not treat his case studies as dry medical oddities but rather discusses their neurological experiences within their broader human existence. Unlike other authors who know their patients only distantly, Sacks works intimately with his case studies and develops meaningful relationships that translate into a deeper, more Insightful understanding of his patients and their experiences. While Sacks Is clearly a brilliant neurologist, what makes this book so powerful Is his ability to weave In medicine, science, history, and philosophy Into a coherent narrative. Every case study illuminates a series of important and thought-provoking questions that challenge the everyday assumptions of perception, reality, intelligence, and what it means to be human. In the end, the reader emerges with a better appreciation of the complexity of the human mind. Sacks does not look at simply the pathological and physiological way that the disease affects the individual but how the individual reacts to the disorder and how, in each of these cases, they retain their own sense of self despite what the disease/doodler does to them. Sacks does not Just throw a barrage of patients with neurological scissors at the reader, but rather goes through the lives of seven patients and observes them In their natural life. He presents not only their disorder, but how It affects their daily life, how their perception of the world is different, and the creative ways that they have come up to deal with their disorder. According to his case studies and brief synopsis there are seven cases he presented in the book. One is â€Å"The Case of the Colliding Painter this case his case talks about the predicament of a painter who after sixty five years had an accident which robbed him entirely of his color vision. A man, who had had a distinguished career as an artist with numerous vividly colored paintings and abstractions In his studio, could no longer even Imagine color. The painter eventually accepted his predicament and started to paint black-and-white representations Instead of dwelling on the loss of his ability to paint In color. As Sacks explains, â€Å"†¦ A revision was occurring, so that as his former color world and even the memory of it became fainter and died inside also involves an artist who loses his color perception ability after an accident. â€Å"Would it be â€Å"normal† from the moment vision was restored? Was not experience necessary to see? Did one have to learn to see? † (Sacks 109). The author details the patient cases and uses it as one of the ways in giving an account of how the modern understanding of vision works. From this, there are lessons learnt from the inability of the artist to also remember the colors. The diseases focused on in the essays affect the ways in which individuals know and understand themselves.. In this case they call this illness is â€Å"Cerebral achromatic is a type of color-blindness caused by damage to the cerebral cortex of the brain, rather than abnormalities in the cells of he eye’s retina. It is often confused with congenital achromatic but underlying physiological deficits of the disorders are completely distinct. It is shows the signs and symptoms of Patients with cerebral achromatic deny having any experience of color when asked and fail standard clinical assessments like the Farnsworth- Mussels 100-hue test (a test of color ordering with no naming requirements). Patients may often not notice their loss of color vision and merely describe the world they see as being â€Å"drab†. Most describe seeing the world in â€Å"shades of gray†. This observation totes a key difference between cerebral and congenital achromatic, as those born with achromatic have never had an experience of color or gray. It can diagnosis he most common tests perform to diagnose cerebral achromatic are the Farnsworth-Mussels 100-hue test, the Ashier plate test, and the color-naming test. Testing and diagnosis for cerebral achromatic is often incomplete and misdiagnosed in doctor’s offices. 2 Remarkably, almost 50% of tested patients diagnosed with cerebral achromatic are able to perform normally on the color-naming test. However, these results are Mathew in question because of the sources from which many of these reports come. Only 29% of cerebral achromatic patients successfully pass the Ashier plate test, which is a more accepted and more standardized test for color blindness. In order for one to be in a position to understand their subjects appropriately, the personality method of investigation is vital. Therefore, spending ample time with your subjects is very crucial in this field. I find â€Å"An anthropologist on Mars† fascinating since it gives man opportunity to view peoples’ brains conditions as well as study them to the letter. The fascinating neurological stories explore some of the unique experiences and perceptions of oneself. The saddest thing about the study on disorders of the nervous system and the brain is that the condition of most of the patients is beyond repair. This is irrespective of the diverse scope of knowledge in the book. The passion in me to know more about science related cases especially on first hand authors method of finding ways to help patients to be fit again is fantastic. I arrive to this conclusion after reading how he has tackled cases in certain disorders facing the neuron system and the brain. These are Kormas syndrome and Trustees syndrome. Patients in these unusual disorders should be given information on how to cope to the conditions they find themselves in. This should be done without necessarily considering whether the patient’s outcome. All the professionals involved in this field should incorporate this idea into their profession to spur them to enviable success. In addition, utilizing different neurological techniques to learn each of the subjects in a respectful and personal manner is also important. 3 Most of those operating in this field tend to go by the results given by the clinic. However, this is not always advisable since you maybe condemning someone to a their death whereas a lot can be done to improve his condition. Having the curiosity to discover the beauty in the minds of the affected people will help you achieve this goal far much easier. All this should be done in environments that make the affected feel comfortable rather than undermined. This is through creating time for private outings with every patient you are in contact with as well making arrangements to bond with them through their activities. This enables one to learn more and figure out their problems. Being a step ahead and having better ideas on how to treat the individual under medical examination is also important. Each of the chapters in â€Å"An anthropologist on Mars† has a cast of significant characters, setting, and plot. The elements portrayed in the book weave together creating a fascinating story. The individuals undergoing examination are astonishing and how the author manages to counter the sterile account of the relative neurological functioning found in psychiatric Journals is brilliant. I am amazed by how the author describes interactions, setting and personal feelings of the subjects. How to cite All i Want For my Birthday, Papers