On the Move

A Life

By: Oliver Sacks

Narrated by: Dan Woren

Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

When Oliver Sacks was 12 years old, a perceptive schoolmaster wrote in his report: "Sacks will go far, if he does not go too far." It is now abundantly clear that Sacks has never stopped going. From its opening minutes on his youthful obsession with motorcycles and speed, On the Move is infused with his restless energy. As he recounts his experiences as a young neurologist in the early 1960s, first in California, where he struggled with drug addiction, and then in New York, where he discovered a long-forgotten illness in the back wards of a chronic hospital, we see how his engagement with patients comes to define his life.

With unbridled honesty and humor, Sacks shows us that the same energy that drives his physical passions - weight lifting and swimming - also drives his cerebral passions. He writes about his love affairs, both romantic and intellectual; his guilt over leaving his family to come to America; his bond with his schizophrenic brother; and the writers and scientists - Thom Gunn, A. R. Luria, W. H. Auden, Gerald M. Edelman, Francis Crick - who influenced him. On the Move is the story of a brilliantly unconventional physician and writer - and of the man who has illuminated the many ways that the brain makes us human.

©2015 Oliver Sacks (P)2015 Random House Audio

Moved by On the Move

A fascinating look into the life of a very special man. A rare combination of huge intelligence with amazing powers of story telling. Why didn't the narrator have an English accent?

a wonderful autobiography

As an adjunct professor and teacher I taught all of her sacks has books. they were wonderful autobiographies of his life and work and the countless people that he has helped. In this very revealing autobiography and memoir Oliver sacks reveals the person that he is inside and not just the doctor. I believe that his life and his work is the basis for the show ,House, that everybody love so much or love so much. we miss him but know that while alive. he truly did live and help others.

Narrattion

Narrator should have been British as was Oliver and there were too many audio patches

Interesting book about an extraordinary man

This is avery open and complete story of a very brilliant but down to earth human being. This book is extremely well written and the passages bring to mind the scenes that were witnessed by the author. I recommend this book to any literate individual.

Intellectually intriguing, emotionally moving read

I just finished and I am in awe of Mr. Sacks' drive, his intellect, his extraordinary talent to communicate complex ideas in ways that engage a lay person such as myself. The emotional poignancy is searing. The strong performance holds up well to the power of the story.

I read this book at a crossroads in my own life and I feel it has brought clarity to my own pending decisions in a very powerful yet unexpected way that I suspect I will ponder the serendipity of for years to come.

Wonderful book, wrong narrator

This wonderful book is adequately read, but would be much improved by a performer with an English accent. I realize Oliver Sacks, doesn't want to or is not able to, read his own, but John Lee would be a fine replacement for him.

Wonderful memoir

Oliver Sacks is one of my intellectual heroes. This memoir of his is very welcome, as it gives further insight into how his mind works and who he is: brilliant, unpretentious, somewhat regretful, enthusiastic, profoundly curious and compassionate.

If you are coming across this without knowing Dr. Sacks’ oeuvre, I suggest you first start with The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and/or An Anthropologist on Mars, and then either read Awakenings or watch the wonderful movie starring Robin Williams as Dr. Sacks, Robert DeNiro as a post-encephalitic patient, and Marge Simpson as his nurse, and only then dive into this book. As an aside, Dr. Sacks was amazed at how well Robin Williams captured his persona.

In order to fully appreciate this wonderful memoir, you must be interested in neurology, and it would be good to also have some interest in the literary mind and process of writing; you must also not be put off by Dr. Sacks’ description of a few sexual encounters.

Narration was good, except that I question (as do others) the curious choice of an American to voice Dr. Sacks, who has a distinctive English voice. I also wish that the narrator would have researched some of the foreign words that he mispronounces -- a minor and mostly irrelevant point, but a pet peeve.

Great book, strange choice for reader

I loved listening to Sacks’s autobiography. Though I got used to it, I find it very odd that they commissioned a rather gruff-sounding American to read it, as it’s such a mismatch to Sacks’s very distinctive nasal English accent. Still well worth the listen.

What a badass!

Quite A Life indeed! Oliver Sachs was such a badass. Good story and a good synopsis of all his earlier books. Excellent narrator, but why no British accent?

Great book, but strange choice of narration.

Very interesting story of an incredible man. I share the opinion of many reviewers that that narrator should have been English. Dan Woren did a fine job but it made me overly aware that I was listening to someone read the book, rather than allowing myself to be engulfed by it. This, however, is not a good enough reason to avoid the audiobook. Now I'm considering diving into some of Dr. Sacks' other works.