An Anthropologist on Mars
An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales is a 1995 book by neurologist Oliver Sacks consisting of seven medical case histories of individuals with neurological conditions such as autism and Tourette syndrome. "An Anthropologist on Mars" follows up on many of the themes Sacks explored in his 1985 book, "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat", but here the essays are significantly longer and Sacks has more of an opportunity to discuss each subject with more depth and to explore historical case studies of patients with similar symptoms. In addition, Sacks studies his patients  outside the hospital, often traveling considerable distances to interact with his subjects in their own environments. Sacks concludes that "defects, disorders, [and] diseases... can play a paradoxical role, by bringing out latent powers, developments, evolutions, forms of life that might never be seen, or even be imaginable, in their absence" (p. "xvi"). Essays. The 1999 film "At First Sight" is based on the fourth essay, "To See and Not to See". The Brian Friel play "Molly Sweeney" was also inspired by this essay. The 2011 film "The Music Never Stopped" is based on the second essay, "The Last Hippie". An