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Hallucinations

By Oliver Sacks
Series: Picador Collection
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Brief Description
Have you ever seen something that wasn't really there? Heard someone call your name in an empty house? Sensed someone following you and turned around to find nothing? Hallucinations don't belong wholly to the insane. Much more commonly, they are linked to sensory deprivation, intoxication, illness,... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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From the bestselling author of Musicophilia and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, a provocative investigation into hallucinations – auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory – their many guises, their physiological sources, and their personal and cultural resonances.

From the bestselling author of Musicophilia and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, a provocative investigation into hallucinations - auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory - their many guises, their physiological sources, and their personal and cultural resonances.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Have you ever seen something that wasn't really there? Heard someone call your name in an empty house? Sensed someone following you and turned around to find nothing?

Hallucinations don't belong wholly to the insane. Much more commonly, they are linked to sensory deprivation, intoxication, illness, or injury. In some conditions, hallucinations can lead to religious epiphanies or even the feeling of leaving one's own body. Humans have always sought such life-changing visions, and for thousands of years have used hallucinogenic compounds to achieve them.

In Hallucinations, with his usual elegance, curiosity, and compassion, Dr Oliver Sacks weaves together stories of his patients and of his own mind-altering experiences to illuminate what hallucinations tell us about the organisation and structure of our brains, how they have influenced every culture's folklore and art, and why the potential for hallucination is present in us all, a vital part of the human condition.

Now part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the very best of modern literature.

Series: Picador Collection

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781035091409

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 23 July 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Picador

Contributors:

  • Cover design or artwork by Stuart Wilson

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 21.0mm

Width: 131.0mm

Height: 199.0mm

Weight: 234g

Pages: 336

Collections

Education & Reference Mindset & Self Help Non-Fiction Oliver Sacks Personal Development Philosophy & Psychology Self-Help & Personal Development Series: Picador Collection

About the Author

Oliver Sacks was born in 1933 in London and was educated at the Queen's College, Oxford. He completed his medical training at San Francisco's Mount Zion Hospital and at UCLA before moving to New York, where he soon encountered the patients whom he would write about in his book Awakenings. Dr Sacks spent almost fifty years working as a neurologist and wrote many books, including The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Musicophilia, and Hallucinations, about the strange neurological predicaments and conditions of his patients. The New York Times referred to him as 'the poet laureate of medicine', and over the years he received many awards, including honours from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Royal College of Physicians. In 2008, he was appointed Commander of the British Empire. His memoir, On the Move, was published shortly before his death in August 2015.

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