000 03140nam a2200277 a 4500
001 038452
005 20231009193430.0
008 130214s2012 nyu b 001 0 eng
010 _a2012002877
016 7 _a101576742
_2 DNLM
020 _a9780307957245
042 _alccopycat
050 0 0 _aRC553.H3
_bS23 2012
060 1 0 _aWM 204
082 0 4 _a616.89 SAC
100 1 _aSacks, Oliver W.
245 1 0 _aHallucinations
_c/ Oliver Sacks
260 _aNew York
_b: Alfred A. Knopf
_c, c2012.
300 _axiv, 326 p.
_c; 22 cm.
504 _aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 297-309) and index.
505 0 _aSilent multitudes : Charles Bonnet Syndrome -- The prisoner's cinema : sensory deprivation -- A few nanograms of wine : hallucinatory smells -- Hearing things -- The illusions of Parkinsonism -- Altered states -- Patterns : visual migraines -- The "sacred" disease -- Bisected : hallucinations in the half-field -- Delirious -- On the threshold of sleep -- Narcolepsy and night hags -- The haunted mind -- Doppelgängers: hallucinating oneself -- Phantoms, shadows, and sensory ghosts.
520 _aThis book is an investigation into the types, physiological sources, and cultural resonances of hallucinations traces everything from the disorientations of sleep and intoxication to the manifestations of injury and illness. Have you ever seen something that was not 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. People with migraines may see shimmering arcs of light or tiny, Lilliputian figures of animals and people. People with failing eyesight, paradoxically, may become immersed in a hallucinatory visual world. Hallucinations can be brought on by a simple fever or even the act of waking or falling asleep, when people have visions ranging from luminous blobs of color to beautifully detailed faces or terrifying ogres. Those who are bereaved may receive comforting "visits" from the departed. 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. As a young doctor in California in the 1960s, the author had both a personal and a professional interest in psychedelics. These, along with his early migraine experiences, launched a lifelong investigation into the varieties of hallucinatory experience. Here, he weaves together stories of his patients and of his own mind-altering experiences to illuminate what hallucinations tell us about the organization 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.--
_cSource other than Library of Congress.
650 0 _aHallucinations and illusions
650 0 _aPerceptual disorders
942 _cMO
999 _c270809
_d270809