MARC Record from Library of Congress

LEADER: 03792cam a22003977a 4500
001 2012002877
003 DLC
005 20150906214822.0
008 120123s2012 nyu b 001 0 eng
010 $a 2012002877
016 7 $a101576742$2DNLM
020 $a9780307957245
020 $z9780307402172 (e-book)
020 $a0307957241
035 $a(OCoLC)ocn769425353
040 $aDNLM/DLC$beng$cDLC$dIG#$dNLM$dBTCTA$dBDX$dYDXCP$dUPZ$dAZZPT$dIAD$dLEB$dJTH$dIHV$dABG$dNSB$dDLC
042 $alccopycat
050 00 $aRC553.H3$bS23 2012
060 10 $aWM 204
082 04 $a616.89$223
100 1 $aSacks, Oliver,$d1933-2015.
245 10 $aHallucinations /$cOliver Sacks.
250 $a1st American ed.
260 $aNew York :$bAlfred A. Knopf,$c2012.
300 $axiv, 326 p. ;$c22 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 $aCognition disorders.
650 0 $aPerceptual disorders.
650 12 $aHallucinations.
650 22 $aPerceptual Disorders.
856 42 $3Contributor biographical information$uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy1304/2012002877-b.html
856 42 $3Publisher description$uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy1304/2012002877-d.html
856 41 $3Sample text$uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy1304/2012002877-s.html