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**A New York Times Notable Book of 2015**
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Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times“Dr. Sacks writes not only with a doctor’s understanding of medicine and science but also with a Chekhovian sympathy for his patients and a metaphysical appreciation of their emotional quandaries....That writing, which Dr. Sacks says gives him a pleasure ‘unlike any other,’ has also been a gift to his readers—of erudition, sympathy and an abiding understanding of the joys, trials and consolations of the human condition.”
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Lauren Slater, Los Angeles Review of Books
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Colin McGinn, Wall Street Journal“This is a very striking book by a very striking man. It is honest, lucid, passionate, humorous, humane and human (also slightly Martian). The Oliver Sacks you thought you knew may surprise you with his back story…”
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Carmela Ciuraru, San Francisco Chronicle“No matter what he writes about — whether struggling to understand what his patients are going through, or describing his love of swimming or photography — Sacks always seems open to learning more. He appears keenly interested in everything and everyone he encounters. He’s a wonderful storyteller, a gift he says he inherited from his parents, both of whom were doctors. But as he proves again in his latest…book, it’s his keen attentiveness as a listener and observer, and his insatiable curiosity, that makes his work so powerful.
— Heller McAlpin, LA Times“On the Move is filled with both wonder and wonderments….Sacks’ discursive, revealing memoir chronicles his surprising route to becoming the bard of brain disorders. Pit stops along the way include his biker days (in which he went by his middle name, Wolf), avid weightlifting, experimentation with psychotropic drugs leading to amphetamine addiction, numerous brushes with death, lifelong passion for long-distance swims, and so many carelessly lost manuscripts you can’t help but wonder about Freudian slips. The vivid self-portrait that emerges is of an immoderate risk taker with a brilliant ‘wildly associative mind,’ an enthusiast who regards ‘all neurology, everything as a sort of adventure.’ A teacher’s astute assessment best sums up Sacks’ nature: ‘Sacks will go far, if he does not go too far.’ He has frequently pushed the limits.
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Laura Miller, Salon“On the Move is an enchanting window on just how much vitality you can pack into four-score years on this planet…"
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Tyghe Trimble, Men’s Journal“What you likely don’t know about Sacks is that he once held a weightlifting record in California, is a serious motorcycle enthusiast, and fell in love at 77. Such moments make On the Move a compelling read. The memoir offers a glimpse into one of the greatest minds of our time, made all the more special by the knowledge that it’s one of his last gifts to a devoted readership.
— Jennie Yabroff, Biographile“You finish On the Move with a sense of wonder and admiration.
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Jeff Milo, Paste“An ebullient telling of a remarkable life.”
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Dan Cryer, Newsday“Learning to come to terms with unique patients has given Oliver Sacks permission to come to terms with himself. And what a self this book reveals! A man animated by boundless curiosity, wide-ranging intelligence, gratitude for flawed humanity, perseverance despite setbacks…. Oliver Sacks can never be replaced. We’re lucky to have all the books, including On the Move. It’s intensely, beautifully, incandescently alive."
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Alden Mudge, BookPage“In these pages, Sacks is always on the move, leaping adroitly from one topic to the next. We are swept along by the velocity of his account of a long and eventful life.”
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“Deeply moving…Dr. Sacks trains his descriptive and analytic powers on his own life, providing a revealing look at his childhood and coming of age, his discovery and embrace of his vocation, and his development as a writer.”
— New York Times
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“On the Move is a disarming book. His honesty, energy, and clear restlessness illuminate each page, drawing the reader in to a life of great achievement in spite of some hurdles.”
— Amazon.com, editorial review
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“On the Move contains so many vibrant and deeply human connections, revelations, and discoveries that it becomes a kind of tapestry—less like a straight narrative than an object of fascination and marvel.”
— Barnes&Noble.com, editorial review
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“[A] rangy, introspective autobiography…Sacks’ writing is lucid, earnest, and straightforward, yet always raptly attuned to subtleties of character and feeling in himself and others; the result…is a fitting retrospective of his lifelong project of making science a deeply humanistic pursuit.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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“Woren’s pacing is varied and upbeat.”
— AudioFile
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“The book is a kind of reckoning, a summing up, of Sacks’ growth as an intellectual and a writer…We are swept along by the velocity of his account of a long and eventful life.”
— BookPage
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“Frank and candid, Sacks sounds as though he’s talking to the reader from across the dinner table. His story is a reminder that we create our own journeys.”
— Library Journal
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“This is an engaging memoir by a consummate storyteller.”
— Kirkus Reviews