The River of Consciousness - Oliver Sacks

 I think I've read all of Oliver Sacks' books over time; Uncle Tungsten, Hallucinations, The Mind's Eye, and Musicophilia are in my blog list.  This volume was published posthumously and is described as based on an outline he created two weeks before his death.  It's a series of thoughts on our minds and thoughts and demonstrates Sacks' ability to link disparate topics in new ways.  I miss him.

Quotes:

[In a chapter on Scotoma: Forgetting and Neglect in Science]

"It was first necessary to seize on an 'anomaly,' a phenomenon contrary to the accepted frame of reference, and, by according in attention, to enlarge and revolutionize that frame of reference."

"Scotoma [technically, a partial loss of vision or blind spot in an otherwise normal visual field] surprisingly common in all fields of science, involves more than prematurity, it involves a loss of knowledge, a forgetting of insights that once seemed clearly established, and sometimes a regression to less perceptive explanations.  What makes an observation or a new idea acceptable, discussable, memorable?  What may prevent it from being so, despite its clear importance and value?"

I marked this passage because it made be wonder what in genetic genealogy is ahead of its time, an anomaly that will be revealed?  

Published:  2017  Read: October 2020  Genre: Essays