A Leg to Stand On

Synopsis

‘oliver sacks is a perfect antidote to the anaesthetic of familiarity. His writing turns brains and minds transparent’ - observerwhen oliver sacks, a physician by profession, injured his leg while climbing a mountain, he found himself in an unusual position – that of patient. The injury itself was severe, but straightforward to fix; the psychological effects, however, were far less easy to predict, explain, or resolve: sacks experienced paralysis and an inability to perceive his leg as his own, instead seeing it as some kind of alien and inanimate object, over which he had no control.