From the New York Times obituary: I read his memoir earlier this year and was surprised to read that he was gay---in fact, when Sacks was 18 years old his father asked him "Perhaps you prefer boys?" to which he replied He does go on to talk about some rather poignant encounters and love affairs but also about his 35 year celibacy. (He also has a humorous story about his brother and sister-in-law taking him to Paris to visit a prostitute to help cure him of his "shyness"---they ended up drinking Lapsang tea and eating petit fours.) Just goes to show that everyone is shaped by different things and to different extents. I knew him from his articles and was glad to learn more about him in his biography---he had an interesting life and wrote many interesting things. His last article was published about 2 weeks ago and ended with this paragraph: He died today, Sunday.
A brilliant man who made incredible contributions to the worlds of spirituality and neuropsychology. A beautiful soul who will be missed. I haven't read his autobiography yet, but I fully intend to. I have read his clinical journal "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," which is poignant and informative. I recommend it to anyone interested in psychology and the way that human lives unfold.
He was so important to neuropsychology. I had no idea he was gay until I read his obituary. I need to stop delaying reading his books. What an amazing man.
It was so sad to learn of his death. I remember seeing some Nova (science documentary series) episodes where he discussed "musical minds". As someone with music and science training, that was a fascinating series. I didn't know he was gay, but that makes me respect him even more!
NOVA is usually really good with having their old episodes available for streaming on their site but for some reason this one isn't there. Luckily, it's on YouTube: [YOUTUBE]hRFI_kSSGr4[/YOUTUBE] I think this is a short excerpt from the above episode that shows what goes on in his brain as he listens to music: [YOUTUBE]AyY1ul_DbcQ[/YOUTUBE] The "Musical Minds" episode was based on his book Musicophilia, and, like all of his other books, sounds fascinating!