Der Strom des Bewusstseins

Does a earthworm have feelings? How many nerve cells does a jellyfish have, and what are they for? What can we learn from observing people who suffer from migraines? And what happens in our brain when we misremember? These and many other questions are addressed by Oliver Sacks in his new book. The New York neurologist became world-famous through his case studies. With great empathy and expertise, he repeatedly portrayed individuals whose lives were shaped by serious illness or disability, showing his readers the opportunities that deviations from the so-called norm can offer and the positive traits that characterize the affected individuals. When he passed away in the summer of 2015, his autobiography "On the Move" had just been published and became a bestseller worldwide. Almost until his last day, he was still working on a volume of new studies and case histories that testify to the creative potentials of the human brain. How does consciousness arise? How do memory and recollection work? This volume, which Oliver Sacks' closest collaborators have now prepared for publication, reads like a kind of legacy from the great author and human observer.