Tags
"An Unquiet Mind", "Hallucinations, "Life After Death? A Current Controversy", "Nothing Was the Same", "Proof of Heaven, Kay Redfield Jamison, Oliver Sacks, Sicxth & I St.
Two of my favorite authors in one place, talking to each other!
Physician, neurologist, Professor of Neurology at NYU’s School of Medicine and popular author Oliver Sacks will be at DC’s Sixth and I St. Synagogue on Wednesday, July 17th at 7 PM to talk about his book Hallucinations.
Published in 2012 and soon to be released in paperback (July 2, 2013) and large print (July 6, 2013), Hallucinations draws on Sack’s “own experiences, a wealth of clinical cases from among his patients, and famous historical examples ranging from Dostoevsky to Lewis Carroll…(and) investigates the mystery of these sensory deceptions: what they say about the working of our brains, how they have influenced our folklore and culture, and why the potential for hallucination is present in us all.”
Clinical psychologist, expert on bipolar disorder, Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and author* Kay Redfield Jamison will interview, or ‘converse’, with Sacks about his latest book and his views about this aspect of the brain and the wide ranging ways in which hallucinations are “part of the human experience.”
The interview/conversation will no doubt (hopefully?) include a discussion of Sack’s views that near death experiences, out of body experiences, etc. are related to how the brain works and are not what author Eban Alexander (The Proof of Heaven) writes and believes are in fact out of body experiences and ‘prove’ there are such things as journeys into the afterlife.
Jamison has said she has had a near-death experience and has said, “Mental illness can trigger religious revelations and visions — even out-of-body and near-death experiences”.
Ellen and I are going to Sixth & I on July 17th and have two additional tickets for two of you to join us. Let me know by email (Samesty84@gmail.com) if you are interested.
(*Jamison, who in addition to her more well known books, An Unquiet Mind, Manic Depressive Illness, Night Falls Fast, Exuberance, and Touched with Fire, has written what for me is one of the best memoirs I’ve read in many years, Nothing Was the Same, which, if you don’t know of it, bears checking out.)
(Also, see this earlier post on MillersTime, Life After Death? A Current Controversy where in Sacks and Alexander discuss their views on this topic and friend David P. Stang writes with great passion that Sacks doesn’t know what he’s talking about.)
