Synopses & Reviews
The best-selling author of
Awakenings and
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks is well know as an explorer of the human mind a neurologist with a gift for complex, insightful portrayals of people and their conditions. However, he is also a card-carrying member of the American Fern Society, and since childhood has been fascinated by these primitive plants and their ability to survive and adapt in many climates.
Oaxaca Journal is Sacks's spellbinding account of his trip with a group of fellow fern enthusiasts to the beautiful, history-steeped province of Oaxaca, Mexico. Bringing together Sacks's passion for natural history and the richness of human culture with his sharp eye for detail, Oaxaca Journal is a captivating evocation of a place, its plants, its people, and its myriad wonders.
Review
"Light and fast-moving, unburdened by library research but filled with erudition." The New Yorker
Review
"Like all the best journals, it has a rich immediacy…the book is a rare treat." The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Review
"Oaxaca Journal whipped up my appetite for a visit to Mexico, as the best travel writing does." Providence Journal
Synopsis
Oliver Sacks is best known as an explorer of the human mind, a neurologist with a gift for complex portrayals of extraordinary people, but he is also a card-carrying member of the American Fern Society and since childhood has been fascinated by these primitive plants and their ability to survive and adapt in many climates. His journal of a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, with a group of fellow fern-enthusiasts brings together his passion for natural history and the richness of human culture with a ceaseless curiosity and an eye for the wondrous.