
Oliver Sacks - akbarnama
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/14/oliver-sacks
======
psycr
The book referenced by Sacks - The Machine Sleeps - is positively, absolutely
wonderful. It is, equally wonderfully, free for all, having been published in
1909:
[http://archive.ncsa.illinois.edu/prajlich/forster.html](http://archive.ncsa.illinois.edu/prajlich/forster.html)

To have so clearly seen the future (not ours, but the one ours portends) is
truly, completely, and utterly remarkable. I cannot recommend it enough, and
it is tantalising to me that Sacks devoted some of his last days to its
exposition. To have had just a little more time...

Here is my favorite passage:

"Cannot you see, cannot all you lecturers see, that it is we that are dying,
and that down here the only thing that really lives in the Machine? We created
the Machine, to do our will, but we cannot make it do our will now. It was
robbed us of the sense of space and of the sense of touch, it has blurred
every human relation and narrowed down love to a carnal act, it has paralysed
our bodies and our wills, and now it compels us to worship it. The Machine
develops - but not on our lies. The Machine proceeds - but not to our goal. We
only exist as the blood corpuscles that course through its arteries, and if it
could work without us, it would let us die. Oh, I have no remedy - or, at
least, only one - to tell men again and again that I have seen the hills of
Wessex as Ælfrid saw them when he overthrew the Danes."

~~~
boothead
I think you mean "The Machine Stops". I just did a search for The Machine
Sleeps and I got a bunch of white noise generators and a book about sleep
apnea :-)

~~~
psycr
This is of course correct - I myself needed some sleep when writing the
comment ;)

------
purephase
That was a great article. One of the best since his passing. I've read The
Machine Stops, many years ago in high school, but I'm going to read it again.

Here's the free epub over at goodreads:

[https://www.goodreads.com/ebooks/download/135676.The_Machine...](https://www.goodreads.com/ebooks/download/135676.The_Machine_Stops_and_Other_Stories)

------
dahart
In the last few months there have been a couple of fantastic interviews with
Sacks on the Radiolab podcast. They are easy to get, for anyone who wants to
hear more.
[http://www.radiolab.org/search/?q=Sacks](http://www.radiolab.org/search/?q=Sacks)

------
gadders
One surpising side of Oliver Sacks that I discovered recently was that when he
was hanging round Muscle Beach in the 60's, he had a 600lb squat. Brains and
Brawn.

~~~
Bud
Not very likely. Do you have a source for this? For comparison, Bryce Harper,
one of the strongest MLB players and a physical freak, squats 405. And that's
with modern training and nutrition.

Also compare to the CURRENT world record squats for a man of Sacks' likely
size in the 1960s, and you'll see how unlikely this is.

(Edit: I looked it up. Looks like Sacks did indeed set a CA state record with
a 600-lb "power lift", which is slightly different from a squat, but certainly
close enough. Mea culpa:

[http://nymag.com/news/features/oliver-
sacks-2012-11/index2.h...](http://nymag.com/news/features/oliver-
sacks-2012-11/index2.html)

)

~~~
gadders
This page mentions a Full Squat:
[http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/05/01/2015/the-other-
si...](http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/05/01/2015/the-other-side-of-
oliver-sacks.html) I'd put the mention of a "power lift" down to journalists
not understanding the difference between powerlifting and bodybuilding.

A 400lb squat is nothing special, btw. I'm a fat 44 year old and can manage
370lb or so.

Finally - young Oliver Sacks was a bit of a bad-ass:
[http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/00967/b6bcf...](http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/00967/b6bcf75a-4f4f-11e5-_967492c.jpg)

//edit//

Found a pic of the actual lift!! [http://flashbak.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/08/oliver-sachs....](http://flashbak.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/08/oliver-sachs.jpg)

