Dr. Oliver Sacks knows how to turn the supernatural, that which is still unexplainable, into something natural, almost quotidian: those cases of blind men, Parkinson's patients, autistic people, strange sick people who perturb our grid-like lives, and who we would list as "catastrophes," as circus freaks, who can take wing beyond the mere biology in order to knock down the stigma and the prejudice of us all, who had already dismissed them out of hand. This great educator, through his humane approach of deep empathy with his patients, manages to turn each dysfunction into an almost merely circumstantial aspect, like the place of our birth or the language we speak.The unavoidable question arises: Isn't it?This collection's first part arose under the influence of his writings, his reflections, his accomplishments; each line fed on those fabulous cases he has treated, which expose our limited understanding, and cause vertigo when we intuit how unfathomable our mind is, how much our logic cannot apprehend."I do not know the origin of tics, nor what they exactly represent. I like to understand them as our subconscious reactions, and precisely because of that the most intimate ones, before situations that escape our control." [The Tic Collector]"I place my face right up to the mirror. I look fixedly into my own eyes. Nothing! I experience absolutely nothing. I remember reading about people who felt some sort of vertigo, unease, and even terror when they would study their own face for too long. " [The Case of the Woman Unable to Recognize Herself in the Mirror]"Gorja doesn't seem to have changed at all. He waits for days with torrential downpours to spend a fortune ordering tons of take-out by phone. His joy is to imagine and then confirm that, sometimes, the delivery drivers are easy prey to dramatic wrecks." [Comics]
About the Author: I was enslaved in the west of El Aaiún for five years, but my gift of gab allowed me to garner the favor of the Berber slaver who aimed to vex me, who soon preferred to send me away, even if it were astride his Mercedes SLS. Abducted by beings from another galaxy, spat out of their spaceship for unknown reasons, I was mercilessly digitized by a teenager banned by his girlfriend, to later bury myself in the forum LaTribu11. And there I be, still looking for the exit door... You might come to suspect that this is not necessarily true. If you wish, you can imagine me sitting at a table in a café, scribbling away in napkins for long hours after ordering a coffee, sometimes even a Voll Damm lager, depending on the hour of the day the mood. It's a rather boring image, frankly bleak. Seems less real to me. You can find me at: http: //hurgallo.blogspot.com/ http: //www.latribu11.com/ http: //www.prosofagia.com/ About the Translator Daniel A. Franco is one of the few hundreds of nationally certified professional medical interpreters (from English to Spanish); works in one of the major Pediatric Hospitals of the U.S.A.; lives in the DFW area; is married, with children; sometimes he writes. He leads a busy virtual life on the Internet, with thousands of postings on several forums, blogs, e-zines, and social sites. He is part of the literary collective La Tribu, along with the author of this book. He has translated hundreds of documents at work, and has translated several of his own Kindle e-books. This is his first book translation for another author. Daniel A. Franco at the Kindle Store: http: //www.amazon.com/Daniel-Franco/e/B009Y5ZYTO/