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Hallucinations deals with various circumstances under which hallucinations can occur, be they caused by migraines, epilepsy, Parkinson's Disease, drugs, or delirium tremens. Each chapter deals with some specific syndrome (Charles Bonnet Syndrome) or state (narcolepsy) related to hallucinations, and Sacks explains the relationship, liberally sprinkled with case histories from Sacks' own career, and the occasional personal anecdote, to better illuminate the subject.

Review:

Before reading this book I was aware of hallucinations caused by drugs and the hierophanous ecstasies of epileptics, but the sheer breadth of things that can cause hallucinations and circumstances under which they could occur, I had no idea. In fact (and I suppose this is one reason why Sacks wrote the book), hallucinations are kind of a taboo, and in Sacks' own experience, a lot of patients will have qualms about admitting to hallucinations to their doctor, when, in fact, hallucinations are pretty common.

I can recommend this book to you even if you are only mildly interested in the subject. The subject matter itself is pretty interesting, but the book is so well-written and the case histories so intriguing that I can recommend it on that score alone.

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Table of Contents:

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Introduction

Silent Multitudes: Charles Bonnet Syndrome
The Prisoner's Cinema: Sensory Deprivation
A Few Nanograms of Wine: Hallucinatory Smells
Hearing Things
The Illusions of Parkinsonism
Altered States
Patterns: Visual Migraines
The "Sacred" Disease
Bisected: Hallucinations in the Half-Field
Delirious
On the Threshold of Sleep
Narcolepsy and Night Hags
The Haunted Mind
Doppelgängers: Hallucinating Oneself
Phantoms, Shadows, and Sensory Ghosts

Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index

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