The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat

A reader told me once, that there is a book by Oliver Sacks about Losing Color Vision called The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales. It shall include some story about a man with a form of acquired color blindness.

I’ve read it—and couldn’t find any word about this colorblind man. Am I now completely blind? Or did I just pick up a wrong edition of this book?

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat

Anyway, the book includes many interesting stories about very special clinical cases. For example a man who can’t really see the big picture anymore. He sees just tiny little details and can’t put them together anymore like to a see a face. That’s why he mistakes his wife as a hat—a true story.

Despite the fact that The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks didn’t include a story about the colorblind man, it is still worth reading.


4 Responses to “The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat”

  1. Catherine Says:
    August 9th, 2007 at 18:54

    Oliver Sacks did write a book called “Island of the Colourblind”; it’s set on an island where a relatively high proportion of the inhabitants have rod monochromacy. But there’s nothing about colourblindess in The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat”, to the best of my recollection. I’ve read a little of “Island of the Colourblind”; it has beautiful descriptions.

    (I have an old copy and it’s not even in the same country as I am right now! The closest anecdote there is is one about a man who receives a brain injury that makes him forget that there’s such a concept as sight, so not only is he blind, he doesn’t know he’s blind.)

  2. webfrau Says:
    August 11th, 2007 at 10:16

    Island of the colour blind is a fascinating read – I’m sure that’s the book you really want.

  3. Mary Lee Johns Says:
    July 23rd, 2008 at 8:03

    I think the other Oliver Sacks book you may want is AN ANTHROPOLOGIST ON MARS. Like “Hat,” this Sacks book discusses short, fascinating “case stories” of people who have experienced neurological problems. One of the chapters deals with an artist who become color blind.

    Hope this helps.

  4. Daniel Flück Says:
    July 23rd, 2008 at 9:12

    Mary, thanks for the hint. I’ll have a look at the book you mentioned.

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