An Anthropologist on Mars
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| Author | Oliver Sacks |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Essays, Science, Medicine, Neurology |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
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Publication date
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February 7, 1995 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) and Audio Cassette |
| Pages | 327 (First Edition) |
| ISBN | (First Edition) |
| OCLC | 30810706 |
| 616.8 20 | |
| LC Class | RC351 .S1948 1995 |
| Preceded by | Seeing Voices (1989) |
| Followed by | The Island of the Colorblind (1997) |
An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales is a 1995 book by neurologist Oliver Sacks consisting of seven medical case histories of individuals with neurological conditions such as autism and Tourette syndrome. An Anthropologist on Mars follows up on many of the themes Sacks explored in his earlier book, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, but here the essays are significantly longer and Sacks has more of an opportunity to discuss each subject with more depth and to explore historical case studies of patients with similar symptoms. In addition, Sacks studies his patients outside the hospital, often traveling considerable distances to interact with his subjects in their own environments. Sacks concludes that "defects, disorders, [and] diseases... can play a paradoxical role, by bringing out latent powers, developments, evolutions, forms of life that might never be seen, or even be imaginable, in their absence" (p. xvi).
The 1999 film At First Sight is based on the fourth essay, "To See and Not to See". The Brian Friel play Molly Sweeney was also inspired by this essay. The 2011 film The Music Never Stopped is based on the second essay, "The Last Hippie".
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