Publisher's Synopsis
We dont see with our eyes, we see with our mind; thats why we often see things that arent actually there, things that we sometimes call apparitions, ghosts or visions and which we file under the generic term, hallucinations. But hallucinations arent only visual. As Oliver Sacks explains in his new and fascinating book, hallucinations can be olfactory or auditory. How many times have we heard someone calling our names and, on turning around, found no one there? Or detected a familiar smell whose presence was impossible? Or had the feeling that someone was following us? Or seen something that our reason tells us could not possible exist in our world? Associated in popular thought with madness, hallucinations are often caused by a simple, medically defined neurological problem, having more to do with sensory depravation, inebriation, illness or injury.
