Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks

Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sacks details all the reasons why someone might have visual, olfactory, or disassociative hallucinations. Most of the conditions he covers are not related to psychosis, meaning the person is often aware that the hallucinations are not real (at first or eventually- though some of these conditions do cause confusion as to what is real and what is not). The book structure and focus, seems to be because Sacks is determined to protect patients against a misdiagnosis of psychosis. There is no sense of what the psychosis and non-psychosis percents are though.

I probably didn't need so many real-life examples of all the hallucinations themselves, particularly the repetitive kind- I guess a lot of conditions cause people to hallucinate Lilliputians? Okay, understood.

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The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I haven't read this book in decades and it gave me chills how well this book captured real evil and real love. Well worth rereading as an adult.

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The Crucible by Arthur Miller

The Crucible by Arthur Miller
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This play is moving, disturbing, and especially frightening for its realism- not just during the McCarthy era but in every scapegoat-and-"you're with us or your against us" era.

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