An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales

Temple Grandin tells Sacks that she often feels like an alien, which sparks the title of the book: An Anthropologist on Mars. Write an essay about a time you felt like an “other,” and consider why Sacks places significance on feeling like an “alien.”

In the Preface, Sacks tells the reader he wishes to become a “neuroanthropologist.” What does it mean to be a neuroanthropologist, and how does this affect Sacks’s writing? Cite and analyze specific examples from the text.

Sacks describes the effect that neurological conditions can have on a patient in the following statement: “Any disease introduces a doubleness into life—an ‘it,’ with its own needs, demands, limitations.” (73). Select one of the seven patients Sacks writes about and examine how their condition has introduced a “doubleness” in their life.

In the essay “To See and Not to See,” Virgil struggles to understand himself as a newly seeing person after identifying as a blind man since the age of three. How does Virgil’s identity and self-perception change? How do the people in his life perceive him, and how do these perceptions evolve?

Consider the title of the essay “Prodigies.” Write an essay analyzing why Sacks titled this essay “Prodigies” rather than with reference to the “idiot savant.” How does Sacks define the difference between a prodigy and a savant? Do you agree with this differentiation?

Sacks is both the author and narrator of An Anthropologist on Mars, but he only selectively uses first-person narration. Why does Sacks do this, and what is the role of his first-person perspective throughout the book?

Several of the essays within the book touch upon issues and questions surrounding memory. Select one of these patients suffering from a memory condition (i.e. Greg F., Magnani, Stephen) and write an essay analyzing how their relationship to memory influences their self-perception.

Select one of the essays and write an essay analyzing its braided structure. How and why does Sacks blend medical history, science, memoir, and reporting?