Uncle Tungsten: memories of a chemical boyhood by Oliver Sacks, Picador,
£17.99, ISBN 0330390279
Genes, Girls and Gamow by James D. Watson, Knopf, £18, ISBN
0375412832
NEUROLOGIST Oliver Sacks’s best-known book, The Man Who Mistook His Wife
for a Hat, describes people whose mental hardware has become degraded in
some way, converting ordinary intentions into bizarre behaviour. But there’s one
mental degradation we all have to undergo: growing up. Life with a full
complement of sex hormones seldom offers the vivid sense of wonder that comes
with every new experience in childhood.
Sacks’s Uncle Tungsten and James D. Watson’s Genes, Girls and…
