Thoughts on “On The Move”

I recently finished “On the Move” by Oliver Sacks and totally loved it. Had been a while since I’ve read a book that I devoured like that.

Reminds me why I like to read.

I’ve realized because there are (for all intensive purposes) infinite books and everyone’s interests differ, that broadly recommending one specific book probably doesn’t make a lot of sense.

But will share a few things I got out of the book and some new thoughts ruminating in my brain now.

You can live life however you want

This book is about this guy Oliver Sacks who was a neurologist and did a ton of clinical work with patients who had disorders (some more extreme than others). He wrote it and talks about his life and a lot of the work that he did throughout his life.

Before getting into the neuro side, I was fascinated by the way that he lived his life. He was so independent thinking, and it seemingly led to some pretty amazing (and bad) things that he did.

He spent a significant time traveling before deciding what he wanted to do officially, he went on all of these adventures, he would take his motorcycle hundreds of miles away most weekends just for the rush and presence that he felt in doing so.

He was a pretty introverted guy and wrote a ton. He had a pretty bad drug addiction. He set a California record for the squat (600 lbs!!). One of his books was turned into a movie with Robin Williams and Robert De Niro (Awakenings). List goes on. Some of the things more ‘impressive’ than others, but it all stemmed from him just doing his thing. Pursuing his intellectual passions, not worrying about some of the potential harms that might arise from his decisions, and being open to being pushed by others and changing/trying new things.

Gives me motivation to be more of myself.

Neuroscience

I’ve been interested in psych and behavioral econ, but always shirked the idea of thinking about the brain’s inner workings. Totally flipped after this book. I’m sure that it’s more a ‘me’ thing, but he intrigued me to learn more about the inner workings of the brain.

I’ve spent some time learning about how outside factors influence our decisions and what goes through our minds to foster this desire of being a social being. But, more fundamentally, those things (and so much else) are occurring within the brain.

There’s this cool idea I hadn’t thought about in this way before that really sparked my interest. There’s Darwinism and the idea that our genes have evolved over time because the genes that allowed for the highest chance of survival tended to be the ones that were passed down to offsprings.

That’s a pretty well known and taught theory. Sacks mentioned this idea of ‘neural Darwinism’ which is basically ‘experiential selection.’ This idea that we have all of these neurons in our brains that automate processes for us, tell us to act certain ways, affect the way we see, hear, smell, etc. Those neurons constantly reshape themselves based on the experiences that we have and the things that we do. We’re not born knowing how to walk or talk, but rather through our experiences our brain learns how to do those things. The thing is, though, that those connections and processes can change. It’s demonstrated to an extreme level with people who have disorders, severe accidents, illnesses, etc that damage their brain. But even in my posture, it’s subconscious based on variety of factors and there are ways I could change it and for it to become subconscious in a different way.

Super wild. Got two more books on the brain. Got some chills when I opened and started reading the first one. Excited for this exploration :)

Biographies

I also sort of had this realization about biographies — especially autobiographies. I don’t think that I will find someone through reading that I want to be exactly like. So I don’t read biographies for the purpose of figuring out exactly how to live my life. That being said, reading about people who have lived fulfilling lives (on the judgement that they seemed to be happy, doing what they loved, and — although not a prerequisite- did something of high impact) and understanding the way that they think can be beneficial in shaping our own thinking and attitudes towards independent thinking.

Have a few more biographies I’m looking forward to reading soon.

Great book, Oliver Sacks is an amazing, amazing person. So much respect and appreciation now.

Thoughts on this review/the book in general? Comment or send me a note :)

Full reading list here