An amazing scientist, writer and human being.
One of my favorite authors. What a loss.
His last few essays on facing death were just amazing–so much wisdom and generous humanity.
May he rest in peace, and may his memory be a blessing. His essays about his illness and facing death were wonderful. Truly a great writer, in addition to all his medical achievements.
An amazing person, truly a polymath, and also from what I understand a very caring human being. One of the funnier lines in his obituary was him recounting his trying to be a researcher and how he was klutzy, broke equipment, and the head of the unit barking at him “Sachs, go back to being a doctor and treating people, they are a lot less important than the equipment you are breaking”. I used to keep a boat on City Island (off of the Bronx) where he used to live, and over the years I saw him occassionally (the first time, someone pointed him out to me). If you haven’t read it, one of his later books, “Musicophilia”, is a wonderful, quirky account of music and the mind. One of his last columns, on the meaning of the Sabbath /Shabbot, really touched me, as did his columns on dying. He will be missed, though he lived to what many would consider an old age, he is one of those people I wish could have lived a lot longer:)
He was truly an amazing person who inspired many. The incoming freshman class this year at my school had to read his book “The Island of the Colorblind” this year and it was the first time where I have heard people really enjoy the assigned summer reading and got them talking. It’s such a shame because I think they were having talks about possibly inviting him to the school or even video chatting him.
What a wonderful author, and by all accounts, person has been lost. I’ve read several of his books and especially appreciated Musicophilia, mentioned above, and references in a couple others about the effect of music on Alzheimers patients–they helped me to understand why familiar music (from the 30’s through the 60’s, and religious songs) is one of the few ways to reach my Mom. I look forward to the other books and will savor them.