Oaxaca Journal

by Oliver Sacks

Book Overview

From "the poet laureate of medicine" and national bestselling author of Awakenings comes a fascinating investigation of Southern Mexico that explores the origins of chocolate and mescal, pre-Columbian... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0792242084
• ISBN13: 9780792242086
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: National Geographic Society
• Length: 159 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

If You Have an Affection for Ferns...

... or for the wonderful Mexican city Oaxaca, or if you're planning a trip there, or if you know already that you enjoy the writings of Oliver Sacks, then I have no doubt at all that you'll relish this 150-page excursion into science, history, plazas, and the assorted reflections of a 66-year-old traveler. Otherwise, you might not find the focus or detect the tenor of Sacks's "Journal". The author declares in his preface that the book is a scarcely revised selection of pages from the journal he kept as part of an excursion by members of the American Fern Society to the city and state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, a region that stretches across rain forests, cloud forests, deserts, and densely populated farmlands, and that supports an amazing variety of ferns and other 'primitive' plants. The other members of the AFS party were each and all fascinating personages, whom Sacks portrays with relish. All I can say is that I wish I'd been there, and you will also, after reading this book. A quick read, the sort of book you might take on a long flight! Sacks's cogitations on the subject of co-evolution are especially stimulating, and of course the frightful ecological prospects for regions of immense diversity, like Oaxaca, in the next few decades of global warming and pollution are not unmentioned.

An unedited journal, straight from the heart

After finishing this book, I am convinced that people who develop a passion for something, be it for career, avocation, or hobby, tend to live longer and are more frequently happy, and when they die, they die happy. I bet Oliver Sacks is one of these lucky people! Never cease to be fascinated--that is one key to happiness, and Sacks proves to us just that. Without question he is a Renaissance man, keen to share with us his enthusiasm for his profession (evident from his excellent prose in "The man who mistook..." and his other books) but stays open to ideas and activities that pique his interest, one of which is attending and participating in the New York Botanical Garden's Fern Society and embarking on a weeklong trip to Oaxaca, Mexico with a quirky cast of people whose common interest in ferns and other plants, and birds, transcend professions, economic status, nationality, and personal histories. The fact that the book was based on his travel journals that were written at the time of his trip and were left unedited made the reading experience more poignant and powerful. At the end you feel grateful for people who look "beyond the scenery", who take the time "to stop and smell the flowers", and who see the world almost with the same innocence as children, for they are the ones that make life richer, and perhaps even make the world a better place for the rest of us--and for future generations.

Mispickel! Orpiment! Realgar!

Dr. Sacks accompanied a group of botanical friends on a trip to see, catalogue, draw, and take delight in the unparalleled variety of ferns in Oaxaca, Mexico. His resulting journal is a meditation on Zapotec culture, amateur naturalists, edible insects, psychedelics, and above all ferns: seemingly so fragile yet having survived, with little change, for over 300 million years. According to the author, his "sense of a prehistoric world, of immense spans of time, was first stimulated by ferns and fossil ferns." For someone like myself who loves both ferns and the writings of Dr. Sacks, this journal is a treasure. It was composed under the blue sky of Oaxaca and filled with an emotion that Dr. Sacks admits is usually foreign to him: joy. The author is fond of reading natural history journals and he has created a multi-faceted gem of his own, out of observations on lost civilizations, mescal, cochineal insects, plants as rare as horsetails a hundred feet high, and others as common as the bracken fern. Half of our property in Michigan is covered with bracken ferns and I was always curious as to why insects didn't seem to bother them. According to this author, bracken is regarded as the 'Lucrezia Borgia' of the fern world: "the young fronds release hydrogen cyanide as soon as the insect's mandible tears into them, and if this does not kill or deter the bug, a much crueler poison lies in store. Brackens, more than any other plants, are loaded with hormones called ecdysones, and when these are ingested by insects, they cause uncontrollable molting." The Romans used bracken on their stable floors because it arrested or perverted the development of fly larvae, although Dr. Sacks doesn't specify how the ancients kept the horses from eating their bedding. Bracken also poisons mammals, and humans who eat too many fiddle-heads over a long period of time are apt to develop stomach cancer. It is tempting to open up "Oaxaca Journal" and reread an essay equally as vivid as the riff on the 'Lucrezia Borgia of ferns.' There are so many choices. By writing a journal for the National Geographic 'Literary Travel Series,' Dr. Sacks has opened himself up to every conceivable subject under the blazing Mexican sun. There is indeed joy in this book.

Wonderful excursion into the field and into history!

I finished reading this in 2 days. I couldn't put it down - wanted to keep reading so that I could turn each corner with the author and other members of this excursion and see what fern, bird, or historical artifact would be observed next. I loved the extra background history about foods, artifacts, architecture, etc. The book truly took me right along with the group on their fern-hunting trip into old Mexico.Thanks for taking me along as a stow-away. I can't wait to share this book with my reading group.

Oliver Sacks in Mexico

Once again, Oliver Sacks takes us into his world. A tenacious scribbler, he carries us on a journey back to the timeless world of nature. Quick to tell us of his passion for ferns, he recounts his journey to Oaxaca, Mexico with his collegues who share his fascination. On one level, we are treated to a kaeidoscope of hundreds of exotic ferns and their latin names he and his frends find in the lush vegetation of Mesoamerica. Not being a fern lover myself, I marvel at the intrigue of the hunt for these living fossils, objects from the distant world of time and creation before the advent of humanity. One would expect that such trivia would bore the reader, but no, Sacks absorbs us in his fascination with the varieties of these creature; he takes us along in the narrative by his marvel with discovery. At another level, Sacks enters the world of Oaxaca. He treats us to the rich culture of the region. He regails us with tales of the potato, the tomato, the bean, maise and pepper. He describes the ageless Oaxacan cuisine that nourishes his fellow pilgrims and the people of the region. The rubber ball of the Zatopec culture and the games played with it especially intrigues him. And his delightful descriptions of the delicious Oaxacan chocolate in all its forms stimulates mouthwatering longing for a taste. More importantly, he tells us of the people who lived in the region and bore the brunt of the Spanish Conquistadores. One is treated to the rich history of the Mesoamerican civilizations that rivaled Rome and Athens. Yet, Oaxaca's civiliztion achieved greatness while being innocent of the wheel, iron, compass, and alphabet. Sacks tells us of his confusion as a Westerner entering this world where his reference points create discontinuity.Sacks marvels at the breadth and scope of his companions' erudition. He tells us of their vigor and clarity of mind, some of whom are into their seventh decade. Most of all, he tells us of the comfort of being among fellow scientists and friends who enjoy each others company that is devoid of the competitiveness and the rush of living in the in the rapid paced world at home.He ends his tale by describing the idyllic surroundings of their last meal together beneath bald cypresses on the banks of a river. They were treated to estafado de pollo, a chicken stew in almond sauce and mole amarillo, with pork spiced with yerba santa and pitiona, all washed down with copious amounts of refreshing hot cinnamon-flavored Oaxacan chocolate!