Book: Oliver Sacks : on the move, a life

D

deleted16577781

Guest
I hope this is alright to post here.

I'm reading Oliver Sacks book entitled 'on the move, a life'. Sacks is a well known neurologist and speaks of himself quiet fluently in this book and also of some of his addictions and sexual activity with men.

I really like the wording here, where he was sharing with a friend. They had a bromance:

Mornings were pleasant: we enjoyed coffee and breakfast together and then going our separate ways to work - Mel to the carpet factory, I to UCLA. After work, we would go down to Muscle Beach Gym and then to Sid’s Café on the beach, where the muscle crowd hung out. Once a week we would go to a movie, and a couple of times a week Mel would take off on his own for a motorcycle ride.

Evenings could be a strain: I found it difficult to concentrate and was very conscious, almost hyperaware, of Mel’s physical presence, not least his virile animal smell, which I loved. Mel liked being massaged and would lie naked facedown on his bed and ask me to massage his back. I would sit astride him, wearing my training shorts, and pour oil on his back - neat’s-foot oil, which we used to keep our motorbike leathers supple - and slowly massage his shapely, powerful back muscles. He enjoyed this, relaxing and surrendering to my hands, and I enjoyed it too; indeed, it would bring me to the brink of orgasm. The brink was okay - just; one could pretend that nothing special was happening. But on one occasion, I could not contain myself and spurted semen all over his back. I felt him suddenly stiffen and when this happened, and without a word he got up and had a shower.

He would not speak to me for the rest of the evening; it was evident that I had gone too far.
 
I finished reading this book. I can only recommend it but have realised it is not 'everyones cup of tea'. What I liked the most was his genius but his fucked up ness... He took amphetamines and was working as a doctor and still managed to work and help people. Regardless what happened in his life he kept an active interest in others and 'life', even when down and out.

He cared a lot about others and enough that he searched for ways to help them live with their conditions and a better life rather than just give medicine and all is well. He found love in his seventies with Billy Hayes and Olivers body was packing it in and he was nearly blind. The other thing is that he wrote and wrote about his dreams and experiences and this has encouraged me to write even if it is 3am and I've woken up after a heavy complicated dream.