‘My Own Life’ by Oliver Sacks

40 page MS book, black Chinese ink and gouache illustrations on Zerkall paper, blue Canson endpapers, Khadi paper covers, printed jacket. Completed April 2016

This text was taken from a collection of essays written by Oliver Sacks in the last 2 years of his life, entitled Gratitude. ‘I am now face to face with dying, but I am not finished with the business of living,’ states Sacks at one point.

The essay I chose, ‘My Own Life’, was based on a short memoir by the philosopher, David Hume, with the same title. In his essay, Sacks shows a profound anticipation of his own impending death, but with a wonderful sense of gratitude for all he has experienced in his life: ‘Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure’.