Oliver Sacks

Led by presenter, James Naughtie, the writer John Niven speaks to Radio 4's Bookclub programme about his 2008 novel, Kill Your Friends, which is a darkly comic satire of the UK music industry, as told through the perspective of the sadistic, Steven Stelfox, an A&R executive (Arti ... Show More

Presented by James Naughtie, Radio 4's Bookclub, speaks to the writer Paula Hawkins about her debut thriller The Girl On The Train. The book was published by Doubleday in 2015 to great acclaim and has sold millions of copies. Told in the first-person the novel's protagonist is Ra ... Show More

Presented by James Naughtie, BBC Radio 4's Bookclub, speaks to the award-winning writer Kit de Waal about her heart-rending debut novel, My Name Is Leon. Published in 2016 by Penguin it's the story of two brothers separated after one is adopted. The book, now taught on the curric ... Show More

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Dr Oliver Sacks. Now a distinguished Professor of Neurology, he was immortalised by Robin Williams in the film Awakenings. Inspired by Dr Sacks' book of the same name, it tells the story of the summer of 1969, when the catatonic pa ... Show More

Edinburgh GP Gavin Francis has been reading the writings of Thomas Browne (1605 -1682), who travelled to Padua and Leiden to qualify in medicine and then wrote on topics including religion, burial and examples of false understanding of science at the time. A Fortunate Woman - a d ... Show More

As we conclude our Metahuman miniseries, we hear from Dr. Don Hoffman, writer and professor of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, as he shares his latest book The Case of Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes and asks us to challenge ... Show More

One man's very, very unfortunate accident made him one of the most famous patients of all time. Dr. Rachel Berman shares the story of how this man helped scientists figure out what the brain does. Music in this episode is by Podington Bear. Photo of Phineas Gage from the collecti ... Show More

The former prime minister says it’s his “happiest day” as president of Alzheimer’s Research UK, after the discovery of the first drug to slow the disease.He also speaks about whether he did enough during his premiership to support those who needed dementia care.And, the BBC’s hea ... Show More

In this episode, Rupert Spira talks with Dr. James Cooke about the non-dual nature of mind and reality. They discuss self-enquiry and the nature of consciousness, using the analogy of the screen and the movie.     Dr. James Cooke is a neuroscientist, writer and speaker, with a fo ... Show More

Somebody called a Doctor this week as Fi and Jane are joined by resident broadcasting physician Dr Sarah Jarvis. In addition to Fi and Jane’s list of ailments, Dr Sarah talks famous patients, historical period solutions and the surprises of reporting for The One Show. 

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a surgeon and a painter. Sir Roy Calne - Professor of Surgery at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge - will be talking to Sue Lawley about his early conviction that transplant surgery was a viable way of treating kidney and liver d ... Show More

Nicky talks to Giles Duley, a conflict photographer, chef and founder of the Legacy of War Foundation. Giles lost three limbs when he stepped on a landmine in Afghanistan, where he was embedded with US troops and reporting on the conflict. He tells Nicky about overcoming his inju ... Show More