Book · 1976 · Health & Fitness
Awakenings
- mentions
- 11
- people
- 4
- podcasts
- 3
- episodes
- 7
- critical mentions
- 0
This is the movie from the book Awakenings based on neurologist Oliver Sacks' book of the same name about his work with EL patients in the 1960s.
What they say about it
- Mentioned the film adaptation“saw the movie”10
- Connected to research“jibes with research”3
- Described author as neurologist writer2
- Associated with dopamine“famously associated with dopamine”2
The best things said about it
It's based on a story by the neurologist writer Oliver Sacks.
Andrew Huberman This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von · May 2025 There's a photograph that I love of the great Oliver Sacks the neurologist turn writer man who mistook his wife for his hat Awakenings and so forth.
Andrew Huberman Huberman Lab · Mar 2025 It's very famously associated with dopamine for anybody who has read Awakenings or saw the movie.
So initially we tried Leodopa L-dopa which is the drug that Oliver Saxs describes in Awakenings and many people have seen the film and it's used a lot in Parkinson's disease for treatment.
Where and when it comes up
Mentions per year
How it comes up
Most mentions, by podcast
4 people who brought it up
Why people recommend it
Awakenings by Oliver Sacks is a classic medical narrative detailing the harrowing experiences of encephalitis lethargica patients in the 1960s and their subsequent treatment with L-dopa. The book frequently surfaces across scientific and conversational podcasts to illustrate clinical concepts related to dopamine, motivation, and motor control. On Huberman Lab, Dr. Masud Husain referenced Sacks's accounts while discussing the historical medical usage of L-dopa in Parkinson's disease treatment. Andrew Huberman also brought up the work multiple times, referencing both the true story behind the famous film adaptation starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, and highlighting Sacks's broader legacy as a neurologist and writer. On Stuff You Should Know, Josh Clark and his co-hosts repeatedly cited Awakenings to anchor discussions on dopamine function, connecting the book's clinical anecdotes directly to modern scientific research on human motivation and the nigrostriatal pathway. Across all these discussions, podcasters used Sacks's observations not only as a historical touchstone for neurology and pharmacology, but also as a compelling narrative framework to help audiences grasp complex brain chemistry and the profound behavioral impacts of dopamine.
Every mention
Josh Clark It's very famously associated with dopamine for anybody who has read Awakenings or saw the movie. 5
“It's very famously associated with dopamine for anybody who has read Awakenings or saw the movie.”
“um that definitely jibes with research, particularly um something reported by Oliver Sachs in the book and then later the movie Awakenings.”
“This is the the movie from the book Awakenings based on neurologist Oliver Sachs book of the same name about his work with EL patients in the 1960s.”
“it's very famously associated with dopamine for anybody who has read Awakenings or saw the movie”
“that definitely jibes with research particularly um something reported by Oliver saxs in the book and then later the movie Awakenings there was a a an epidemic of something called en syphilitic lethargy”
Andrew Huberman I sometimes use the absent-minded Professor excuse um but only uh half jokingly there there's a photograph… 2
“Remember that movie Awakenings where people were frozen? Yes. With Robert Dairo. That's right. And Robin Williams. Yes. Robin Williams. Yes. And they gave those patients, it was a true story. It's based on a story by the neurologist writer Oliver Saxs. And they gave those people L-dopa.”
“I sometimes use the absent-minded Professor excuse um but only uh half jokingly there there's a photograph that I love of the great Oliver Sachs the neurologist turn writer man who mistook his wife for his hat Awakenings and so forth”
Masud Husain So initially we tried Leodopa L-dopa which is the drug that Oliver Saxs describes in Awakenings and many pe… 1
“So initially we tried Leodopa L-dopa which is the drug that Oliver Saxs describes in Awakenings and many people have seen the film and it's used a lot in Parkinson's disease for treatment.”
Theo Von If you’ve seen the movie 'Awakenings' with Robert De Niro, I just watched that movie a couple of months ago… 1
“If you’ve seen the movie 'Awakenings' with Robert De Niro, I just watched that movie a couple of months ago. Can we bring some of that up? That’s fascinating!”
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker2
“That definitely aligns with research, particularly something reported by Oliver Sacks in the book and then later in the movie Awakenings.”
“You've seen the movie Awakenings with Robert De Niro I just watched that movie a couple of months ago. Can we bring some of that up? That's fascinating. Yeah, based on on on the book by Oliver Sacks.”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
Other mentions (5: passing, ad reads, own books)
“It's very famously associated with dopamine for anybody who has read Awakenings or saw the movie.”
“- It's amazing, it's like "Awakenings" it's like. - I said that on my show earlier. - It's totally amazing. I mean, Fetterman has been incredible. He's been great on the border. He's been great on the Middle East. He's been great on a wide variety of issues. - I hope it ends better than "Awakenings." You know, in "Awakenings"”
“- 'The Daily Wire' should make a movie about that, by the way. It's amazing, it's like 'Awakenings.' I said that on my show earlier.”
“Oliver Sacks actually had it the famed neurologist who Awakenings was based on his work and he wrote Awesome books like the man who Mystic his wife for a hat there you go”
“and there she worked on some pieces by Oliver Sacks the freewheeling neurologist best known for writing Awakenings and the man who mistook his wife for a hat”