Bombshell: Oliver Sacks (a humane man & a fine essayist) made up many of the details in his famous case studies, deluding neuroscientists, psychologists, & general readers for decades. The man who mistook his wife for a hat? The autistic twins who generated multi-digit prime numbers? The institutionalized, paralyzed man who tapped out allusions to Rilke? Made up to embellish the stories. Probably also: the aphasic patients who detected lies better than neurologically intact people, including Ronald Reagan's insincerity. newyorker.com/magazine/2025/… "In his journal, Sacks wrote that 'a sense of hideous criminality remains (psychologically) attached' to his work: he had given his patients 'powers (starting with powers of speech) which they do not have.' Some details, he recognized, were 'pure fabrications.'

1. Reverse-engineer what you read. If it feels like good writing, what makes it good? If it’s awful, why? 2. Prose is a window onto the world. Let your readers see what you are seeing by using visual, concrete language.