Migraine marks the beginning of Oliver Sacks’ long and remarkable career as a self-styled “neuroanthropologist” – combining his practice of neurology with accessible, empathetic writing about health. Sacks called it his “firstborn, written in a burst (nine days!) in 1967, stimulated in part by working in a migraine clinic and in part by a wonderful book (Liveing’s On Megrim) written a century earlier.”

In this book Sacks tells the story of the migraine in five parts, delving deep into experiences, contexts, causes, clinical approach and historical perspectives on the complex phenomenon.

He goes much beyond the understanding of a migraine as a headache, and delves deeply into what makes the experience of a migraine different for different people, and why.

Reviewing the book for The New York Review of Books, WH Auden wrote, “...any layman who is at all interested in the relation between body and mind, even if he does not understand all of it, will find the book as fascinating as I have.”

Hilary Mantel said of the book, “More modest and more technical than his big hits…the book is still remarkable in its shrewd perceptions and breadth of reference. It changed my life, and I dare say that of thousands of other sufferers, by increasing my knowledge of this strange condition.”

Published in 1970.