In fact one might be excused for thinking it was either a hilarious comedy or a tale of torture of a wife, going by the title. I am glad I bought it, and it turned out to be one of the best ones I ever bought - it tells one so much about humanity one does not often get to know.
Apart from the title story, one that stands out in memory is that of the triplet (or twin? it is about two decades since I read it!) brothers who could not only count 111 matchsticks as soon as they fell on the floor accidentally but immediately factor them, and their delight in exchanging higher and higher primes, and the cleverness of Sacks in getting their attention by giving them much larger digit prime numbers to ponder - which he succeeded for a minute while they got the idea and smiled at him in pleasure and then promptly began exchanging far higher digit primes.
Then there was the patient who did not realise he was tilting, and how that was corrected by the doctor with a clever trick or preliminary engineering.
An amazing read for anyone.
