The River of Consciousness  The River of Consciousness is a collection of ten essays by the writer, naturalist, and neurologist Oliver Sacks. Some of the essays are dedicated to specific figures such as Darwin, Freud, and William James. "The River of Consciousness" compiles the following essays:    "The Chicago Tribune" reviewed "The River of Consciousness", Praising Sacks' "ability to braid wide reading". In a review for the "Wall Street Journal" Laura J. Snyder notes that the volume "reminds us, in losing Sacks we lost a gifted and generous storyteller.”