( CNN ) It is an unmistakable voice , that of Oliver Sacks , neurologist . `` Precise , probing , and epigrammatic '' is how Wired writer Steve Silberman once described it . And soon , the world learned Thursday , it may be silenced . In a New York Times essay that received instant acclaim for its poignancy , beauty and determination , the renowned scientist and doctor revealed that he has incurable cancer . `` Over the last few days , I have been able to see my life as from a great altitude , as a sort of landscape , and with a deepening sense of the connection of all its parts , `` he wrote in the Times . `` This does not mean I am finished with life . '' `` On the contrary , I feel intensely alive , and I want and hope in the time that remains to deepen my friendships , to say farewell to those I love , to write more , to travel if I have the strength , to achieve new levels of understanding and insight , '' wrote Sacks , 81 . `` Oliver Sacks has cancer . Damn . He writes about it as beautifully as you would expect , '' Twitter user Ian Leslie wrote . It 's not Sacks ' first bout with the disease . Nearly a decade ago , he was diagnosed with ocular melanoma that eventually left him blind in one eye and served as the basis for one of his books , `` The Mind 's Eye . '' `` Although the radiation and lasering to remove the tumor ultimately left me blind in that eye , only in very rare cases do such tumors metastasize . I am among the unlucky 2 percent , '' he wrote in the Times . `` I feel grateful that I have been granted nine years of good health and productivity since the original diagnosis , but now I am face to face with dying . The cancer occupies a third of my liver , and though its advance may be slowed , this particular sort of cancer can not be halted . '' The British-born Sacks , who is on the staff of the New York University School of Medicine , is perhaps best known as the inspiration for the doctor portrayed by the late actor Robin Williams in the 1990 film `` Awakenings . '' The film is based on Sacks ' 1973 book of the same name , recounting his experiences treating patients who long been in a catatonic state after contracting `` sleeping sickness . '' In his long career , he has made a practice of marrying clinical practice with narrative storytelling . `` If we wish to know about a man , we ask 'what is his story -- his real , inmost story ? ' -- for each of us is a biography , a story , '' he wrote in his 1985 book , `` The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat . '' `` Each of us is a singular narrative , which is constructed , continually , unconsciously , by , through , and in us -- through our perceptions , our feelings , our thoughts , our actions ; and , not least , our discourse , our spoken narrations , '' he said . `` Biologically , physiologically , we are not so different from each other ; historically , as narratives -- we are each of us unique . '' The habit that endeared him to many also brought criticism from some who accused him of being exploitative . Disability advocate Tom Shakespeare once called him `` the man who mistook his patients for a literary career . '' But little of that was evident Thursday as fans reacted to the news , seizing on the eloquence of the essay and hoping for yet more from Sacks before he goes . In his essay , Sacks says he plans to ignore politics and leave debate over climate change to the next generation , and instead focus on living `` in the richest , deepest , most productive way I can . '' `` I feel a sudden clear focus and perspective . There is no time for anything inessential . I must focus on myself , my work and my friends . '' For fans , there is good news among the gloom . Sacks will publish an autobiography in the spring and in his Times essay says he is nearly done with several other books .
In a moving scene , neurologist Oliver Cromwell reveals he has incurable cancer . Sacks was the inspiration for Robin Williams ' character in the British film ` ` . ''