Synopses & Reviews
In The Mind's Eye, Oliver Sacks tells the stories of people who are able to navigate the world and communicate with others despite losing what many of us consider indispensable senses and abilities: the power of speech, the capacity to recognize faces, the sense of three-dimensional space, the ability to read, the sense of sight. For all of these people, the challenge is to adapt to a radically new way of being in the world.
There is Lilian, a concert pianist who becomes unable to read music and eventually even to recognize everyday objects; and Sue, a neurobiologist who has never seen in three dimensions, until she suddenly acquires stereoscopic vision in her fifties.
There is Pat, who reinvents herself as a loving grandmother and well-loved member of her community, although she has aphasia and cannot utter a sentence; and Howard, a prolific novelist who must find a way to continue his life as a writer even after a stroke destroys his ability to read.
And there is Dr. Sacks himself, who tells the story of his own eye cancer and the bizarre and disconcerting effects of losing vision to one side.
Sacks explores here some very strange paradoxes — people who can see perfectly well but not recognize their own children, blind people who become hyper-visual, or who navigate by "tongue vision." Along the way, he considers more fundamental questions: How do we see? How do we think? How important is internal imagery — or vision, for that matter? Why is it that, although writing is only 5000 years old, humans have a universal, seemingly innate, potential for reading?
The Mind’s Eye is a testament to the complexity of vision and the brain and to the power of creativity and adaptation. And it provides a whole new perspective on the power of language and communication, as we try to imagine what it is to see with another person's eyes, or another person's mind.
Review
"An absorbing attempt to unravel the complexities of the human mind." Kirkus
Review
"Rich with the sort of observation and insight that makes Sack's writing satisfying. He reveals essential truths about what makes us human." Boston Globe
Review
"The fascinating stories of ordinary people living with extraordinary conditions." The Guardian, UK
Synopsis
From the author of the best-selling
Musicophilia (hailed as "luminous, original, and indispensable" by
The American Scholar), an exploration of vision through the case histories of six individuals—including a renowned pianist who continues to give concerts despite losing the ability to read the score, and a neurobiologist born with crossed eyes who, late in life, suddenly acquires binocular vision, and how her brain adapts to that new skill. Most dramatically, Sacks gives us a riveting account of the appearance of a tumor in his own eye, the strange visual symptoms he observed, an experience that left him unable to perceive depth.
In The Mind's Eye, Oliver Sacks explores some of the most fundamental facets of human experience — how we see in three dimensions, how we represent the world internally when our eyes are closed, and the remarkable, unpredictable ways that our brains find new ways of perceiving that create worlds as complete and rich as the no-longer-visible world.
Synopsis
Sacks explores some of the most fundamental facets of human experience--how we see in three dimensions, how we represent the world internally when our eyes are closed, and the remarkable, unpredictable ways that our brains find new ways of perceiving that create worlds as complete and rich as the no-longer-visible world.
Synopsis
In
The Minds Eye, Oliver Sacks tells the stories of people who are able to navigate the world and communicate with others despite losing what many of us consider indispensable senses and abilities: the power of speech, the capacity to recognize faces, the sense of three-dimensional space, the ability to read, the sense of sight. For all of these people, the challenge is to adapt to a radically new way of being in the world.
There is Lilian, a concert pianist who becomes unable to read music and is eventually unable even to recognize everyday objects, and Sue, a neurobiologist who has never seen in three dimensions, until she suddenly acquires stereoscopic vision in her fifties.
There is Pat, who reinvents herself as a loving grandmother and active member of her community, despite the fact that she has aphasia and cannot utter a sentence, and Howard, a prolific novelist who must find a way to continue his life as a writer even after a stroke destroys his ability to read.
And there is Dr. Sacks himself, who tells the story of his own eye cancer and the bizarre and disconcerting effects of losing vision to one side.
Sacks explores some very strange paradoxes—people who can see perfectly well but cannot recognize their own children, and blind people who become hyper-visual or who navigate by “tongue vision.” He also considers more fundamental questions: How do we see? How do we think? How important is internal imagery—or vision, for that matter? Why is it that, although writing is only five thousand years old, humans have a universal, seemingly innate, potential for reading?
The Minds Eye is a testament to the complexity of vision and the brain and to the power of creativity and adaptation. And it provides a whole new perspective on the power of language and communication, as we try to imagine what it is to see with another persons eyes, or another persons mind.
Synopsis
The remarkable story of an ordinary man whose world was transformed when a traumatic brain injury left him with an extraordinary mathematical gift.
Synopsis
The remarkable story of an ordinary man who was transformed when a traumatic injury left him with an extraordinary giftNo one sees the world as Jason Padgett does. Water pours from the faucet in crystalline patterns, numbers call to mind distinct geometric shapes, and intricate fractal patterns emerge from the movement of tree branches, revealing the intrinsic mathematical designs hidden in the objects around us.
Yet Padgett wasnand#8217;t born this way. Twelve years ago, he had never made it past pre-algebra. But a violent mugging forever altered the way his brain works, giving him unique gifts. His ability to understand math and physics skyrocketed, and he developed the astonishing ability to draw the complex geometric shapes he saw everywhere. His stunning, mathematically precise artwork illustrates his intuitive understanding of complex mathematics.
The first documented case of acquired savant syndrome with mathematical synesthesia, Padgett is a medical marvel. Struck by Genius recounts how he overcame huge setbacks and embraced his new mind. Along the way he fell in love, found joy in numbers, and spent plenty of time having his head examined. Like Born on a Blue Day and My Stroke of Insight, his singular story reveals the wondrous potential of the human brain.
www.struckbygenius.com
About the Author
Jason Padgett is an aspiring number theorist and mathematician with acquired savant syndrome and synesthesia. He is currently the manager of three futon stores in Tacoma, Washington. His art, drawings of the grids and fractals he sees synesthetically, won Best International Newcomer at the Artoconecto A-B(o)MB show at the Bakehouse Artandnbsp;Complex in 2008. Struckandnbsp;by Genius is his first book.andnbsp;
Maureen Seaberg is an author with several forms of synesthesia and is an expert synesthesia blogger for Psychology Today. She has written for numerous publications, including the New York Times, The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post, O, The Oprah Magazine, and ESPN: The Magazine. She has appeared on MSNBC, PBS, and The Lisa Oz Show on Oprah Radio. A native New Yorker, she currently resides in the city.
Table of Contents
A Note from Maureenand#8194;viiand#160;and#160;and#160;Chapter One:and#160;and#160;and#160;Jason 2.0and#8195;1
and#160;and#160;and#160;Chapter Two:and#160;and#160;and#160;Jason 1.0and#8195;13
and#160;and#160;and#160;Chapter Three:and#160;and#160;and#160;Subtractionand#8195;25
and#160;and#160;and#160;Chapter Four:and#160;and#160;and#160;Gray Matterand#8195;33
and#160;and#160;and#160;Chapter Five:and#160;and#160;and#160;Compounded Lossesand#8195;43
and#160;and#160;and#160;Chapter Six:and#160;and#160;and#160;New Giftsand#8195;55
and#160;and#160;and#160;Chapter Seven:and#160;and#160;and#160;The Edge of a Circleand#8195;75
and#160;and#160;and#160;Chapter Eight:and#160;and#160;and#160;Inflection Pointand#8195;91
and#160;and#160;and#160;Chapter Nine:and#160;and#160;and#160;Joe Collegeand#8195;101
and#160;and#160;and#160;Chapter Ten:and#160;and#160;and#160;The Hermit and the Hermitageand#8195;117
and#160;and#160;and#160;Chapter Eleven:and#160;and#160;and#160;The Man from Planet Futonand#8195;135
and#160;and#160;and#160;Chapter Twelve:and#160;and#160;and#160;Contactand#8195;147
and#160;and#160;and#160;Chapter Thirteen:and#160;and#160;and#160;Savant and Yogi?and#8195;165
and#160;and#160;and#160;Chapter Fourteen:and#160;and#160;and#160;Itand#8217;s All Relativeand#8195;181
and#160;and#160;and#160;Chapter Fifteen:and#160;and#160;and#160;Scandinavian Springand#8195;191
and#160;and#160;and#160;Chapter Sixteen:and#160;and#160;and#160;Traveling Without Movingand#8195;203
and#160;and#160;and#160;Chapter Seventeen:and#160;and#160;and#160;Pilgrimage to Wisconsinand#8195;213
and#160;and#160;and#160;Chapter Eighteen:and#160;and#160;and#160;No Regretsand#8195;219
Acknowledgmentsand#8194;229
Bibliographyand#8194;231
Indexand#8194;235