The Island of the Colorblind and Cycad Island

3.9/5 ( ratings)

In his books An Anthropologist on Mars and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks details the lives of patients isolated by neurological disorders, shedding light on our common humanity and the ways in which we perceive the world around us. Now he looks at the effects of physical isolation in The Island of the Colorblind. On this journey, he carried with him the intellectual curiosity, kind understanding, and unique vision he has so consistently demonstrated.

Drawn to the Micronesian island of Pingelap by reports of a community of people born totally colorblind, Dr. Sacks set up a clinic in a one-room dispensary. There he listened to patients describe their colorless world in terms rich with pattern and tone, luminance and shadow. Then, in Guam, he investigated a puzzling neurodegenerative paralysis, making housecalls amid crowing cockerels, cycad jungles, and the remains of a colonial culture. The experience afforded Sacks an opportunity to elaborate on such personal passions as botany and history and to explore the meaning of islands, the dissemination of species, the birth of disease, and the nature of deep geologic time.

Language: English

Pages: 298

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Alfred a Knopf

Release: January 07, 1997

ISBN: 0679451145

ISBN 13: 9780679451143

The Island of the Colorblind and Cycad Island

Oliver Sacks

3.9/5 ( ratings)

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Language: English

Pages: 298

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Alfred a Knopf

Release: January 07, 1997

ISBN: 0679451145

ISBN 13: 9780679451143

3.3/5 ( ratings)

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The Island of the Colorblind and Cycad Island

The Island of the Colorblind and Cycad Island

The Island of the Colorblind and Cycad Island

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