The Mind's Eye
by Oliver Sacks · first published 2010
83% recommend17% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Case-study essays from Oliver Sacks's clinical practice on vision and visual perception, including stereovision, aphasia, alexia and adaptation to blindness; recommended for readers who enjoy Sacks's narrative style.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Ich wuchs in einem Haushalt voller Ärzte und medizinischer Gespräche auf – mein Vater und meine älteren Brüder waren Allgemeinärzte und meine Mutter Chirurgin. Viele Unterhaltungen bei Tisch drehten sich zwangsläufig um medizinische Themen, es ging aber nie nur um ‹Fälle›. Ein Patient mochte als Beispiel für diese oder jene Erkrankung erwähnt werden, doch in den Gesprächen meiner Eltern wurden Fälle immer zu Biographien, Geschichten über das Leben von Menschen, die auf Krankheit oder Verletzung, Stress oder Unglück reagierten. So war es vielleicht unvermeidlich, dass auch ich Arzt und Geschic
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Stereopsis and stereoblindness is actually a fascinating topic. Some humans don’t have it, and still manage to drive, ride bicycles, or fly planes. The Mind's Eye by Oliver Sacks has an interesting chapter on a woman who managed to develop stereovision in her late 40s through vision therapy.
on “Velodyne Announces a Solid-State Lidar” ↗Not a long list, but I'd recommend these: - The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat ~ Oliver Sacks, 1985. This book contains tales of some of the Sacks's patients. A very interesting read. [1] - The Mind's Eye ~ Oliver Sacks, 2010. [2] - Spy Catcher (Autobiography of a MI5 agent) ~ Peter Wright, 1987. [3] - Applied Cryptography ~ Bruce Schneier, 1994. Approachable and succinate language of this book makes…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗The last chapter in Oliver Sacks' book "The Mind's Eye" discusses this phenomenon and how people who became blind adapted and compensated. Highly recommend it. He suggests a phenomenon like this is primarily biologically predetermined.
on “Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind” ↗Interesting. I'm currently reading Oliver Sacks' "The Mind's Eye", which includes a few cases of alexia. A good read if you'd like more stories about this and you like Sacks' style.
on “How a Case of Pure Alexia Confirmed the Role of Brain's Visual Word Form Area” ↗I remember first learning of the concept oh aphasia from the late Dr. Oliver Sacks. The essay "Recalled to Life" in his book "The Mind’s Eye" or the chapter about music therapy for aphasia from his book "Musicophilia". I remember reading transfixed how someone could loose the ability to find the right word for specific objects. Or loose the…
on “Impossible Word: Toward a Poetics of Aphasia” ↗This week, I’m reading Nate Silver’s The Signal and the Noise. I picked this up after finishing Oliver Sacks’ The Mind’s Eye last week – both are hauls from a library book sale a couple years ago. I also recently read Don't Look Now And Other Stories (a Daphne DuMaurier collection), & I'm working my way through PKD's little-known…
on “Ask HN: What books are you reading this month?” ↗