11.08.2010

The Mind's Eye

The Mind's EyeThe Mind's Eye by Oliver Sacks

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was a little less in love with this book than with his others - maybe I was uncomfortable with the immediacy of his own vision loss, since that hits closer to home than many of his other case studies? I don't know. I was fascinated, of course, with many of his patients, especially the ones who discussed stereo vs. mono vision, and the blind patients who disagreed with each other about whether they still used visual cues to navigate the world. 



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11.06.2010

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

The Sound of a Wild Snail EatingThe Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wonderful, beautiful, quiet, contemplative, exciting, all small-scale and manageable, both for the author, whose snail arrived in her life during the early time of her convalescence from a debilitating illness, and the reader, who will focus and fall in love.

When did I fall in love with the snail? When it was so delighted by a slice of portobello mushroom that it slept with it, so that it could wake, nibble, and fall asleep again, perfectly content.

When did I fall in love with the book? Immediately on reading the first page and leafing through to see the soft-yet-accurate drawings of the snail.

I fell so in love with this author, this book, and this snail that I bought the ePub version after I returned the book to the library.



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