The Mind's Eye by Oliver Sacks

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My heart sank more than once while reading Sacks' accounts of his patients' medical stories, and, in this case, even one of his own. The Mind's Eye presents biographical tales of people who experienced a decline in different parts of their mind's eye (ability to recognise faces, things, text, space) or fully lost their sight. A case study after a case study, the book proves how flexible and adaptive the human brain (and spirit) is in finding ways to navigate the world and live a meaningful life in a new and often disorienting reality of facing a visual neurologic challenge. The glimpses of light in irreversible neurologic declines, as well as tales of possible recoveries, are filled with humour, wisdom, and empathy by the author.

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