The Island of the Colorblind

One of my all time favorite books! Memorable, touching studies of the strengths of those with abnormal color perception. Oliver Sachs writes with such genuine empathy and understanding.

Oliver Sacks finds the most interesting stories - one is the effects of eating cycad palm flour - creating Parkinson's like symptoms over time and the other is about an island where everyone is colorblind because they are related to the king who is colorblind (after the small island's population is devastated by a natural disaster)

For a through review read the comment by the Dr. Coleman. I will try not to repeat his comments. I have not read Sacks before so I was intrigue to find a medical commentary and travelogue written in a style that was understandable by someone who is not a scientist.I have some minor disappointments. This is actually two different medical commentaries. One about totally colorblind ( a very rare occurrence) groups of people in the Pacific Islands and the other about a group of people suffering from a disease similar to ALS but somewhat different. I would have liked a more thorough discussion of the sociology and psychology of the people who have this. The cause is known and the only "cure" is sunglasses an special training in reading and other coping strategies. I would have like more notes on the life styles, sense of isolation caused by the sun blindness during the day, reaction from "normal" members of the community. Dr. Sacks did not stay on the islands long enough to do a through job in this regard.With regard to the ALS type disease, Dr. Sacks did a far better job of describing the various paths two similar diseases take and the physical and psychological progression of the diseases as well as some comments on the cultural and family reaction to the suffering members. I was fascinated by the various theories that have been raised to explain the diseases and finding no conclusive explanation.The last few pages of my book had a chapter on Dr. Sacks fascination with ferns and how that developed. Though it was a nice comment on his background, I found it irrelevant to the book. Was he required to have x numbers of pages and therefore threw this commentary in? I do not like wasted paper and this seemed like wasted paper.The footnotes were extensive but those that I bothered to read filled in some detail very well. Frankly I read only a few. I question if so many were needed.This book is a little outside of my normal reading tastes. I lean toward sci-fi and biographies with some mysteries throw in. In a sense this travelogue was a little of all three with a never leaning on the mystery of the ALS type disease. I am glad that I took a chance on reading it.

I was interested to know more about achromatopsia which is a very rare genetic eye disease. I found the book and read it. But, at the end of the book I found myself to be so knowledgeable about so many other issues related to the islands in Pacific Ocean and their indigenes people that I never knew existed. At the end, it is a fascinating book and that it is written and crafted by a great writer

I was transformed and transported by this book. As a physician, I was caught up totally and completely in the medical Sherlock Holmesian "whodunnit" quest for scientific answers. As a human being residing for a time on planet earth, I was immersed in the beauty and the mystery of places that seem almost fairy-like and magical through the keenly observant eyes of Dr. Sacks. As a soul flickering briefly on that continuum of deep time, I felt a profound sense of awe and existential brevity, but also a sense of connectedness and immortality.Having just finished the book today, I am aware of a sadness within me, a sadness that my journey to the South Pacific with Dr. Sacks has ended. I return to my clinic tomorrow morning to see patients, but my heart for some days to come will be on Pingelap, or Guam, or.......

A hard read, not so much about colorblindness. It has a ton of other information about the islands, customs, history, etc. But I needed outside reading for CEUs and this didn't give me info worth the time. I enjoy Sacks, but he got rambling in this one and no doubt he had a wonderful time, more like a researches vacation novelette.

As always, Oliver Sacks is very interesting. This book combined his usual empathetic neurological expeditions with travel, history of Micronesia and botany. I found it to be one of his best that I have read and I have read most of his books.

If you are a fan of Oliver Sacks, you will thoroughly enjoy this book. I was first introduced to Dr. Sacks through the film Awakenings, featuring Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro. It was this movie with encouraged me to further investigate and purchase the book by the same title. If you have not read Awakenings, I would highly recommend it, and if you have, I would definitely recommend this as the next book for your collection. The first half of the book deals with two islands that have an extremely high number of colorblind people residing there. Your eyes will be opened to what you assumed you knew about colorblind people, and what the truth actually is.The second half of the book deals with Guam, where scores of people are suffering from a debilitating illness with symptoms that mimic the vast and varied symptoms of the post-encephalitis patients we saw in Awakenings. You will discover the mystery surrounding this disease, and the overwhelming task of trying to find a cause of this illness.One of my favorite things about Dr. Oliver Sacks is that when he writes about these illnesses and patients, he is not treated them as just another case. After you read about each individual person, as we did in Awakenings, you feel as though you actually knew the person an experience a portion of the hurt the family feels. Dr. Sacks writes each case with love, and you can feel that he actually loves and cares for these people. Experience an amazing journey on some of the vast illnesses that affect the human brain and thus the rest of the body.

I have loved Oliver Sacks for a long time, ever since listening to him being interviewed on Radiolab.The great thing about Sacks is that he always seems to pick interesting topics to write about.I first read The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat a few years ago (now who could resist such a catchy title) and I loved it.Overall, I think Sacks is always worth reading, he is thoughtful and brings a diverse range of references to his writing in a very natural way.

You really must try to have a copy of this strange story. The one with the palmtree cover looks beautiful in the library.

I am reading it for the second time and it touches me and in tears sometimes about the achromotopeisa on the is island of Pingalap. a brilliant book and the notes are just admirable,

Book for myself.

The book was sold as very good secondhand. It arrived quickly and the book looks as though it has been barely read.The book is brilliant. Oliver Sacks has a wonderful way of writing and is really clever in describing complex neurological processes in an accessible way. Highly recommend both the author and the seller