Reviews
An engaging and thoughtful (though perhaps slightly wide-eyed) overview of deafness and Deafness. Having read two of his books so far, I think Sacks is an academic and writer who treats his subject with a lot of care and is great at communicating what he knows and has learnt in a very accessible and compelling way to the reader. Lost all the great quotes I'd saved in my notes, except for this eloquent revelation: And to be defective in language, for a human being, is one of the most desperate of calamities, for it is only through language that we enter fully into our human estate and culture, communicate freely with our fellows, acquire and share information. If we cannot do this, we will be bizarrely disabled and cut off—whatever our desires or endeavours, or native capacities. It is often not deafness that disables, but rather lack of language, lack of access, lack of understanding. So much awe and respect for the Deaf community and their culture. P.S.: The only copy of Seeing Voices I could get my hands on was the audiobook version; irony notwithstanding, it was fairly enjoyable and I do want to try more audiobooks in the future.
