Oliver Sacks "The Island of the Daltonists and the Island of the Sagacious"

Author: Oliver Sacks Original title: The Island of the Colour-blind and Cycad Island Genre: popular science Medical topic: achromatopsia, parkinsonism, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Year of first publication: 1996 (worldwide), 2000 (Poland) Description: This book essentially consists of two stories about separate trips to Micronesia. Dr. Sacks traveled to the tiny islands of Pingelap and Pohnpei to examine, with neurological insight, how people with hereditary total color blindness function; this condition occurs in one in thirty-five thousand people in the general population but affects one in five residents of this community. The islands of Guam and Rota have been designated as sago islands, where an extraordinary endemic disease known as lytico-bodig is prevalent; this condition involves progressive fatal neurodegeneration manifesting in two forms: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Parkinsonism with features of dementia. At one time, sago palms dating back to the Jurassic period, from which the local population produced flour, were suspected of being a significant etiological factor; however, these hypotheses were not confirmed. The cause of lytico-bodig has not yet been determined. In addition to descriptions of diseases, the book devotes considerable space to the customs of the indigenous population, the geology and history of the islands, and the richness of the local flora and fauna.