Oliver Sacks "Seeing the Voice"

Author: Oliver Sacks Original title: Seeing Voices: A Journey into the World of the Deaf Genre: popular science Medical topic: deafness, otolaryngology, pediatrics Year of first publication: 1989 (worldwide), 1998 (Poland) Description: This time, Dr. Oliver Sacks (currently a professor of neurology and psychiatry at Columbia University) does not introduce us to patients from his ward, but takes us into a world just as different and mysterious—the world of the deaf. This book teaches us how crucial it is for human functioning to acquire the ability to use any language, whether spoken or sign language, and how severely the lack of this ability impairs one’s life. We learn about the differences between those who have been deaf since birth—devoid of any concept of sound and once considered mentally disabled—those with acquired deafness, who retain memories of sound patterns, and those with aphasia. Attention is drawn to the influence of the environment—parents and society—the timing of language acquisition, and the emphasis placed on learning to communicate through signs, compared to the titular “voice” that can be seen, or speech, which implied better or poorer development. Much of the book is devoted to sign language, which, contrary to popular belief, is not a universal language of the deaf, but has many variations, including French, American, and—though it seems paradoxical—British (!). Dr. Sacks once again emphasizes just how mysterious and wonderful the human mind is, capable of finding its way and coping in a situation as catastrophic as being deaf.