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191st out of 1,588 books
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2,262 voters
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Seeing Voices
by
Oliver Sacks
Like The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, this is a fascinating voyage into a strange and wonderful land, a provocative meditation on communication, biology, adaptation, and culture. In Seeing Voices, Oliver Sacks turns his attention to the subject of deafness, and the result is a deeply felt portrait of a minority struggling for recognition and respect--a minority wit...more
Paperback, 240 pages
Published
November 28th 2000
by Vintage
(first published 1989)
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65th out of 104 books
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62 voters
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I enjoyed this, as I enjoy all Sacks, and it's not his best. It's light on neurology. Given its 1989 publication, it's quite out of date. It predates baby sign language and both behind-the-ear speech processors and fully implantable cochlear implants. In addition (and since I read it as an audiobook, I can't easily double-check this), Sacks makes two errors of a sort I don't usually see from him. First, he treats Kaspar Hauser is a viable example of late language attainment. I believe that by th...more
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When I was a child my cousin asked me if I would rather be blind or deaf. I didn't hesitate, I would much rather be deaf, I thought - a world of perpetual darkness was to be avoided at all costs.
To be honest, I never really thought about this question again until reading this book. I had no idea what costs deafness can bring with it.
Sacks go through many of these costs and explains, in remarkably simple language, some of the 'age dependent' structures that form our minds...more
To be honest, I never really thought about this question again until reading this book. I had no idea what costs deafness can bring with it.
Sacks go through many of these costs and explains, in remarkably simple language, some of the 'age dependent' structures that form our minds...more
I am a huge fan of Dr. Sacks. When you ask me who I would most like to meet if I could meet anyone on this planet, well, Dr. Sacks makes the top 3.
This is the only book of his that I've had trouble with, and it was only because I spent 17 years as an educator of young hearing-impaired children. I believe strongly in teaching deaf kids to talk. There are very few children, regardless of their level of deafness, who can't learn to communicate in this way.
Unfortunately, Dr. Sacks, in hi...more
This is the only book of his that I've had trouble with, and it was only because I spent 17 years as an educator of young hearing-impaired children. I believe strongly in teaching deaf kids to talk. There are very few children, regardless of their level of deafness, who can't learn to communicate in this way.
Unfortunately, Dr. Sacks, in hi...more
Most of the information that we get about the world comes through the sense of sight. Therefore it would seem that it there is one sense that we would be loath to part with, it would be this one. And yet, it is the sense of hearing that has the greatest impact on the acquisition of language and subsequently on the formation of our minds. If we don't acquire language really early on in our lives, we are bound to lead a very limited existence as compared to most other people. It is these facts and...more
'Seeing Voices' is Oliver Sacks' essay on sign language, divided into three parts: one, history of sign language; two, sign language as natural evolutional consequences of deaf people's neurological consequences; three, revolution of deaf culture and communities.
Sacks is known for his ability to move readers by capturing subjective, personal experiential aspects neuronal disorder. His famous books are among others: 'The Man Who Mistook His Wive for a Hat and The Awakenings.
Sacks is known for his ability to move readers by capturing subjective, personal experiential aspects neuronal disorder. His famous books are among others: 'The Man Who Mistook His Wive for a Hat and The Awakenings.
I enjoy reading Oliver Sacks. He combines a brilliant scientific mind with the voice of a compassionate and empathetic clinician.
Most of his books that I've read are case studies based on different brain disorders. This book is a bit different. It's really 3 shorter pieces, all dealing with deafness that he wrote over a period of about 10 years. The first third is a New York Time Book Review piece that he wrote, the second is more of a paper expanding on the first third and the las...more
Most of his books that I've read are case studies based on different brain disorders. This book is a bit different. It's really 3 shorter pieces, all dealing with deafness that he wrote over a period of about 10 years. The first third is a New York Time Book Review piece that he wrote, the second is more of a paper expanding on the first third and the las...more
Seeing Voices is a collection of three essays, each addressing a different aspect of the deaf experience. The first is introductory and historical, blending anecdotes about notorious deaf individuals with the author's commentary. This portion of the book is sometimes impossible to read because Sacks refuses to write in a straight line. The sentences are overwrought, criss-crossing between unrelated ideas separated by copious quantities of commas. The content, while fascinating, is obscured by it...more
Seeing Voices was originally published in 1989. That was a big in-between year for the deaf. In 1988 Gallaudet students successfully pushed for a deaf president of the university. And in 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act would be signed into law.
As for me, in 1989 I was three years old. I had not yet been diagnosed with my own hearing loss. I had no idea who Oliver Sacks was, what "deafness" means, where Gallaudet is, or what American Sign Language is. Two years lat...more
As for me, in 1989 I was three years old. I had not yet been diagnosed with my own hearing loss. I had no idea who Oliver Sacks was, what "deafness" means, where Gallaudet is, or what American Sign Language is. Two years lat...more
This was not my favorite Oliver Sacks book; my favorite is his memoir "Uncle Tungsten" which I really enjoyed. This book about the deaf and sign language seemed slow and repetitive especially with the copious footnotes but I did gain a much better understanding of sign language. It is a language in its own right with structure, grammar and nuances just like a verbal language. It gave me a much greater appreciation of the importance of sign language and why some deaf people do not en...more
Never met a Sacks I didn't like - this one is no exception, although I really wish the extensive notes had been footnoted and not crammed at the end like an unusually important epilogue. Quite a bit here that I knew about (had a few friends, Deaf and hearing both, who were part of the Deaf community growing up), but much that I didn't. One interesting/heartbreaking bit? How Sign was initially adopted and then abandoned until recently. Best stuff? The examination of the linguistics and neurology ...more
Vendo Vozes é um livro por um lado datado. Foi escrito nos anos 80 e revisado nos anos 90. Um período pré internet que fica evidente ao longo da leitura. São três livros em um e acabam se repetindo um pouco. Diferente de outros livros do mesmo autor, Vendo Vozes tem em alguns momentos uma estrutura de ensaio sobre a importância da linguagem no desenvolvimento da inteligência e do indivíduo. Claro que ele não se restringe à lingua falada, mas principalmente pelo estudo de casos de surdez ele expl...more
The subtitle of this book is: "A journey into the world of the deaf". Written in three parts at different points in Sacks' exposure and familiarity with deaf culture, it's filled with the perfect mixture of his pure human curiosity and his neurological expertise. It feels as if the reader is meant to learn along with Sacks as he explores the topic. He writes about the history of the treatment and education of deaf people, explaining how the non-deaf world's view of deafness and sign la...more
Jenny
rated it
Recommends it for:
pregant ladies, folks with no idea about deaf studies
Recommended to Jenny by:
Laurel
I wish Oliver Sacks were my grandfather and I could go to him at his rocker in front of a roaring fire and have him tell stories of people and their brains. This book works somewhat as a story even though its more of a science and history text because Sacks puts a lot of the dry factual stuff in endnote form (and believe me, the endnotes take up half the book. I was tempted to razor the spine so I wouldn't have to flip back and forth all the time) and in the body text he tells stories of people ...more
This book is about the language of the deaf... I'd have to describe the book as very interesting content, but not so interesting to read. Til I got Chapter 3, and it became more readable. This was about the students at Gallaudet organizing to effect the selection of a deaf president. The book conveys the deaf community as a community of its own, with its own language and culture, and the trials it has gone through over time. Also the learning of language by those who don't hear, and the universa...more
I really enjoy Oliver Sacks' books. His writing style is informative and engaging. His enthusiasm for learning always shines throughout his books. This book was less effective than some of his other books because it's three essays about deafness joined in one book. There was repetition within some of the essays. Still, I learned a lot about sign language and how it came about. I found the book really interesting.
Really fascinating to read someone as brilliant as Sacks discover the Deaf community. Probably better for someone who knows very little about Deaf culture and would be really great for an intro ASL class. Sacks spends a good deal of time writing about how ASL really is its own language and this can get a bit redundant if you're already familiar with the Deaf culture.
I have read some of his other books and I did not like this one as much. It was by no means bad but his style seems a lot dryer than in his other books. Like in his other books, the topic is interesting but it seems like he does not explain it as well as he has other topics in his other books. Also, a good portion of the book is his notes and sources which makes the book seem much longer than it actually is.
Eoin
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people with language or minds
Shelves:
nonfiction
Not done yet, so this is a temp. The subject is facinating (to me) and important (to everyone) and Sacks has that greatly excited tone of his that makes you think, probably rightly, that everything about the human mind is so *facinating*. The difficulty with this book is formating. In the edition I'm reading, there are footnotes (I love me the foot-notes, don't get it twisted) that take up as much as half the page, often running into the feet of subsequent pages. So lots of tangents and flip...more
Wonderful and interesting book about the deaf community. I had much to think about and lots to bring up to discussion. However, the there were so many footnotes that they themselves could have been another book. He should have just added them to the book and made it that much better. Overall it was so interesting.
A clear, well-written book about the culture and linguistics of the deaf. It's a little dated having been published in the late 80's but for a nonfiction book about deaf culture, it is flawless. I even cried at the end when he discusses the "Deaf President Now" campaign at Gallaudet. My hat's off to Oliver Sacks.
Fascinating insights into the world of the deaf... you begin to appreciate the intricacies of sign language. I have learned it is truely a language; not just a pictorial pantomime of symbols, but a complex 3D movie of idiosyncratic edits, expressions, and points of view that is not bound or restricted emotionally in any way... it has equal access to as many expressions as spoken language... nay I have learned that sign can do more than spoken language. I have also learned that without language w...more
A very enlightening and informative book. It's certainly aged, but anyone dealing with deaf people should read this book. It does a very good job of showing the ill history of the deaf and how ASL is the best mode of communication for the deaf.
Excellent book! Gives you an insight in the unique world of the deaf community, and into the obstacles occurred by them in 'normal' society. It describes the history of the deaf, their position in society, the development of sign language, the (still ongoing) debate on whether deaf people ought to sign or to lipread. I'd never been aware of the world behind all this.
The book reads well, the matter has been thoroughly researched. Not a book for light reading, but a
pleasure to rea...more
The book reads well, the matter has been thoroughly researched. Not a book for light reading, but a
pleasure to rea...more
I don't remember if this book was part of my Sign Language or my Child Development class, but it was an eye-opening look at sign language. Sacks discusses the development of ASL and also the way the brain deals with signs. Loved it.
I really enjoyed reading this book. Oliver Sacks opened my eyes to the awesomeness that is sign-language and this book was a major catalyst to my wife and I teaching our pre-talking children how to sign. I'll read this one again.
Very thorough and well written in that Oliver Sacks way, but rather dense and hard to read leisurely. A great resource for info if you need to write a report on Deafness from a cultural or linguistic perspective.
Giving up on page 6. Can't get past the excessive use of quotes nor the huge footnotes. It might be different if I was reading it for research, but right now, I cannot get into this enough to continue.
I did really enjoy this book, but the numerous and lengthy footnotes are very distracting. It would have been great to have most of that information incorporated into the main text, since it makes it difficult to read, as if you were always jumping from one text to another. Apart from that, really awesome book!
great book about deaf culture, the evolution of sign language, and what both teach us about the nature of language and communication in general. It's one of my favorite books.
Oliver Sacks is a brilliant man who manages to explain high-density concepts to a layman without talking down. Now that's impressive. Also impressive: the truly mind-bending (literally minds are reshaped) science of how our brains form language centers with and without the ability to hear. And while that may sound dry I actually cried while reading this book on the subway. Totally intensely interestingly fun. While learning. Thank god, because I have read the first fifty pages of ten terrible bo...more
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Oliver Wolf Sacks, CBE (born July 9, 1933, London), is a British neurologist residing in the United States, who has written popular books about his patients, the most famous of which is Awakenings, which was adapted into a film of the same name starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro.
Sacks was the youngest of four children born to a prosperous North London Jewish couple: Sam, a phys...more
More about Oliver Sacks...
Sacks was the youngest of four children born to a prosperous North London Jewish couple: Sam, a phys...more
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