An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales

by Oliver Sacks

colors are not “out there” in the world, nor (as classical theory held) an automatic correlate of wavelength, but, rather, are constructed by the brain.

This theory will always blow my mind.

Gifts and art, unrecognized, unsupported, are not enough: José is almost as gifted as Stephen but has never been recognized, never supported, and continues to languish on a back ward; whereas Stephen lives a varied and stimulating life—he travels, goes out drawing, and now attends art school.

“I find a very high correlation,” she said, “between the way animals are treated and the handicapped.… Georgia is a snake pit—they treat [handicapped people] worse than animals.… Capital-punishment states are the worst animal states and the worst for the handicapped.”