Color Vision Deficiency

The Island of the Colour-blind – Oliver Sacks

In an interview Sacks said he had a “soft spot” for this 1996 book because it’s a bit of everything: a travel narrative of Micronesia, a naturalistic study on ancient plants like cyads, and a treatise on color-blindness and an ALS-like condition among isolated peoples.

In the book, he explains that there are different kinds of color-blindness and people with it may develop more sensitive senses of touch and smell. Sacks examines a strange neurologic malady on Guam which resembles Parkinson’s and ALS. No cause of the malady has been identified and mercifully it no longer makes people debilitated, disabled or demented.

Overall, a good read but readers alert to an author patronizing and paternalizing won’t have fun unless being outraged and offended is their fun. This book is from 1996 – when we didn’t know exoticizing from chopped liver.