Dr. Sacks just delivered the manuscript for his new book, The Mind’s Eye, to his publishers. Alfred A. Knopf will publish the book in the US on October 26, 2010. In the UK, Picador will publish on November 5th, and we also expect Dutch (Meulenhoff) and Brasilian (Companhia das Letras) editions in late 2010, with other translations to follow in 2011.
Check out the beautiful cover design here.
The Mind’s Eye tells the stories of people whose ability to navigate the world visually and to communicate with others is compromised. There is Lilian, a professional pianist who loses her ability to read music and eventually even to recognize everyday objects; and Sue, a neurobiologist who has never seen in three dimensions, until she suddenly acquires stereoscopic vision in her fifties. There is Pat, who, although she has aphasia and cannot utter a sentence, reinvents herself as a great gossip and social butterfly; and Howard, a prolific novelist who must find a way to continue his life as a writer even after a stroke destroys his ability to read. There are (surprisingly many) people who have face-blindness; some of them cannot even recognize their own spouse or children. And there is Dr. Sacks himself, who tells the story of his own eye cancer and the bizarre and disconcerting effects of losing vision to one side. Finally, Dr. Sacks looks at how blind people may use an astonishing array of other senses to “see” the world.