The Island of the Colorblind and Cycad IslandOliver Sacks has always been fascinated by islands--their remoteness, their mystery, above all the unique forms of life they harbor. For him, islands conjure up equally the romance of Melville and Stevenson, the adventure of Magellan and Cook, and the scientific wonder of Darwin and Wallace. Drawn to the tiny Pacific atoll of Pingelap by intriguing reports of an isolated community of islanders born totally color-blind, Sacks finds himself setting up a clinic in a one-room island dispensary, where he listens to these achromatopic islanders describe their colorless world in rich terms of pattern and tone, luminance and shadow. And on Guam, where he goes to investigate the puzzling neurodegenerative paralysis endemic there for a century, he becomes, for a brief time, an island neurologist, making house calls with his colleague John Steele, amid crowing cockerels, cycad jungles, and the remains of a colonial culture. The islands reawaken Sacks' lifelong passion for botany--in particular, for the primitive cycad trees, whose existence dates back to the Paleozoic--and the cycads are the starting point for an intensely personal reflection on the meaning of islands, the dissemination of species, the genesis of disease, and the nature of deep geologic time. Out of an unexpected journey, Sacks has woven an unforgettable narrative which immerses us in the romance of island life, and shares his own compelling vision of the complexities of being human. |
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achro achromatopes achromatopsia Agana amyotrophic lateral amyotrophic lateral sclerosis animals atoll banana beautiful blind BMAA bodig botanical botanist called cause century Chamorros Chuuk coconut color colorblind cones coral crabs culture cycad Cycas circinalis cycasin Darwin deaf developed disease dozen eating eyes fadang fascinated feeling felt ferns fish forest Gajdusek garden genetic giant Guam huge hundred island isolated Japanese John jungle Kii Peninsula Knut Kolonia Kurland Kwajalein land light living looked lytico lytico-bodig Majuro Mangareva Marianas maskun Micronesia myth nahnmwarki Nan Madol native neurodegenerative neurological never night ocean once Pacific palms parkinsonism patients perhaps Pingelap Pingelapese plane plants Pohnpei Pohnpeian population post-encephalitic reef Rota Rumphius sakau seemed seen sense sort species Spencer spermatozooids Stephen Jay Gould syndrome thought told Tomasa Tommy toxic toxin tree Umatac village vision visual Voyage wondered