Thursday, August 30, 2007
book report: Seeing Voices
Seeing Voices
by Oliver Sacks
This book really didn't do much for me. I've read several of Sacks' other books and found them fascinating, but in "Seeing Voices" Sacks seemed so enamored with ASL (American Sign Language) that other facets of Deafness as culture, experience, or disability were virtually ignored. The one aspect of the book I did find scientifically interesting was Sacks' observation that many of the Deaf people he studied who use ASL, a language that has a spatial dimension that spoken language cannot, have a much better sense of spatial relations than their English-speaking counterparts. This appeared to signify that the ASL-speakers' brains had changed to accomdate a spatial sense that spoken-word-users brains may not use or possess.
Other than that, I thought this book was kind of repetitive and not that interesting, and also cut out the validity of the experience of Deaf people who choose to read lips, speak, use Signed Exact English, or use hearing aids or cochlear implants. Sure, ASL is neat, but it's not the only choice the deaf have for communicating.
by Oliver Sacks
This book really didn't do much for me. I've read several of Sacks' other books and found them fascinating, but in "Seeing Voices" Sacks seemed so enamored with ASL (American Sign Language) that other facets of Deafness as culture, experience, or disability were virtually ignored. The one aspect of the book I did find scientifically interesting was Sacks' observation that many of the Deaf people he studied who use ASL, a language that has a spatial dimension that spoken language cannot, have a much better sense of spatial relations than their English-speaking counterparts. This appeared to signify that the ASL-speakers' brains had changed to accomdate a spatial sense that spoken-word-users brains may not use or possess.
Other than that, I thought this book was kind of repetitive and not that interesting, and also cut out the validity of the experience of Deaf people who choose to read lips, speak, use Signed Exact English, or use hearing aids or cochlear implants. Sure, ASL is neat, but it's not the only choice the deaf have for communicating.
Labels: book reports
