I'd like to personally thank the many readers who've taken time to share their thoughts on A Sense of the World. Here's a representative sample. For critical attention, please see In the Media.
Reader feedback
From other authors
From booksellers
Medical theories
Miscellanea
Reader feedback
(Links to blogs will open in a new window)
"There's a famous quote saying Life should be big, not long. To me the life of James Holman epitomises this. I won't try to dish out what the book taught me or meant to me personally. Just getting to know about such a life was prize enough for me." --Atish Dipankar, Dust in the Wind, Bangalore, India
"It would be an unforgiveable cliché to say that this book is a towering testament to the strength of the human spirit, but that's exactly what it is." --Chris Barsanti, Vast Wasteland
"The famous Blind Traveler...okay, maybe he's not so famous, but he is fascinating and the book is very well written. I've loaned the book out and have gotten fabulous feedback from others on it too. It seems like a book everyone can enjoy, but if you're into history, traveling, or human triumph at all, then you must read it." --Erik, Ill Communication
"The best nonfiction book I've read this year. It’s rare that I read a nonfiction book that leaves me equal parts thrilled, sad, and optimistic. I won’t reveal much of the book (the title alone should be enough to make any sane person want to read it), but…well, trying to write about this book is pointless. Go read it. It’s that good. " --Dan Johnson, Ruminations
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From other authors
(Blurbs, yes. But several of these are blurbs I did not personally solicit, from writers I've never met. I'm grateful to all of these fine people. Read their books next!)
"Jason Roberts has brought something great into the world. To know ourselves at all, we have to know about people like James Holman, and this is a brilliantly executed biography of this extraordinary man. Where the story of The Blind Traveler could have been maudlin or corny or draped in historical cobwebs, A Sense of the World is alive, magisterial, suspenseful, frequently funny. Full of wonder and with a commanding sense of narrative, this is one of the best and most life-affirming biographies I've ever read."--Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
"I found this book astounding. That James Holman managed to perceive so much of his world is a triumph only slightly grander than that of Jason Roberts, two centuries later, recreating that world so vividly, accurately, and compellingly that you feel you are not reading a life, but seeing it."-- Mary Roach, Stiff and Spook
"Who is more truly blind--a sightless man who ventures alone into the most remote reaches of the earth, or the society that forgets him? James Holman at last takes his rightful place among history's great adventurers, and A Sense of the World takes its place as one of the year's most captivating and memorable books." --Paul Collins, Sixpence House,The Trouble With Tom
"Thoroughly researched and written with a seamless ease, A Sense of the World is a brilliant and long overdue tale of travel, adventure, and perseverance. Roberts has done a remarkable job." --Martin Dugard, The Last Voyage of Columbus and Into Africa
“In bringing Holman back into the limelight, Roberts has given us not only an utterly beguiling traveling companion—but an entire lost age. I learned something new on every page of this extraordinary book.” --David Laskin, The Children’s Blizzard
“Elegantly written yet relentlessly paced, A Sense of the World has the breadth and intimacy of a great, if improbably plotted, novel. The Blind Traveler’s story is clearly one for the ages, and in Roberts he has found his immortalizer.” --Tom Barbash, On Top of the World and The Last Good Chance
"The scent of sulphur on Mount Vesuvius, the taste of caviar in tsarist St. Petersburg, the sound of birdsong on an island off the coast of colonial Africa, the warmth of a window pane signaling dawn: A Sense of the World journeys to the farthest reaches of a distant era and returns with an exquisitely researched, exhilaratingly rendered cabinet of curiosities." --Richard Panek, The Invisible Century
“One of the most fascinating stories I’ve read in years. Jason Roberts deserves accolades for rescuing Holman’s life from obscurity, and recounting it with such respect for the record, and such tenderness of line.” --Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life? and Why Do I Love These People?
“Jason Roberts has rescued an astonishing man from the darkness of history, illuminating the textures, shapes, and stories of an age when the map of the world was incomplete. Impeccably researched, elegantly told, and truly sensational.” --Laura Fraser, An Italian Affair
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From booksellers
"A fascinating, compelling and very entertaining combination of travelogue and character study that follows a blind man who independently traveled around the world with next to no money in the early 1800s. He ended up touching almost all the countries of Europe and even brushes up against significant people in history like John Keats, Darwin and world leaders.
I liked the book's structure, with each chapter ending with a tease to what is coming up in the next chapter. I'd certainly recommend this well-written book to fans of popular history, especially those who enjoy learning about little-known events and characters who didn't necessarily change the course of history and whose contribution often gets lost in the grand sweep of history. It perfectly captures the age of sail and colonization with a central character who is gregarious, humorous and intelligent."
Alan Turner
Port Angeles Book & News, Port Angeles, WA
As quoted in Publishers' Weekly
Medical theories
from a physician:
Thanks for the opportunity to learn a little more about diseases that could possibly have caused Holman’s blindness. As you wrote, it is impossible to pin it down, and you are definitely wise to use general terms such as “idiopathic uveitis”.
My frustration with leaving it at that involves your use of the term increased “internal tension” on p. 56. Increased tension, or elevated intraocular pressure, is the hallmark of glaucoma. Arthritis is often associated with uveitis, and uveitis is a known cause of glaucoma.
After additional reading of current literature, I have learned that the current nomenclature favors not juvenile rheumatoid arthritis but, perhaps, a related disease, enthesitis-related arthritis. This condition, like JRA, is also a subset of juvenile idiopathic arthritis that may have affected the 24 year old Holman in 1810.
My notes and thoughts are attached.
Reiter’s Syndrome includes the triad of urethritis, arthritis, and conjunctivitis. It is most common in young men. The arthritis occurs as the body’s immune system is triggered to respond to a recent infection that may be otherwise resolved. It affects multiple joints, most commonly the knees and ankles; this is consistent with Holman’s condition. Urethritis is inflammation of the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the bladder to the outside of the body. Symptoms of urethritis are pain and difficulty with urination. No mention is made that this terror afflicted Holman. Some Reiter’s Syndrome experts consider the urethritis and arthritis to be sufficient for the diagnosis of Reiter’s Syndrome; conjunctivitis (not uveitis) occurs in about half of patients in these reports. The conjunctivitis is marked by swelling, redness, and irritation of the surface of the each eyeball and the inner lining of each eyelid. Anterior uveitis, also called iritis, occurs in 8 to 40 % of Reiter’s patients. Attacks usually improve after several months, and can recur over several years.
As described by Jason Roberts on p.56, Holman’s eye disease was not external, i.e. no conjunctivitis was evident. This argues against Reiter’s Syndrome, although it is conceivable he could possibly have developed iritis without conjunctivitis.
Today we know a genetic marker, HLA-B27, is found in about 75% of Reiter’s patients and in only 6% of people without Reiter’s. Almost all patients are male. Treatment today involves anti-inflammatory medications: non-steroidals such as aspirin (acetyl-salicylic acid) and indomethacin as well as steroids. The eye muscles that go into painful spasm in iritis can be forcibly relaxed with medication related to atropine. If this were known in Holman’s day, it is conceivable that potions possibly available during his lifetime may have helped. These would have as their sources willow bark (salix, a source of salicylic acid) and/or belladonna alkaloid plants (a source of atropine).
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is an abnormality of the body’s immune system. It occurs 5-10 times more frequently in women than men. Symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis frequently affect multiple joints. Fever and fatigue and skin rashes usually occur. Less than half of patients have inflammation of the eye, most commonly in the blood vessels of the retina, and such inflammation can cause blindness. Uveitis is not common.
Today this condition is treated with anti-inflammatory medications including non-steroidals such as aspirin (acetyl-salicylic acid) and indomethacin as well as steroids and other medications. Anti-malarial medications can be helpful to suppress the body’s abnormal immune response. If this were known in Holman’s time, it is possible that several concoctions may have been available to suppress systemic inflammation. Sources of these treatments include willow bark (salix, a source of salicylic acid) and quinine (a source of anti-malarial medication).
Adult rheumatoid arthritis is very common, affecting 1% of the adult population. Any joint may be involved, especially the small joints of the hands and feet. A sailor with the common hand joint disfiguration of adult rheumatoid arthritis would probably have poor hand grasp and be unable to climb the rigging of a ship, in contrast to Holman’s athleticism.
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis is a group of disorders affecting young people. A subset of particular interest to those concerned with Holman’s disease is enthesitis-related arthritis. This chronic arthritis is due to inflammation at the site where bones attach to ligaments and tendons. Most common in older boys and young adults, uveitis is sudden and symptomatic. Low-back spine disease and sacroiliitis are common.
Uveitis due to this or another arthritis could indeed have caused pain and light sensitivity. In the disease known as uveitic glaucoma, inflammatory proteins and white blood cells block the internal drain of the eye, raising the pressure inside the eye. Increased intraocular pressure damages the delicate optic nerve at the site where it inserts into the back of the eye. Peripheral vision is lost first, followed by loss of all light perception.
Howard S. Weiss, MD, MPH
References:
Daniel H Gold in Duane’s Clinical Ophthalmology Vol 5 Chapter 26, Ocular manifestations of connective tissue (collagen) diseases. pp13-16. Harper & Row, 1987.
American Academy of Ophthalmology. Basic and Clinical Science Course, 2006-2007
"So, too, we must follow our natures": Fryer Drew, a United Methodist pastor, has written a sermon based on A Sense of the World. It's posted here.
"The world is a book. and those who do not travel read only a page": Another sermon, this one by Rev. Stephen Kendrick, senior minister of First Church Boston. Posted here.
text copyright © 2006-7, Jason Roberts