Reviews

For the Benefit of Those Who See: Dispatches from the World of the Blind by Rosemary Mahoney

eoppelt's review against another edition

3.0

Won this in a first reads giveaway. This jumped between a two and a four for me. I enjoyed the personal stories the author shared about the blind people she interacted with. The history of the perception of blindness was also interesting. But she got very bogged down in physical descriptions of people and places. It might be my own vision impairment, but these got boring to me. I wanted to know about their experiences, not three paragraph descriptions of what every person she encountered looked like.

I admire Mahoney's attempt to learn about people who make her uncomfortable. And I found her experience with the attitudes towards blind people worldwide enlightening. Since I grew up around blind people, I've never felt the same fear or dismissal that appears to be prevelant. I appreciate neing exposed to those attitudes.

zivan's review against another edition

5.0

This is not a book for the blind, as the title states, it is for the benefit of those who see.

Blind people may take offense at the level of ignorance displayed by the author. However I think this ignorance real, or exaggerated serves a purpose. It allows a reader that approaches blind people with such misconceptions to take the journey into enlightenment together with the narrator.