A rediscovered modern classic: a life-affirming account of one man’s journey into blindness

A gift to the whole of humanity

Cathy Rentzenbrink

Days before the birth of his first son, writer and academic John M. Hull started to go blind. He would lose his sight entirely, unable to distinguish any sense of light or shadow. Isolated and claustrophobic, he sank into a deep depression. Soon, he had forgotten what his wife and daughter looked like. In Notes on Blindness, John reveals his profound sense of loss, his altered perceptions of time and space, of waking and sleeping, love and companionship. With astonishing lucidity of thought and no self-pity, he describes the horror of being faceless, and asks what it truly means to be a husband and father. And eventually, he finds a new way of experiencing the world, of seeing the light.

Based on John’s diaries recorded on audio tape, this is a profoundly moving, wise and life-affirming account of one man’s journey into blindness.

Poignant and wise Andrew Solomon

Published in partnership with Wellcome Collection.