A Sense of the World – Book Review

I DREAM OF going blind someday. It’s been one of my lifelong fantasies. I have several personal reasons for wishing this but those would remain a secret for now. I’m sharing this dream though so you’d understand why this particular book now holds a special place in my heart. It changed me in a huge way. In fact, I now owe my newly reshaped goals in life to this unlikely story of a blind traveler.

You know that quote: “You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.” Well that is exactly what I feel right now.

A Sense of the World by Jason Roberts (My secondhand trade paperback copy)

James Holman was known simply as “The Blind Traveler” in his time. A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History’s Greatest Traveler is technically the first book about him. If not for the efforts of the author, Jason Roberts, the modern world would have never known his inspiring story. A story of the admirable determination of a blind man who dreamed of circumnavigating the world while traversing its most uncharted territories.

I had to smile each time Fernando Po (in Africa) was mentioned in the book. =)

James Holman wasn’t born blind. His blindness is actually one great mystery in the book. Holman also didn’t belong in the upper class society. But his extreme frugality and convivial character were some of his biggest advantages over the conventional traveler. Unlike others, he didn’t publicize his wandering aspirations before setting out to his expeditions. He had to keep his plans in secret lest his friends and acquaintances react negatively, although well-intentioned. Therefore, most of his travels were only realized through chance circumstances. And this was just all well for The Blind Traveler because he preferred traveling alone.

I love the whole book but the part that struck me most was the first two-thirds of it. As with most biographies, the last few chapters tend to get quite depressing. Some of the most interesting aspects of the book are:

• How Holman, a young man with bold ambitions, had come to accept blindness as a gift. Indeed, he took it as a favorable handicap that has proven its merits when it came to dealing with the women of his time.
• Holman’s poetry. The Blind Traveler had a knack of using poems to express or rather mask his emotions in writing.
• All the historical, nautical and medical facts scattered throughout the book. Surprisingly, I wasn’t bored at all reading about seafaring vessels and their history. Maybe it’s because I have a seaman for a father.

Holman tells us that the blind have an unapparent advantage over the sighted when it comes to getting the attention of the opposite sex. The veritable romantic air of the time (something our modern age unfortunately lacks) couldn’t be more obvious in Holman’s writings.

The beauties of the beautiful
Are veiled before the blind,
Not so the graces and the bloom
That blossom in the mind.
The beauties of the finest form
Are sentenced to decay;
Not so the beauties of the mind,
They never fade away.

The prevailing challenge to Holman were his literary critics. That’s because The Blind Traveler was not only a sailor but also a writer. I’ll let you wonder how he wrote.

James Holman - 1825 Portrait

During the 19th century, blindness carried a heavy stigma. People didn’t have the right medical knowledge yet so it was widely believed that impairments like blindness was a punishment from God. Thus, the skepticism towards Holman’s credibility as a traveler became the ever-present conflict in the story.

The biographer chose to use little to no dialogue at all in the book and I’m glad he did.

… employing literary license, such as inventing small details or dialogue to liven up a scene, seemed patently out of the question. Holman was already an improbable enough figure. I didn’t want to introduce any doubts as to the authenticity of things in the reader’s mind.

~ Jason Roberts (Author)

A Sense of the World is first and foremost a biography but it’s also, in large part, a travel novel. However, it’s not filled with colorful and vivid descriptions of scenic places. Or, at least not in the ways we are used to. Instead, the book offers a unique look at how a blind man perceives the world as only he can “see” it. You might think that it’s simply how you’ll sense and describe the world with your eyes closed but that’s not it. Reading Holman’s descriptions felt like he was showing me how to use a new sensory organ I never knew I had.

The thing I loved most about Holman is how cleverly he worked towards his dream. He did everything behind the scenes. Reading about Holman’s stoic patience and sheer determination inspired me to reflect on my life again. What do I really want to achieve? How much am I willing to sacrifice for my dreams? Holman’s life was a stark reminder for me to be strong-willed and have a less diffident attitude.

We owe the author our thanks for the unthinkable amount of work he had done just to save this remarkable man from utter obscurity. And I could not have wished for a better writer. Jason Roberts weaves all the little bits and pieces left of Holman’s story in such an engaging prose you’d really feel for The Blind Traveler. I even found myself pining for the simple life in Holman’s time.

Thanks to Mr. Roberts, we now know that there was once a man who saw our world more than any sighted explorer has ever had. Indeed, without even using his eyes. He used all his other senses more expeditiously than anyone which enabled him to experience the truest sense of our world.

* Read this book if you like history, travel or poetry. No, actually even if you don’t like any of those, read this book still. I never even heard of this book before seeing it at the bargain store. Now I’m dying to get it in hardcover! As you can sense (hehe!), I adore this book to no end so it’s only fitting I give it the following score.

To learn more about the Blind Traveler and his era, please visit:
www.jasonroberts.net/holman – read the book’s introduction here!

Read other reviews at Amazon.com then purchase your copy of “A Sense of the World”