The Country of the Blind
A review of

The Country of the Blind

A Memoir at the End of Sight

Andrew Leland • Penguin Press • 2023

Ever Darker

by David Meyer

Andrew Leland, editor of The Believer and former host of The Organist podcast, provides a compelling account of his increasing blindness and the enormous changes it brought to his life.

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a painless, degenerative eye condition that leads to blindness. The disease progresses incrementally, enabling people with RP, including Andrew Leland – editor of The Believer and former host of The Organist podcast – to contemplate their oncoming blindness. Though society often marginalizes blind people, Leland argues that blindness reveals new ways to exist in the world.

Blindness

In the popular imagination, blind people are absolutely sightless, but most blind people don’t live in total darkness. Unfortunately, the shadows they may perceive with their eyes don’t help them function in the world.

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