For the Benefit of Those Who See

Dispatches from the World of the Blind

By: Rosemary Mahoney

Narrated by: Rosemary Mahoney

In the tradition of Oliver Sacks's The Island of the Colorblind, Rosemary Mahoney tells the story of Braille Without Borders, the first school for the blind in Tibet, and of Sabriye Tenberken, the remarkable blind woman who founded the school.

Fascinated and impressed by what she learned from the blind children of Tibet, Mahoney was moved to investigate further the cultural history of blindness. As part of her research, she spent three months teaching at Tenberken's international training center for blind adults in Kerala, India, an experience that reveals both the shocking oppression endured by the world's blind, as well as their great resilience, integrity, ingenuity, and strength.

By living among the blind, Rosemary Mahoney enables us to see them in fascinating close up, revealing their particular "quality of ease that seems to broadcast a fundamental connection to the world." Having read For the Benefit of Those Who See, you will never see the world in quite the same way again.

"In this intelligent and humane book, Rosemary Mahoney writes of people who are blind . . . She reports on their courage and gives voice, time and again, to their miraculous dignity." -- Andrew Solomon, author of Far From the Tree

Critic reviews

"Rosemary Mahoney is one of a handful of nonfiction writers so original and so surprising that I look forward to each new book with an excitement bordering on impatience. What makes For the Benefit of Those Who See especially absorbing is that it turns on Mahoney's greatest strength: her idiosyncratic and unblinking eye. As it explores the world of the blind, this provocative and revelatory work teaches us a great deal about what it means to see. And when I finished this book, I returned to the world feeling that all my senses had been sharpened."-George Howe Colt, author of The Big House (finalist for The National Book Award in nonfiction) and Brothers

"This joyful, thoughtful book took me on an emotional journey and introduced me to people I'll never forget. With her wonderfully sharp prose and great sense of humor and humanity, Rosemary Mahoney has written a riveting narrative that combines world-class reporting, science, history, and travel writing. For the Benefit of Those Who See has changed forever the way I view my senses, and made me aware of how I do and don't experience the world."-Will Schwalbe, author of The End of Your Life Book Club

"In this intelligent and humane book, Rosemary Mahoney writes of people who are blind, many of them from impoverished cultures with little sympathy for their plight. She reports on their courage and gives voice, time and again, to their miraculous dignity."-Andrew Solomon, author of Far From the Tree

"A spiritual odyssey into the world of the blind....A beautiful meditation on human nature."-Kirkus (Starred Review)

"'The blind can well enough defend themselves,' says Mahoney (Down the Nile) in this beautiful book....Mahoney becomes an exceptional translator for the blind, mediating for what she ends up seeing as two groups of the sighted: those who see with their eyes, and those who see with their minds."-Publishers Weekly

"[a] sparkling exploration...when you finish [Mahoney's] book, walk outside and close your eyes. You just might meet the world again, startling, mysterious, new. - Lynn Darling, Oprah.com

"Mahoney's overall story is one of hope and affirmation...this gracious book illuminates blind culture and teaches something of lifeways in Tibet, southern India, and sub-Saharan Africa." - Janet Ingraham Dwyer, Library Journal

"[Mahoney's] research is fascinating, her self-scrutiny refreshing and her prose just the right kind of gorgeous. In this wonderful book we discover along with the author that both sight and its absence come with burdens-and beauties." -Judith Stone, More.com

WOW! Amazing! Moving! Absolutely on point and accurate!

Regardless of your visual acuity, this book is amazing. The author poignantly explores what it means to be visually impaired and how false perceptions cloud what the sighted think of the blind and vice versa. Blindness is NOT worse than death, only provides a different experience of the world.

An excellent peek into blind culture

This is an excellent look into blind culture from a sighted person for sighted people. I loved reading about the two schools and also learning how blind people are treated around the world and how they overcome discrimination against them.

A great read, if kind of boring in parts

Parts of this book were excellent, parts a little dry. I learned a lot about blindness, and how blind people operate, and was entranced by several parts where life at a blind school, led by blind administrators, was described in detail.

The scene where the power goes out at the school, and she contrasts her experience with the blind students and administrators (who didn't even know the power had gone out, and were going about their normal routines) brought me to tears, and I will not soon forget it.

Ms. Mahoney delivers an excellent performance reading her own book.

I might have given it 5 stars, if it weren't for some fairly long stretches where she just seemed to go into far too much detail. At one point a walk down the street goes on for half an hour or so as she describes every pot hole, every insect and virtually every blade of grass. This kind of thing happens several times and I was sorely tempted to fast-forward a few times.

I think I understand what she was trying to do in those parts, but at times I felt she was just going a bit too far with the detail.

great book

great book that provided a lot of insight and encouraged reflection. You know a good book when your actions are changed by it and I believe that mine will be from this book.

Absolutely beautiful book

Great book! I thoroughly enjoyed learning so much about the blind. I, too, held my own preconceived notions and beliefs regarding the blind. A few years ago, I witnessed a blind lady at my gym doing box jumps and other exercises, so that was the beginning of a new world view for me, and this book brought it so much further. The students' lives illustrated here was fantastic.