Oliver Sacks. The Island of the Colorblind (1997)

     Oliver Sacks. The Island of the Colorblind (1997) Sacks can write about anything and interest you. Perhaps that’s because he writes about things that interest him, and that’s a lot more than his metier of neurologist. Neurology in this book forms the focus, but it’s the digressions that bring the most delight. There’s Sack’s love of cycads, and ancient order that has proliferated and populated every habitat except the far north. His ability to give us at least an impression of what colour blindness feels like, his interest in and affection for everyone he meets and befriends, his notes on ecological and economic effects of colonialism, all these make for a book that gives great pleasure.
     The episodic structure of the narrative, and the smorgasbord of mini-essays make it easy to read and leave and return to again. Somehow, one never loses the thread: what causes total colourblindness (a genetic mutation that has become concentrated in a few Pacific islands, and appears sporadically elsewhere in the world); and what causes bodig, a kind of Parkinsonism which may be caused by long term ingestion of minute amounts of the toxins in cycad seeds, which are carefully washed, pounded, cooked, and strained to remove those toxins.
     Bodig may be an example of a genetic flaw that causes disease only with environmental trigger; the family histories of the disease indicate some genetic susceptibility is involved. The younger generation doesn’t come down with bodig, which clearly shows that some lifestyle change has occurred. But there isn’t enough data to solve the puzzle, and as the older generation dies of the disease, the data dies with them. The kind of research effort required to solve the puzzle costs a lot of money; and since there is unlikely to be any commercial need or use for the answers, the money won’t be allocated. Pity. It’s worth having answers even if they are useless. Besides, no one knows what use some information may have in future. It could well be that the biochemistry or physiology of bodig would provide clues to understanding or treating similar neurological conditions.
     A good book. **** (2003)