A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History’s Greatest Traveler

To lose your sight in 1811 meant more than being confined to a lasting darkness: It meant being dismissed as an invalid, and, worse, as an object of pity. Jason Roberts’ A Sense of the World is the true story of a restless young man who wouldn’t accept this. Through careful documentation Roberts proves the impossible: that Lt. James Holman of the Royal Navy was more dashing in blindness than most of his able countrymen—dog-sledding across Siberia, horse-back riding through the jungles of Brazil, climbing Mt. Vesuvius during an eruption, and eventually circumventing the entire planet.