A Sense of the World: How a blind man became history's greatest traveler


Raise the Soul to Flame (Excerpts)


A Sense of the World: How a blind man became history's greatest traveler on Amazon

By Jason Roberts

This is a remarkable account of how James Holman, a blind man from Britain, became history's greatest traveler. Staying one step ahead of those desiring to institutionalize or infantilize him for his blindness, Holman traveled more miles than any other explorer prior to motorized transportation. Artist, poet, and sportsman, this extraordinary individual ventured through jungles, across deserts, and over seas, ever embracing the world, and always reaching for the "more" that he could become. In the final chapter, Roberts names Daniel Kish "the Spiritual Successor to James Holman."

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A Voyage Round the World, Volume I

by James Holman - 1834

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James Holman, FRS, (15 October 1786 ­ 29 July 1857), known as the "Blind Traveler," was a British adventurer, author and social observer, best known for his writings on his extensive travels. Not only completely blind but suffering from debilitating pain and limited mobility, he undertook a series of solo journeys that were unprecedented both in their extent of geography and method of "human echolocation". In 1866, the journalist William Jerdan wrote that "From Marco Polo to Mungo Park, no three of the most famous travellers, grouped together, would exceed the extent and variety of countries traversed by our blind countryman."
From Wikipedia

Opening Our Eyes to Different Kinds of Sight

Miller-McCune - August, 2008
By Frank Nelson

A review of Jason Robert's book, A Sense of the World: How a blind man became history's greatest traveler, and its tribute to the work of Daniel Kish and World Access for the Blind . "A recent best-selling book has forged an unlikely link between a man born in England more than 200 years ago and the groundbreaking work being done today by California-based World Access for the Blind. ... Toward the end of his book, Roberts pays tribute to the work of Daniel Kish, ... Roberts refers to Kish as Holman's 'spiritual successor.'" The final chapter is called "Raise the Soul to Flame."