Gifts of Sight

Book excerpt: We look to memoirs for guidance, instruction from the lives of others, cautionary tales perhaps and, if were lucky, inspiration. If we also get a clear view of abundant humanity, we count it as a bonus. Gifts of Sight is that kind of rare memoir. With skill, irony toward himself, and a clear and moral love of his fellow-man, Bruce Shields has written a book that is in part the account of an eye doctor, in part a meditation on the courage of his patients, and in great part a metaphor for Life itself. Gifts of Sight, meditative and Chekhovian, is already a classic as it leaves the authors pen; it should become perceived as one of the great quiet American tales, in which a concerned and thoughtful doctor addresses the word vision in all its meanings. Frank Delaney New York Times bestselling author of Ireland