“Dr. Sacks does not use computers—he prefers mail or fax.”

July 17, 2015 8:58 AM

My Letter From Oliver Sacks by David Friedman [The Morning New]

In 2002, David Friedman thought of a question he wanted to ask Oliver Sacks, on the topic of 3D glasses and “pseudoscopic” vision. A week after he sent the letter, he received a typewritten reply, complete with diagrams.

posted by Fizz (8 comments total)

Oliver Sacks is a treasure of humankind, and I am sorry to lose him.
posted by infinitewindow at 9:34 AM on July 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I love Mr Sacks books.

I used to get a sort of visual depth perception breakdown when I was young but it is a bit hard to explain , everything I would look at would appear to be very close and huge, If I looked at a doorknob to open it it would seem like it was 6 inches away ,or the size of a car and my enormous and frightening hand would be opening it. Trying to drink water from a glass seemed like a glass the size of a grain silo was falling at you, and looking at the ground while walking made it seem like you were lying on your stomach and skidding across the ground. My own hands were terrifying.

I have had this happen a couple of times as an adult and have tried to figure out what is going on,
it seems like whatever I focus on zooms to dominate my vision, I think this happens normally when you look at something as a form of concentration ,but your brain knows it is not really closer so no distortion. This would only happen when I was tired.

I noticed that Michael Gondry has this giant hand thing happen to the main character in "the science of sleep, and in the video "Everlong". Make me think he has this too.
posted by boilermonster at 9:35 AM on July 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I used to get a sort of visual depth perception breakdown when I was young but it is a bit hard to explain , everything I would look at would appear to be very close and huge, If I looked at a doorknob to open it it would seem like it was 6 inches away ,or the size of a car and my enormous and frightening hand would be opening it.

That's dysmetropsia, a.k.a. Alice in Wonderland syndrome, probably.
posted by painquale at 9:43 AM on July 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

boilermonster, I can self-induce that if I look at something about two inches from my eye for a minute or so through the space between my glasses and my cheek.
posted by infinitewindow at 10:18 AM on July 17, 2015

I used to get that as a child, often if focusing on distant objects through a chain link fence.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 10:24 AM on July 17, 2015

I get the same thing- rarely as an adult- but I can still kind of cause it when staring at the glowing of my clock when half-asleep in the dark.
posted by The Man from Lardfork at 10:27 AM on July 17, 2015

dysmetropsia, a.k.a. Alice in Wonderland syndrome

Famously described in Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb":

When I was a child I had a fever
My hands felt just like two balloons.
Now I've got that feeling once again
I can't explain you would not understand
This is not how I am.

posted by The Tensor at 11:10 AM on July 17, 2015

I have often wondered how this world-famous octogenarian suffering from cancer can remain so incredibly productive as to write multiple lengthy essays and think pieces a year and keep up with developing research. No email you say? I think I have found my answer.
posted by Miko at 8:22 PM on July 17, 2015 [3 favorites]