The World I Live in

She could neither see nor hear, but she experienced the world as a richly vital place, redolent of smells that were a language to her and alive with vibrations that spoke to her alone. American author and activist HELEN ADAMS KELLER (1880-1968) was already famous, thanks to her 1903 biography, when she wrote this 1908 collection of beautifully poetic essays that brought readers enthralled with her story deeper insights into how she "saw" the world. Here, she wonders at how limited the senses of others appear to her and how deeply language colors perception, and offers us a startling account of the nothingness that was her existence before her "soul dawn," before her famous teacher, Annie Sullivan, drew her out of her insular semiconsciousness. Surely one of the most extraordinary books ever written, but one of the most extraordinary people of recent centuries, this is a classic exploration of what it means to be human and alive that continues to captivate readers today.