Roberts, Jason

Description

Travel writer Jason Roberts reads from his new book, "A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History's Greatest Traveler." "A Sense of the World" is a biography of Englishman James Holman, a dedicated traveler who lost his sight at 25 but refused to let blindness keep him at home. Holman (1786-1857) was known simply as "The Blind Traveler" -- a solitary, sightless adventurer who fought the slave trade in Africa, survived a frozen captivity in Siberia, hunted rogue elephants in Ceylon and helped chart the Australian outback. Roberts says of researching and writing the book, "It was essentially a quest, which almost became a personal mission. I didn't have to do too much research to become aware that we should be naming junior high schools after this man -- he should be part of our emotional landscape, like Johnny Appleseed and Helen Keller. . . . Holman really was a person who experienced the world more completely than anybody before or since. He spent 50 years simply going out into the world and experiencing it for no other reason than to understand place." Live From Prairie Lights was a live public radio program broadcast from Prairie Lights, an independent bookstore in Iowa City, Iowa. The program showcased new and established writers from around the world. Contact the VWU Webmaster: https://www.writinguniversity.org

Record Contributed By

WSUI (Radio station : Iowa City, Iowa)