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Hello Darkness, My Old Friend: How Daring Dreams and Unyielding Friendship Turned One Man's Blindness into an Extraordinary Vision for Life
As seen on the Today Show and as featured in People Magazine!
The remarkable and inspiring story of a Columbia undergrad from a poor Jewish family who, after losing his eyesight to disease during his junior year, finds the power to break through the darkness and fulfill his vision for a life of great professional success and distinguished public service.
It’s a bitterly cold February in 1961, and Sandy Greenberg lies in a hospital bed in Detroit, newly blind. A junior at Columbia University from a Jewish family that struggled to stay above the poverty line, Sandy had just started to see the world open up to him. Now, instead of his plans for a bright future—Harvard Law and politics—Sandy faces a new reality, one defined by a cane or companion dog, menial work, and a cautious path through life.
But that’s not how this story ends.
In the depth of his new darkness, Sandy faces a choice—play it “safe” by staying in his native Buffalo or return to Columbia to pursue his dreams. With the loving devotion of his girlfriend (and now wife) Sue and the selflessness of best friends Art Garfunkel and Jerry Speyer, Sandy endures unimaginable adversity while forging a life of exceptional achievement.
From his time in the White House working for President Lyndon B. Johnson to his graduate studies at Harvard and Oxford under luminaries such as Archibald Cox, Sir Arthur Goodhart, and Samuel Huntington, and through the guidance of his invaluable mentor David Rockefeller, Sandy fills his life and the lives of those around him with a radiant light of philanthropy, entrepreneurship, art, and innovation.
The remarkable and inspiring story of a Columbia undergrad from a poor Jewish family who, after losing his eyesight to disease during his junior year, finds the power to break through the darkness and fulfill his vision for a life of great professional success and distinguished public service.
It’s a bitterly cold February in 1961, and Sandy Greenberg lies in a hospital bed in Detroit, newly blind. A junior at Columbia University from a Jewish family that struggled to stay above the poverty line, Sandy had just started to see the world open up to him. Now, instead of his plans for a bright future—Harvard Law and politics—Sandy faces a new reality, one defined by a cane or companion dog, menial work, and a cautious path through life.
But that’s not how this story ends.
In the depth of his new darkness, Sandy faces a choice—play it “safe” by staying in his native Buffalo or return to Columbia to pursue his dreams. With the loving devotion of his girlfriend (and now wife) Sue and the selflessness of best friends Art Garfunkel and Jerry Speyer, Sandy endures unimaginable adversity while forging a life of exceptional achievement.
From his time in the White House working for President Lyndon B. Johnson to his graduate studies at Harvard and Oxford under luminaries such as Archibald Cox, Sir Arthur Goodhart, and Samuel Huntington, and through the guidance of his invaluable mentor David Rockefeller, Sandy fills his life and the lives of those around him with a radiant light of philanthropy, entrepreneurship, art, and innovation.
240 pages, Hardcover
Published June 30, 2020
212 people are currently reading
4139 people want to read
About the author
Sanford D. Greenberg
3 books36 followersInventor, author, public servant, and philanthropist on a mission to end blindness.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 123 reviews
August 7, 2021
5+★
“I am tall. That helps me get ready in the morning because I am able to lean well over the sink when I shave, and that’s important. If I cut myself, the blood will spill into the sink. When I do cut myself, I may or may not be aware of it, but regardless, every day after I have finished shaving, I wash my face with very cold water to seal up any nicks or cuts. I make minor prayers for tiny nicks, hoping to avoid the more serious cuts. My life is full of minor prayers.”
Sanford Greenberg’s life has been full of a lot of things, not just minor prayers. I can’t remember when I was last so awestruck by the life and achievements of an individual. He calls himself the “luckiest man in the world” and then goes on to tell us why.
Here’s a passage where he tries to tell us the advantages he’s enjoyed since becoming blind at eighteen.
“We do not wonder what is beyond the horizon because we do not have horizons. For us, horizons just do not exist.
. . .
With no horizons and no visual sensations to compete with and anchor my thoughts, I don’t have the same sense of boundaries shared by people impaired with sight. Sometimes this has to do with the physical world in front of me; sometimes I experience it as a vague border between the dream state and the waking state.”
I often experience this vague border between dreaming and waking, and I have to say I love it, so I’m pleased it’s on the plus side of his equation. The disadvantages are obvious. He was a terrific student and in his first year at Colombia University in New York City, he met his new roommate, Art Garfunkel, then a philosophical, dreamy, quirky, brilliant guy who became his best friend for life. Another stroke of luck.
Art and Sandy - roommates at Columbia People.com
These two young men pondered the nature of life, the colour of grass, the great art of the world, philosophy – you name it, they talked about it. They were both certainly more cerebral and passionately inquisitive than most people I’ve known at eighteen.
They were a couple of Jewish boys who shared a common culture and outlook. Sandy loved his trumpet and played drums, while Art played guitar and sang ‘a bit’, sometimes with a neighbour, Paul (Simon).
“Making music is like a prescription for a disease that cannot be cured but whose symptoms can be alleviated. Music did that for me back then, and still does.”
We learn how Sandy lost his sight and how he made a promise to God from his hospital bed. We all do this, I think, say things in our heads like ‘If I just get out of this alive, I promise I will stop, start, do, or be something . . . (name your own penance). The difference is, Greenberg did it!
With the help of Sue (then girlfriend, later wife - yes, more luck!) and Art and countless friends and readers who recorded all of his reading assignments, he went all the way through Harvard Law School and then got a scholarship to study at Oxford. This was before tiny recorders, of course. Reel-to-reel tape decks were enormous.
He is actually lucky in that he has a spectacular memory and that he somehow manages with only four hours of sleep a night. That's prisoner-of-war torture for me!
He says he is lucky in that his eyes look ‘normal’ and he wears glasses, which helps to make him appear ‘normal’ as well. If he puts his hand out first (pre-Covid!), people shake hands so he doesn’t have to fumble around looking for theirs.
Sanford D Greenberg, author Photo Hill Press
He has found all kinds of tricks to not look like that poor blind guy he once saw begging on the streets. He was adamant he wouldn't have a guide dog to advertise that he was blind. Stubborn!
His career, which took him to the White House and the various halls of power, wouldn’t be believed if it were fiction. But it isn’t. He was in the Johnson White House, talks about the man, the wheeling and dealing and the fun.
“We knew how to let off steam, but when we worked, we worked hard. We were responsible, we were fresh, we brought something new to the table. We thought all that, anyway, and perhaps it was true. When you work in the White House, people are likely to listen to you and want to talk with you, because, again, it is all about access.”
But there is a downside.
“But you also lose a certain innocence in the White House. You see things you do not want to see. You see people behaving in an untoward manner, such as a staffer rifling through another staffer’s desk. If the president says, ‘Let us sit down and reason together,’ it means you’ve already lost.
I had come into the White House believing everything. I left believing half, or three-fourths, which means that I had lost the comfort of uncritical belief.
. . .
One thing we knew a year before the ‘New York Times’ and others blew it open was that the [Vietnam] war was a disaster for the United States. It was hard to accept.”
He was lucky that an exercise they learned to do in an art class gave him a useful perspective for handling himself without sight. He’s very good at knowing where he is, although he never speaks of using anything like echolocation or other orientation skills that people have developed more recently. He seems to have instincts that he keeps strengthening and that work for him.
“From learning at Columbia how to identify entire drawings from a single line or section, I can in a similar way put together a work of art or an entire room.”
A personal digression:
I remember having to learn how to do this with classical music - hear just a tiny bit of music and know which work it was from and where in the work. These days, people quote lines from The Simpsons and Seinfeld back and forth to each other and know which episode they're from, but it's not really the same thing, is it?
When his first child was born, he knew what he wanted them to learn about the world. Music, art, nature - beauty.
“I wanted my children to see beauty in this world. Arthur, more than I, more than Sue, would be able to provide that. He became a second father to my children.”
He and Art and his two older kids took a terrific road trip around the country, particularly some of my favourite places in the West, and I loved his account of it. He paints just as vivid a picture of it all from the descriptions he’s given as they travel and from his memories. He is always grateful for how much he read and haunted museums as a kid.
Music plays in the car, Art sings along. Art’s music is the soundtrack to this book. I can hear all the songs that I love so much. He complains about some things on the recordings, but who cares? I loved all of Simon and Garfunkel's music. Enjoy this one, which applies to Greenberg's story: The Sound of Silence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAEpp...
Sandy and Art, many years later nationalgeographic.com
I don’t know how Greenberg sat still, biting his tongue, when meeting Werner von Braun, whom most Americans know as a rocket scientist, but whom he could think of only as a former Nazi SS officer who may have been responsible for the deaths of so many of his people.
“We concluded the meeting. I stood up, and we shook hands. His hand had shaken that of President Kennedy. His hand had grasped the hand of Gestapo chief Heinrich Himmler. His hand had buttoned the tunic of a black SS uniform, had risen to hail Hitler. On his way back to the officers’ quarters after dinner, might he have paused one night to look up at the starry sky he loved so much and seen the souls of Jewish people passing into the heavens?”
It's hard to single out Greenberg's most remarkable achievement – except – this last one, prompted by a meeting with Jonas Salk, of polio vaccine fame.
But I must backtrack a bit, to that hospital bed in Detroit after his eye operation and his promise to God. He didn’t know where to start to save other people from his situation (an early glaucoma that was exacerbated by the wrong medication).
Almost nobody knew of his promise, so he could have let it go. Instead, he confided in his good friend Sol Linowitz, (who turned the company called Haloid into Xerox, just to drop another name), and Linowitz offered to introduce him to Dr Jonas Salk, famous for the polio vaccine. Salk is the one who inspired him to widen his vision, so to speak.
“For the first time, I felt there was realistic hope for the promise I had made to God. The reason: Dr. Salk had urged upon me a focus beyond the treatment of a disease’s symptoms or its individual physiological effects. After all, he had made his own objective nothing less than to end a disease … and he succeeded! In my mind, I repeated, ‘End it! End it! End it!’ I have never forgotten that.”
I will end here, myself. The Sanford and Sue Greenberg End Blindness Prize of $3million dollars was won in December 2020 by a group of 13 scientists. Note: not end glaucoma or any specific condition. END BLINDNESS!
https://endblindness2020.com/
Picture of a lucky man! jewishweek.timesofisrael.com
It is a marvellous read, full of anecdotes and populated with people you’ve heard of and seen in the news. The people who get out there and DO things. Amazing. Thanks to NetGalley and Post Hill Press for the review copy.
Here are links to a couple of other good articles, if you can read them.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hello-...
https://magazine.columbia.edu/article...
“I am tall. That helps me get ready in the morning because I am able to lean well over the sink when I shave, and that’s important. If I cut myself, the blood will spill into the sink. When I do cut myself, I may or may not be aware of it, but regardless, every day after I have finished shaving, I wash my face with very cold water to seal up any nicks or cuts. I make minor prayers for tiny nicks, hoping to avoid the more serious cuts. My life is full of minor prayers.”
Sanford Greenberg’s life has been full of a lot of things, not just minor prayers. I can’t remember when I was last so awestruck by the life and achievements of an individual. He calls himself the “luckiest man in the world” and then goes on to tell us why.
Here’s a passage where he tries to tell us the advantages he’s enjoyed since becoming blind at eighteen.
“We do not wonder what is beyond the horizon because we do not have horizons. For us, horizons just do not exist.
. . .
With no horizons and no visual sensations to compete with and anchor my thoughts, I don’t have the same sense of boundaries shared by people impaired with sight. Sometimes this has to do with the physical world in front of me; sometimes I experience it as a vague border between the dream state and the waking state.”
I often experience this vague border between dreaming and waking, and I have to say I love it, so I’m pleased it’s on the plus side of his equation. The disadvantages are obvious. He was a terrific student and in his first year at Colombia University in New York City, he met his new roommate, Art Garfunkel, then a philosophical, dreamy, quirky, brilliant guy who became his best friend for life. Another stroke of luck.
Art and Sandy - roommates at Columbia People.com
These two young men pondered the nature of life, the colour of grass, the great art of the world, philosophy – you name it, they talked about it. They were both certainly more cerebral and passionately inquisitive than most people I’ve known at eighteen.
They were a couple of Jewish boys who shared a common culture and outlook. Sandy loved his trumpet and played drums, while Art played guitar and sang ‘a bit’, sometimes with a neighbour, Paul (Simon).
“Making music is like a prescription for a disease that cannot be cured but whose symptoms can be alleviated. Music did that for me back then, and still does.”
We learn how Sandy lost his sight and how he made a promise to God from his hospital bed. We all do this, I think, say things in our heads like ‘If I just get out of this alive, I promise I will stop, start, do, or be something . . . (name your own penance). The difference is, Greenberg did it!
With the help of Sue (then girlfriend, later wife - yes, more luck!) and Art and countless friends and readers who recorded all of his reading assignments, he went all the way through Harvard Law School and then got a scholarship to study at Oxford. This was before tiny recorders, of course. Reel-to-reel tape decks were enormous.
He is actually lucky in that he has a spectacular memory and that he somehow manages with only four hours of sleep a night. That's prisoner-of-war torture for me!
He says he is lucky in that his eyes look ‘normal’ and he wears glasses, which helps to make him appear ‘normal’ as well. If he puts his hand out first (pre-Covid!), people shake hands so he doesn’t have to fumble around looking for theirs.
Sanford D Greenberg, author Photo Hill Press
He has found all kinds of tricks to not look like that poor blind guy he once saw begging on the streets. He was adamant he wouldn't have a guide dog to advertise that he was blind. Stubborn!
His career, which took him to the White House and the various halls of power, wouldn’t be believed if it were fiction. But it isn’t. He was in the Johnson White House, talks about the man, the wheeling and dealing and the fun.
“We knew how to let off steam, but when we worked, we worked hard. We were responsible, we were fresh, we brought something new to the table. We thought all that, anyway, and perhaps it was true. When you work in the White House, people are likely to listen to you and want to talk with you, because, again, it is all about access.”
But there is a downside.
“But you also lose a certain innocence in the White House. You see things you do not want to see. You see people behaving in an untoward manner, such as a staffer rifling through another staffer’s desk. If the president says, ‘Let us sit down and reason together,’ it means you’ve already lost.
I had come into the White House believing everything. I left believing half, or three-fourths, which means that I had lost the comfort of uncritical belief.
. . .
One thing we knew a year before the ‘New York Times’ and others blew it open was that the [Vietnam] war was a disaster for the United States. It was hard to accept.”
He was lucky that an exercise they learned to do in an art class gave him a useful perspective for handling himself without sight. He’s very good at knowing where he is, although he never speaks of using anything like echolocation or other orientation skills that people have developed more recently. He seems to have instincts that he keeps strengthening and that work for him.
“From learning at Columbia how to identify entire drawings from a single line or section, I can in a similar way put together a work of art or an entire room.”
A personal digression:
I remember having to learn how to do this with classical music - hear just a tiny bit of music and know which work it was from and where in the work. These days, people quote lines from The Simpsons and Seinfeld back and forth to each other and know which episode they're from, but it's not really the same thing, is it?
When his first child was born, he knew what he wanted them to learn about the world. Music, art, nature - beauty.
“I wanted my children to see beauty in this world. Arthur, more than I, more than Sue, would be able to provide that. He became a second father to my children.”
He and Art and his two older kids took a terrific road trip around the country, particularly some of my favourite places in the West, and I loved his account of it. He paints just as vivid a picture of it all from the descriptions he’s given as they travel and from his memories. He is always grateful for how much he read and haunted museums as a kid.
Music plays in the car, Art sings along. Art’s music is the soundtrack to this book. I can hear all the songs that I love so much. He complains about some things on the recordings, but who cares? I loved all of Simon and Garfunkel's music. Enjoy this one, which applies to Greenberg's story: The Sound of Silence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAEpp...
Sandy and Art, many years later nationalgeographic.com
I don’t know how Greenberg sat still, biting his tongue, when meeting Werner von Braun, whom most Americans know as a rocket scientist, but whom he could think of only as a former Nazi SS officer who may have been responsible for the deaths of so many of his people.
“We concluded the meeting. I stood up, and we shook hands. His hand had shaken that of President Kennedy. His hand had grasped the hand of Gestapo chief Heinrich Himmler. His hand had buttoned the tunic of a black SS uniform, had risen to hail Hitler. On his way back to the officers’ quarters after dinner, might he have paused one night to look up at the starry sky he loved so much and seen the souls of Jewish people passing into the heavens?”
It's hard to single out Greenberg's most remarkable achievement – except – this last one, prompted by a meeting with Jonas Salk, of polio vaccine fame.
But I must backtrack a bit, to that hospital bed in Detroit after his eye operation and his promise to God. He didn’t know where to start to save other people from his situation (an early glaucoma that was exacerbated by the wrong medication).
Almost nobody knew of his promise, so he could have let it go. Instead, he confided in his good friend Sol Linowitz, (who turned the company called Haloid into Xerox, just to drop another name), and Linowitz offered to introduce him to Dr Jonas Salk, famous for the polio vaccine. Salk is the one who inspired him to widen his vision, so to speak.
“For the first time, I felt there was realistic hope for the promise I had made to God. The reason: Dr. Salk had urged upon me a focus beyond the treatment of a disease’s symptoms or its individual physiological effects. After all, he had made his own objective nothing less than to end a disease … and he succeeded! In my mind, I repeated, ‘End it! End it! End it!’ I have never forgotten that.”
I will end here, myself. The Sanford and Sue Greenberg End Blindness Prize of $3million dollars was won in December 2020 by a group of 13 scientists. Note: not end glaucoma or any specific condition. END BLINDNESS!
https://endblindness2020.com/
Picture of a lucky man! jewishweek.timesofisrael.com
It is a marvellous read, full of anecdotes and populated with people you’ve heard of and seen in the news. The people who get out there and DO things. Amazing. Thanks to NetGalley and Post Hill Press for the review copy.
Here are links to a couple of other good articles, if you can read them.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hello-...
https://magazine.columbia.edu/article...
June 25, 2022
I saw this book on someone’s Facebook post, and it intrigued me. I’d never heard of Sanford Greenberg before, but. according to Greenberg, I probably should have. There are copious mentions of his meetings with various dignitaries, politicians and the like. As well as a slew of pictures. I felt badly for Greenberg; I can’t imagine the trauma of losing one’s eyesight so young. And yet I was far more impressed with Art Garfunkel and his character. Art was Greenberg’s college roommate at Columbia University, who, along with others, convinced Greenberg to continue college studies and read books and assignments to him for hours on end. Art strikes me as incredibly humble, sensitive and selfless. What an amazing friend to give up his own study and free time to help Greenberg with his studies.
At the end of the book, I got a little irritated with all the pictures and mentions of this committee and that board of directors… it seemed too self congratulatory, and I have little patience with people who toot their own horn.
I’m glad I read this book- if anything it gave me a glimpse into a famous, talented person who quietly, without any fanfare, helps another human being.
At the end of the book, I got a little irritated with all the pictures and mentions of this committee and that board of directors… it seemed too self congratulatory, and I have little patience with people who toot their own horn.
I’m glad I read this book- if anything it gave me a glimpse into a famous, talented person who quietly, without any fanfare, helps another human being.
June 14, 2020
I have not heard of Dr. Greenberg until this book. Yet, after reading this book, I want to know more about all of Dr. Greenberg's contributions to helping to cure blindness. As I was reading this book I could not help but pick up on the encouraging/positive attitude that Dr. Greenberg kept despite his situation. Which could not have been easy to go blind at a young age.
This memoir is the reason that I like these read these types of books. This book introduced me to someone that I did not know but after reading this book, I discovered a fascinating person. Someone who I want to get to know more about.
Fans of memoirs will want to pick up a copy of this book. It is a fast read. Dr. Greenberg shows that no disability can hold someone back from their dreams if they have the "can do" attitude.
This memoir is the reason that I like these read these types of books. This book introduced me to someone that I did not know but after reading this book, I discovered a fascinating person. Someone who I want to get to know more about.
Fans of memoirs will want to pick up a copy of this book. It is a fast read. Dr. Greenberg shows that no disability can hold someone back from their dreams if they have the "can do" attitude.
August 18, 2020
Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
Hello Darkness, My Old Friend is a beautifully written uplifting memoir by Dr. Sanford Greenberg. Released 30th June 2020 by Post Hill Press, it's 240 pages (print edition) and available in hardcover and ebook formats.
This is a well told autobiography/memoir written by a fascinating, brilliant, erudite, and gently humorous man who maintained a positive attitude and incredible work ethic in the face of his loss of sight as a young man.
I picked up this memoir because of the author's close association and lifelong friendship with one of my favorite artists, Art Garfunkel. I was not expecting to enjoy this charming read on its own merits, or be as impressed as I am by this intelligent and capable man's voice. He has an important story to tell and I felt improved for having read it.
In addition to the story itself, the book includes an introduction by Art Garfunkel as well as a foreword by Ruth Bader Ginsburg (!!!) and afterword by Margaret Atwood. From the first page to the last, this was a fascinating and worthwhile experience. Five stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Hello Darkness, My Old Friend is a beautifully written uplifting memoir by Dr. Sanford Greenberg. Released 30th June 2020 by Post Hill Press, it's 240 pages (print edition) and available in hardcover and ebook formats.
This is a well told autobiography/memoir written by a fascinating, brilliant, erudite, and gently humorous man who maintained a positive attitude and incredible work ethic in the face of his loss of sight as a young man.
I picked up this memoir because of the author's close association and lifelong friendship with one of my favorite artists, Art Garfunkel. I was not expecting to enjoy this charming read on its own merits, or be as impressed as I am by this intelligent and capable man's voice. He has an important story to tell and I felt improved for having read it.
In addition to the story itself, the book includes an introduction by Art Garfunkel as well as a foreword by Ruth Bader Ginsburg (!!!) and afterword by Margaret Atwood. From the first page to the last, this was a fascinating and worthwhile experience. Five stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
September 7, 2021
What could have been an interesting and uplifting story is unfortunately marred by plodding writing and an “and then I did this and then I did that” style.
July 9, 2021
Thank you to #Netgalley for this book.
An interesting book (but not depressing) about how one copes with blindness from glaucoma at age 19 when he was in his first year of Columbia University in New York. He never let it rule or lead his life and adamantly refused to use a cane or a guide dog. At this time, he met Art Garfukel (as in Simon and Garfunkel) and he became his best friend and went with him everywhere. He was and probably still is a close friend and almost like a brother. I have to admit that I wanted to read this book for this friendship and he was a prominent person in his life along with his wife Sue who he met in grade school. 60 years later they are still married with children and grandchildren.
He persevered in life his own way and like he said since he had his sight until 19 years old he can imagine what things look like. He's still a strong figure in advanced ways of preventing blindness when this book was published (2020).
As the book went on, it became more business like and I became a little bit bored and the writing became "over my head" in phrases and chapters.
One interesting thing almost at the end of this book, he had an "imaginary" party, where people from past and present where there all having a good time and talking to each other. I guess this was his way of seeing people together that he admired (both professional, friends and family). It was sure different but I enjoyed it.
An interesting book (but not depressing) about how one copes with blindness from glaucoma at age 19 when he was in his first year of Columbia University in New York. He never let it rule or lead his life and adamantly refused to use a cane or a guide dog. At this time, he met Art Garfukel (as in Simon and Garfunkel) and he became his best friend and went with him everywhere. He was and probably still is a close friend and almost like a brother. I have to admit that I wanted to read this book for this friendship and he was a prominent person in his life along with his wife Sue who he met in grade school. 60 years later they are still married with children and grandchildren.
He persevered in life his own way and like he said since he had his sight until 19 years old he can imagine what things look like. He's still a strong figure in advanced ways of preventing blindness when this book was published (2020).
As the book went on, it became more business like and I became a little bit bored and the writing became "over my head" in phrases and chapters.
One interesting thing almost at the end of this book, he had an "imaginary" party, where people from past and present where there all having a good time and talking to each other. I guess this was his way of seeing people together that he admired (both professional, friends and family). It was sure different but I enjoyed it.
September 5, 2020
Kindle version.
Sanford (hereafter Sandy) was a 19 yr old Columbia U
college student, when his eye specialist gave Sandy the
wrong treatment, resulting in his blindness. Art
(Garfunkel) & Jerry were his college roommates. After
Sandy had eye surgery, these and other friends escorted
him to classes, read to him, fixed his tape-recorder (used
to record college lectures) etc.
Sandy obtained 2 advanced degrees, served as a White House
Fellow and later a POTUS advisor, became an inventor and a
businessman. His wife Susan earned 2 advanced degrees and
also served in the WH.
Sandy didn't 'sugarcoat' the adjustment to his blindness.
However I didn't understand his refusal to be trained to use
a guide dog or a white cane. By his own admission he fell
down stairs, bumped into people & walls & nearly fell in
front of a commuter train. A special dog or cane would have
helped him establish his point in space, and familiarized him
w/ landmarks and kept him safer.
Sandy & his spouse Susan wanted to end blindness. Via
retinal prothesis, cortical implants or some other means.
They hope to award a $3M prize for a scientific discovery
in December 2020. Sandy was/ is a complex man with a
brilliant mind. And Susan his equal.
Sandy had a wonderful support system of family and friends.
He helped them in many ways.
Sanford (hereafter Sandy) was a 19 yr old Columbia U
college student, when his eye specialist gave Sandy the
wrong treatment, resulting in his blindness. Art
(Garfunkel) & Jerry were his college roommates. After
Sandy had eye surgery, these and other friends escorted
him to classes, read to him, fixed his tape-recorder (used
to record college lectures) etc.
Sandy obtained 2 advanced degrees, served as a White House
Fellow and later a POTUS advisor, became an inventor and a
businessman. His wife Susan earned 2 advanced degrees and
also served in the WH.
Sandy didn't 'sugarcoat' the adjustment to his blindness.
However I didn't understand his refusal to be trained to use
a guide dog or a white cane. By his own admission he fell
down stairs, bumped into people & walls & nearly fell in
front of a commuter train. A special dog or cane would have
helped him establish his point in space, and familiarized him
w/ landmarks and kept him safer.
Sandy & his spouse Susan wanted to end blindness. Via
retinal prothesis, cortical implants or some other means.
They hope to award a $3M prize for a scientific discovery
in December 2020. Sandy was/ is a complex man with a
brilliant mind. And Susan his equal.
Sandy had a wonderful support system of family and friends.
He helped them in many ways.
May 27, 2021
The human being, Sanford Greenberg, seems absolutely amazing - his hard work, his strong character, the wonderful friendships he was able to form, etc.
But as a reader, I thought this book was not worth the time. Frankly, this book is a listing of all his accomplishments without any deeper insight into how he got there. He also comes across as extremely entitled, such as talking about how he is wonderful lover, and how angry he was when an audience member berated his (the author's) wife, who spent the ENTIRE time during the movie Schindler's List telling him, scene by scene, what was happening in the movie. The author was furious that this other man didn't have more compassion for blind people, but my reaction was, "Goodness, you're a jerk! People on the screen are getting sent into gas chambers and you think it's okay for your life to NARRATE the movie ALOUD just for you??"
But as a reader, I thought this book was not worth the time. Frankly, this book is a listing of all his accomplishments without any deeper insight into how he got there. He also comes across as extremely entitled, such as talking about how he is wonderful lover, and how angry he was when an audience member berated his (the author's) wife, who spent the ENTIRE time during the movie Schindler's List telling him, scene by scene, what was happening in the movie. The author was furious that this other man didn't have more compassion for blind people, but my reaction was, "Goodness, you're a jerk! People on the screen are getting sent into gas chambers and you think it's okay for your life to NARRATE the movie ALOUD just for you??"
February 2, 2021
I was finding this book very interesting in the beginning. It was going at a nice speed from when he lost his sight and how he overcame his difficulties and finished school. But towards the second half after he gets married it just seemed like he was just listing facts too quickly. It didn't seem like a story anymore and really lost my interest. It took me a long time to finish it.
August 24, 2022
I am very glad a book club is discussing this book. The author is an amazing person in all he has achieved while being blind. I learned a lot. It did get long winded at times but I learned a lot about blindness. I still don’t understand why he wouldn’t accept a dog, but that’s just me!
December 7, 2021
What an amazing, inspiring story. I highly recommend.
September 14, 2020
What should have been an inspiring life story is instead a poorly-written bit of propaganda, filled with silly fantasizing and very few details about how a blind guy became an incredibly rich and influential Democrat.
If you enjoy hearing a guy praising Fidel Castro, thinking womanizer John F. Kennedy was a great role model, loving liberal politicians from LBJ to Al Gore, and then at the end of the book devoting an entire chapter to how he will see all of them at his heavenlike post-life party, then this book might be for you. But if you live in the real world, want details about a blind man's life beyond his stubborn insistence on not learning Braille or never using a cane, and want the emotion behind a very unique life, you will be very unhappy with this book.
The core of the story is interesting--Greenberg went blind in his second year of college. But his description of it is extremely unemotional and he stubbornly thinks he can just head back to Columbia to finish his degree. Instead of taking personal responsibility and learning what's necessary to survive as a blind person on the street, he selfishly depends on others for virtually everything. He even admits that he is a "taker" and not a giver--he takes from everyone.
Enter Art Garfunkel, the real hero of this book and the only reason worth reading it. If you are familiar with the Garfunkel temperament, which has famously been detailed in other books, you will be shocked at his amazing heroic actions here with his college roommate. I came to change my skeptical opinion of Garfunkel (whose music I love) after reading that he humbly not only did everything for Greenberg, no matter how trivial, but that he knew how to mentally challenge the author into accepting his own limitations by tricking him into walking home through the streets of New York City--alone and without a cane or sight dog.
But even with Garfunkel the author fails to go into enough detail and acts like having a world-famous friend sing at his wedding is no big deal. There's just not enough about their relationship in this book.
Most shocking is the insight into how rich liberals think. Greenberg was a poor college grad who got a one-year White House fellowship and walked out a rich business leader. There is no explanation and no details about how he made his money. He suddenly becomes friends with Supreme Court Justices and billionaires. He admits his blindness may be part of it, but isn't it really that he was a Democrat insider who admittedly knew the secrets of many and was willing to keep them quiet? Like our last Democrat president, Greenberg figured out how to benefit from the system. It reinforced how corrupt D.C. politicians are, while these that get rich off their "public service" contacts can claim a moral high ground. But after reading this book I came away disliking Sandy Greenberg and not admiring him beyond his dedication to his family.
He writes, "After a half century of thought, I've come to the conclusion that the only really worthwhile things in the world are people and ideas." Huh? As he gets near to the end life he thinks "ideas" are the only worthwhile thing outside people he encounters? That's either incredibly naive or insincere. There is so much to life beyond ideas and the mental games Greenberg likes to play. Actions are more important than ideas. Government actions and ideas can dramatically impact people. And just claiming "people" are worthwhile fails to recognize that there are certain levels of people impacted by your life, as well as the truth that we should care for our own family and friends before having a bleeding heart for those we don't know or spending other people's tax dollars to pay for the irresponsible behavior of others.
I could pick this book apart page by page, but it's certainly not a well-written inspiring detailed memoir. It's very muddy, clouded, and often intellectually dark. Greenberg was the wrong person to write his story. An objective journalist could have drawn out the real stories of his life and not allowed it to wallow in woe-is-me mental fantasy mixed with braggadocio. While I respect how Greenberg has fought to accomplish so much, he doesn't appear to see that he has spent his adult life mooched off others in order to have personal gain, as so many in Washington D.C. sadly do.
If you enjoy hearing a guy praising Fidel Castro, thinking womanizer John F. Kennedy was a great role model, loving liberal politicians from LBJ to Al Gore, and then at the end of the book devoting an entire chapter to how he will see all of them at his heavenlike post-life party, then this book might be for you. But if you live in the real world, want details about a blind man's life beyond his stubborn insistence on not learning Braille or never using a cane, and want the emotion behind a very unique life, you will be very unhappy with this book.
The core of the story is interesting--Greenberg went blind in his second year of college. But his description of it is extremely unemotional and he stubbornly thinks he can just head back to Columbia to finish his degree. Instead of taking personal responsibility and learning what's necessary to survive as a blind person on the street, he selfishly depends on others for virtually everything. He even admits that he is a "taker" and not a giver--he takes from everyone.
Enter Art Garfunkel, the real hero of this book and the only reason worth reading it. If you are familiar with the Garfunkel temperament, which has famously been detailed in other books, you will be shocked at his amazing heroic actions here with his college roommate. I came to change my skeptical opinion of Garfunkel (whose music I love) after reading that he humbly not only did everything for Greenberg, no matter how trivial, but that he knew how to mentally challenge the author into accepting his own limitations by tricking him into walking home through the streets of New York City--alone and without a cane or sight dog.
But even with Garfunkel the author fails to go into enough detail and acts like having a world-famous friend sing at his wedding is no big deal. There's just not enough about their relationship in this book.
Most shocking is the insight into how rich liberals think. Greenberg was a poor college grad who got a one-year White House fellowship and walked out a rich business leader. There is no explanation and no details about how he made his money. He suddenly becomes friends with Supreme Court Justices and billionaires. He admits his blindness may be part of it, but isn't it really that he was a Democrat insider who admittedly knew the secrets of many and was willing to keep them quiet? Like our last Democrat president, Greenberg figured out how to benefit from the system. It reinforced how corrupt D.C. politicians are, while these that get rich off their "public service" contacts can claim a moral high ground. But after reading this book I came away disliking Sandy Greenberg and not admiring him beyond his dedication to his family.
He writes, "After a half century of thought, I've come to the conclusion that the only really worthwhile things in the world are people and ideas." Huh? As he gets near to the end life he thinks "ideas" are the only worthwhile thing outside people he encounters? That's either incredibly naive or insincere. There is so much to life beyond ideas and the mental games Greenberg likes to play. Actions are more important than ideas. Government actions and ideas can dramatically impact people. And just claiming "people" are worthwhile fails to recognize that there are certain levels of people impacted by your life, as well as the truth that we should care for our own family and friends before having a bleeding heart for those we don't know or spending other people's tax dollars to pay for the irresponsible behavior of others.
I could pick this book apart page by page, but it's certainly not a well-written inspiring detailed memoir. It's very muddy, clouded, and often intellectually dark. Greenberg was the wrong person to write his story. An objective journalist could have drawn out the real stories of his life and not allowed it to wallow in woe-is-me mental fantasy mixed with braggadocio. While I respect how Greenberg has fought to accomplish so much, he doesn't appear to see that he has spent his adult life mooched off others in order to have personal gain, as so many in Washington D.C. sadly do.
August 1, 2020
In spite of poverty, he had everything going for him. Then he went blind at nineteen. Not inky blackness but to never clearly see loved ones or the printed page. But he didn't need sight to see his college roommate/best friend/support system at his side in the worst days of his life. Without Arthur's help would he have gotten his PhD, gone to Yale, then Oxford? But Sandy did all these things and more, including devising a specialized tape recorder and getting a patent for it, married his childhood sweetheart, had children, met several POTUS and worked inside the capitol. He always remained driven but later learned (metaphorically) to stop and smell the roses. And Arthur? He became a singer/songwriter until he left that business and did well with his wife and children. And his friend, Sandy. This is a very moving story and I am thankful to have been able to read it.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Post Hill Press via NetGalley. Thank you!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Post Hill Press via NetGalley. Thank you!
May 3, 2021
A truly fascinating life of achievement after overcoming adversity, but many gaps in the story left me disappointed.
March 31, 2024
Sandy Greenberg gets glaucoma and loses his eyesight in the middle of attending Columbia University. Through the help of his friend and roommate Art Garfunkle, Sandy gains the courage to continue on, later attending Oxford and Harvard. He lived an extraordinary life as a successful inventor, businessman, White House Fellow, advocate for the blind, father and husband among dozens of other accomplishments while developing a whose who list of friends in government, entertainment and academia. I really loved this book. It is uplifting and full of warm anecdotes. He talks about his sad transition into blindness and how that affected him physically and emotionally. He frequently bumps into things and draws blood. He discusses the benefits of his impairment such as having stronger personal connections, the loss of boundaries imposed by vision and the window opening to his imagination.
I couldn't help but think about what it means to really be there for someone, not in a superficial, temporary or obligatory way, but to go all-in on being a friend or partner, making committed sacrifices and devoting your life to someone who cannot help themselves. Sandy's life offers a glimpse into the stars of what is possible for any of us. 5 stars, highly recommended.
I couldn't help but think about what it means to really be there for someone, not in a superficial, temporary or obligatory way, but to go all-in on being a friend or partner, making committed sacrifices and devoting your life to someone who cannot help themselves. Sandy's life offers a glimpse into the stars of what is possible for any of us. 5 stars, highly recommended.
February 19, 2023
The title and initial connection to pop culture lead me to this book. The story of Sandford Greenberg’s life was one worth reading. It’s a story that had two parts to me. One was the story of overcoming immense loss and obstacles very early in life. Quite often we are faced with decisions to get moving in one direction or get moving in the other. Sandy faced this after the death of his father very early. Then he faced a major change in his life when he lost his eyesight just as his life was taking shape in college. His inspiring tale of how he worked, changed and adapted to succeed and excel is inspiring. If you need to feel picked up or encouraged, this may be the story for you.
The second part of his story is of unwavering friendship and support. His wife, who had been by his side since the beginning. His friendship with his college roommates that inspired him to pick himself up and “get back at it”. They never left. They never faltered. Who doesn’t need friends like that in their life. Reading their stories makes you realize (or at least me) who those people are in your life and appreciate them to no end.
The second part of his story is of unwavering friendship and support. His wife, who had been by his side since the beginning. His friendship with his college roommates that inspired him to pick himself up and “get back at it”. They never left. They never faltered. Who doesn’t need friends like that in their life. Reading their stories makes you realize (or at least me) who those people are in your life and appreciate them to no end.
September 12, 2023
Greenberg’s memoir is a moving story of a life of great hope faced with traumatic challenges. It is also a great story of failing to let challenges compromise a life’s potential. With a mixture of brutal honesty and tremendous tenacity, we are invited into the reality of a sighted person who loses his sight but not his determination for the life he dreamed of before having his sight stolen. The memoir is a poignant realization of what it is like to live without sight. Highly inspirational, it is a must read memoir.
February 6, 2025
A very accomplished man, no doubt about that. While I enjoyed hearing of his accomplishments and stories of his life, I felt that after he left his undergrad schooling, it lost some of the personal insights and aspects of memoirs I love.
Sandy is inspiring for not only accomplishing so much after losing his sight at a young age, but also remaining joyful throughout it all.
Could’ve done without 90% of the chapter about the party though. Felt like a fever dream.
Sandy is inspiring for not only accomplishing so much after losing his sight at a young age, but also remaining joyful throughout it all.
Could’ve done without 90% of the chapter about the party though. Felt like a fever dream.
October 26, 2020
An inspiring true story of a young man who loses his sight in his junior year at Columbia. His determination and accomplishments are impressive. Famous people are part of his story and it makes for an interesting and and enjoyable read overall. (I wasn’t so sure about the final chapter ....)
October 2, 2020
This is an amazing life story by Sanford Greenberg. I suggest if you do not know much about him that you Google him first and then sit back and enjoy an uplifting life story of amazing accomplishments of this icon of our era. This book was recommended to me by a dear friend and I am so glad she did. I highly recommend it to everyone who faces struggles in their life and needs guidance to inspire them to do more for others. The forward is written by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Introduction by his friend Art Garfunkel and the Final words by Margaret Atwood. All of whom know Sandy and were a part of his life.
When Sandy suddenly becomes blind while in college, he thinks his life is over but his friends will not let him wallow in self-pity and push him to achieve all he dreams of becoming. With his wife by his side and many readers along the way he forges a life for himself and continues to have a huge impact on all of us. Follow his journey and you will be as amazed as I am.
Thank you, Sanford, for all your contributions to our world.
When Sandy suddenly becomes blind while in college, he thinks his life is over but his friends will not let him wallow in self-pity and push him to achieve all he dreams of becoming. With his wife by his side and many readers along the way he forges a life for himself and continues to have a huge impact on all of us. Follow his journey and you will be as amazed as I am.
Thank you, Sanford, for all your contributions to our world.
March 11, 2024
I had not heard of this book until it was recommended for my nonfiction book club.
The story is an amazing chronicle of a man's journey through blindness at a very early age, and onto significant success in business and the world. He became blind while in college and then completed degrees at Columbia, Harvard, and Oxford, and then founded successful businesses. He is also dedicated to the goal of ending blindness in the world and has devoted much time and money towards this goal, and engaged many others along the way.
The story includes these accomplishments and also focuses on the relationships that helped make success possible, including his wife and his college roommate, Art Garfunkel.
I was fascinated. There's also a video available of an interview with Wolf Blitzer that adds more background and information.
The story is an amazing chronicle of a man's journey through blindness at a very early age, and onto significant success in business and the world. He became blind while in college and then completed degrees at Columbia, Harvard, and Oxford, and then founded successful businesses. He is also dedicated to the goal of ending blindness in the world and has devoted much time and money towards this goal, and engaged many others along the way.
The story includes these accomplishments and also focuses on the relationships that helped make success possible, including his wife and his college roommate, Art Garfunkel.
I was fascinated. There's also a video available of an interview with Wolf Blitzer that adds more background and information.
February 1, 2021
Beautifully written. I particularly enjoyed his description of the tour of the West with his sons and Art. He "saw" so much that was beautiful and majestic, despite his blindness. I am sure Sandy had many moments of self doubt, sadness, anger, etc, but he chose to share little of that with us. His achievements are amazing. The story of his family support and friendships is so uplifting.
September 23, 2022
You may recognize the first part of this book’s title as the first line of Simon & Garfunkel’s song “The Sound of Silence.” And the title should be the gold standard for book titles because it perfectly matches the book’s story and themes in just five words. Bravo.
This memoir/autobiography tells the true story of Sanford Greenberg’s remarkable life. Most of the story focuses on his time as a student at Colombia University. During his first year, Greenberg meets Art Garfunkel. They become best friends and roommates. Greenburg is dating his high school sweetheart (later his wife), Sue. At the same time, he begins to lose his eyesight and goes blind by his junior year. But Greenburg makes it through with the help of Sue and Art, who patiently take him to doctor’s appointments and classes and read his class material.
I hadn’t heard of Sanford Greenberg before my mom recommended the book to me, and the book’s title and introduction written by Ruth Bader Ginsburg gave me another hint that this book would be worth reading.
Greenberg tells a remarkable story, and it was fascinating that he could remember so many details from the past. His retellings made everyday college life exciting, and I felt I was walking in his shoes when he recounted how and why his eyesight declined. It’s extraordinary that Greenberg made it through college without accepting assistance from the existing social services and aids, such as a guide dog.
I enjoyed most of the book, but Greenberg diverts from his remarkable story to an imaginary scene toward the end. Unfortunately, this diversion didn’t work for me since his actual life is more interesting than what his brain conjured up one day while writing the book.
Beyond his college experience, the rest of the book didn’t do justice to Greenberg’s contributions. The story quickly glosses over his career, leaving me wondering what exactly he did for a living and how he became wealthy enough to own a sports arena and give a fortune to charity. Unfortunately, these mistakes were fatal for me, and I would only recommend listening to the book and not the entire thing. The audio version is narrated by Art Garfunkel, which is not only touching, but his voice is dreamy.
Greenberg’s story is one you will tell your friends about years after you read it and reflects why I enjoy reading memoirs. Remarkable stories about people you may never have heard of make for great reads.
This memoir/autobiography tells the true story of Sanford Greenberg’s remarkable life. Most of the story focuses on his time as a student at Colombia University. During his first year, Greenberg meets Art Garfunkel. They become best friends and roommates. Greenburg is dating his high school sweetheart (later his wife), Sue. At the same time, he begins to lose his eyesight and goes blind by his junior year. But Greenburg makes it through with the help of Sue and Art, who patiently take him to doctor’s appointments and classes and read his class material.
I hadn’t heard of Sanford Greenberg before my mom recommended the book to me, and the book’s title and introduction written by Ruth Bader Ginsburg gave me another hint that this book would be worth reading.
Greenberg tells a remarkable story, and it was fascinating that he could remember so many details from the past. His retellings made everyday college life exciting, and I felt I was walking in his shoes when he recounted how and why his eyesight declined. It’s extraordinary that Greenberg made it through college without accepting assistance from the existing social services and aids, such as a guide dog.
I enjoyed most of the book, but Greenberg diverts from his remarkable story to an imaginary scene toward the end. Unfortunately, this diversion didn’t work for me since his actual life is more interesting than what his brain conjured up one day while writing the book.
Beyond his college experience, the rest of the book didn’t do justice to Greenberg’s contributions. The story quickly glosses over his career, leaving me wondering what exactly he did for a living and how he became wealthy enough to own a sports arena and give a fortune to charity. Unfortunately, these mistakes were fatal for me, and I would only recommend listening to the book and not the entire thing. The audio version is narrated by Art Garfunkel, which is not only touching, but his voice is dreamy.
Greenberg’s story is one you will tell your friends about years after you read it and reflects why I enjoy reading memoirs. Remarkable stories about people you may never have heard of make for great reads.
July 16, 2020
When I saw this memoir had an introduction from Art Garfunkel, a foreword by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and a final word from Margaret Atwood, I had to read it. I mean a musician, justice, and writer come together and volunteer their name and talent for one person.Hello Darkness, My Old Friend is the story of Sandy Greenberg whose facility for forming deep friendships with many people from all walks of life enriched his life and thanks to his own genius, enriched ours as well.
Sandy Greenberg came from a poor family. His stepfather ran a scrap metal business but he was smart and won a scholarship to Columbia. In his junior year he started losing his sight and thanks to malpractice he went blind but he was still able to graduate thanks to his roommate pushing him to go back to school and his roommate and friends’ willingness to read for him. He was afraid of the future but thanks in large part to his roommate, Art Garfunkel. he found the courage and determination necessary to go into the world and compete on his own terms.
I had never heard of Sanford Greenberg before I began this memoir, but I am glad I read it. His determination was impressive and though I think he made his life harder by refusing to use a cane or a guide dog that kind of determined ambition and effort is admirable. He was active politically, worked at in the White House as a fellow, and worked in science and technology inventing things and investing in technology. Now he has offered a challenge to end blindness. if past is prologue, he will.
I received an ARC of Hello Darkness, My Old Friend from the publisher through Shelf Awareness.
Hello Darkness, My Old Friend at Post Hill Press | Simon and Schuster
Sanford D. Greenberg bio at End Blindness
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
Sandy Greenberg came from a poor family. His stepfather ran a scrap metal business but he was smart and won a scholarship to Columbia. In his junior year he started losing his sight and thanks to malpractice he went blind but he was still able to graduate thanks to his roommate pushing him to go back to school and his roommate and friends’ willingness to read for him. He was afraid of the future but thanks in large part to his roommate, Art Garfunkel. he found the courage and determination necessary to go into the world and compete on his own terms.
I had never heard of Sanford Greenberg before I began this memoir, but I am glad I read it. His determination was impressive and though I think he made his life harder by refusing to use a cane or a guide dog that kind of determined ambition and effort is admirable. He was active politically, worked at in the White House as a fellow, and worked in science and technology inventing things and investing in technology. Now he has offered a challenge to end blindness. if past is prologue, he will.
I received an ARC of Hello Darkness, My Old Friend from the publisher through Shelf Awareness.
Hello Darkness, My Old Friend at Post Hill Press | Simon and Schuster
Sanford D. Greenberg bio at End Blindness
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
July 5, 2021
This is a soul-searching effort by a man who made a promise to God and wanted to see if he’d kept his promise of eradicating blindness. He also forgave the doctor whose misdiagnosis caused his blindness What a marvelous way to end a book...with a party on a houseboat...of all the people who have influenced his life and the lives of many.~ MSL
“Blessed art thou, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has kept us in life, sustained us and enabled us to reach this glorious moment.” 248 The Shehecheyanu Prayer
I have been contemplating the idea of a “self-made man” for many years now. First of all because it assumes that only men are self-made. Second because it can never be true. So how has it become such a common phrase in our world? People are not self-made because it took 2 people to bring them into the world in the first place. It took at least 1 adult to raise them, feed them, clothe them, educate them. It took a whole community to pay taxes to build the road in their community, the hospitals, the libraries. It is so arrogant to say “I’m a self-made woman” and it gives no credit to those who came before. So I agree with Sandy on this issue and many others that he wrote about in this book. (Referring to his passage on 228)
Sandy’s overall message is: “I necessarily off my trust to people, which may trigger a correspondingly generous response, especially from good people who happen to be imbued with the spirit of helping others. In other words, I suspect that a reciprocity is established. Whether that is so or not, the fact is that my reliance on so many people has greatly enriched my life. Yet another compensatory balance, perhaps.” 233
Greenberg wrote about tikkun olam (make the world a better place) as “something so large, so ambitious, so crazy, really that it almost scares. It was time to jump in the deep end.” This. Is what he’s been building up to for the whole book. 242
PERSONAL QUESTION: DID ALISSA GET INDUCTED INTO PHI BETA KAPPA? IF YES, IS IT LIKE IN THIS BOOK - THAT THE FACULTY SELECTS YOU FOR THIS HONOR?
PUT THIS IN PRIVATE SECTION: “I wanted to feel secure so I clutched at everything.” 112 [Me too. Is this why Dad had so few possessions at the end of his life and Mom has so many. He felt secure and she doesn’t? ~MSL]
REACTIONS:
I’m angry, sad and looking for justice for Sandy. That doctor should be in
Prison but what good would that do anyone. He should have a mentor watch his every move so he doesn’t blind someone else. I am also amazed by what Sandy accomplished even tho he’s blind. I’m sure that sounds patronizing- people with disabilities accomplish miracles all the time. I can’t figure out how I feel about this book.
After more thought and some time to sleep, I felt more confident that when tragedy strikes someone’s life, there are ways to make a come-back or change course if one has determination and friends. ~ MSL
I had never thought of a blind person needing a great imagination to survive, to succeed. Thanks, Sandy for this image. ~ MSL re: 107
THEMES:
PEOPLE AND TIMELINES:
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1-2. (So many references to eyes & vision which would be natural consequence in a story of someone losing his sight.)
* There were 5 in the family = Father=Albert; Mother= Sarah & 3 kids = Sanford & Joel & Ruthie (5 months old); there was a 4th kid when Sarah re-married = Brenda; their father left them with $54 to live on; His mother was told the Jewish Federation would help her financially if she put each of her children in 3 separate orphanages = she resolved never to permit “any institution or individual to compromise the integrity of her family.” 12
*Sarah was a salesperson and later assembled airplane parts;
*Sandy had a specific dread of blindness and cancer 13
****************************************************************
*Many of Sandy’s neighbors had fled a holocaust....it was as if we were living in the Dark Ages. 14 [Very apt description of what Sandy’s been explaining so far]
*************************************************************************
* Sarah also supported Sandy’s grandmother = Pauline Fox, a survivor of Jewish ghettos, poverty, and pogrom, she’d lost her left eye when young...Sarah and Pauline would cover their eyes when they lit the Sabbath candles...Pauline had a spark of life that she passed on to her grandchildren and Sandy will think of her with unutterable gratitude...she had a layer of white sand in the bottom drawer of Sandy’s old baby dresser - brought back by friends from trips to Israel...Pauline’s death took something sacred from Sandy but left something sacred too.” 15-17
* Sandy’s father passed away when he was a young boy. 5 ....Sandy had recurring nightmare of a father dying on the beach...His own father died in 1946.
* Sandy and younger brother, Joel [ Book of Joel, a book in the Jewish Tanakh, and in the Christian Bible, ascribed to the prophet; Yahweh is God] 10
* “This was a mitzvah = good deed.” 11
*Sandy Greenberg (from the Introduction by Art Garfunkel) “I knew him first on the steps of Hamilton Hall. We were coming out of our humanities class at Columbia College. It was 1959. I had seen him playing basketball that year - a powerful center, a bull....In tiniest increments, in our junior year, glaucoma set in. So I read to him. It was the natural thing to do....My friend is my gold standard of decency.” XVII - XVIII
*My vision was still quite muddy. My soul was muddy as well. I found this extreme physical caution disgraceful. 6”
* “From a hospital bed in Detroit in Feb 1961, his sightless eyes moist with medication, Sanford ‘made a deal with God: If the Lord got him out of this hole, Sandy vowed he would do all he could to prevent others from going through grief like this in the future. XV
“He carried through on that promise, directing prodigious energy to the development of technology for optic-nerve regeneration.
“To the same end, his steady hand is at the helm of the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute (JHWEI).
“These endeavors and multiple other pro bono initiatives are cause for the ‘Big Party’ Sandy hosts in a dreamspiel he imagines and records with elan in a chapter of this book.” XV
PART 1: DAY & NIGHT - HALFWAY THRU SANDY’S JUNIOR YEAR, HE’S ON A TRAIN & GOING HOME; HE DIDN’T KNOW IT YET BUT HIS EYES WERE DYING.
* GEOGRAPHY “It would be an eight-hour ride from New York north to Albany, then west to Syracuse and Rochester, and finally on to Buffalo at the eastern end of Lake Erie.” 3
*ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON = BONE GUY
“The doctor left, but what happened to me next was one of those extraordinary events that take over the mind unexpectedly. The space in front of me, where he had been sitting, was now like a vacuum - an absence. I was alone. No roommates, no comforting background noise of fellow students. Alone in simple fact, yes, but also alone with the gnawing dread about my eyesight, in a panic that suddenly mushroomed. I felt as if I were in an enormous shadowy cavern, a void empty of anything or any sensation. Struck with a sudden rush of terror, I stopped registering even the occasional small sounds coming from the idling train. My mind froze - there was nothing and no one there, or anywhere in my world. There was no world. There was no past, no future. There was only my stunned, frozen self, alone. My stomach turned to stone, and I am sure my heart stopped beating during this negative epiphany - for how long I couldn’t say.” 8
“In my early years, I had a recurring dream. It is a sunny late-summer weekend day at Crystal Beach, just west of Buffalo in Canada. A tall, handsome father in a bathing suit is carrying his five-year-old son on his back about twenty yards from shore out into Lake Erie. The father’s face blocks his son’s; a viewer from the beach would see only the boy’s arms clutching his father’s neck. Both are laughing as the father runs through the waves...At the shoreline, the father hesitates for an instant- then, with board-like rigidity, slams heavily facedown on t he hard, wet sand forcing the boy’s face into it. The boy rolls his father over and see his glazed and vacant eyes, blood pouring from his mouth. The father is dead.” 10
PART 2: A BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS - FEBRUARY, 1961
“Much of that necessarily occurs in one’s head, and by an ironically beneficial twist, a blind person is left largely with only that: the conscious life within his or her head. One then realizes how much of one’s mental life had been anchored in the world one saw. This is something that you, the reader, must contemplate, if you are sighted, in order to understand much of what my account is about.
”Perhaps she saw my blindness as just the next in a long line of hardships.” 84
*
*WW 2
*First husband’s death=Albert;
*Took care of her mother before she passed away
*Sandy’s blindness
*His step-father, Carl, died;
Sandy and his mother never discussed his blindness. 84
“After 4 dismal days and nights, I was discharged from the Detroit hospital. It was a Saturday morning. I walked out and felt fresh air on my face; I took deep breaths. That moment remains the most glorious memory of my life - the first little push toward regaining my life - and my brain gave me a further break by not allowing itself to imagine the struggles ahead.” 85
*The social workers helped Sandy in ways she probably had no knowledge of. I could feel rebellion stirring in my heart.” 90
“God does not send us despair in order to kill us; He sends it in order to awaken us to a new life. The awakening was brutally hard.” 91
“I knew I had some talent and some determination. But would these gifts and the support of my family be enough?...I still harbored a stubborn feeling of being unfulfilled. There were things I just wanted to learn and to know....Newly blind and downcast as I was, it was this hunger to know that ultimately provided the fuel for my liberation. One of my most cherished friends would apply the match.” 92
Garfunkel is godfather to each of Sandy’s 3 kids; he sang at Sandy’s wedding, Sandy’s siblings’ weddings and all 3 of Sandy’s kids 99
Garfunkel needed money to start his music career, to get opinions on his relationships and about family concerns 99
“The giver is a receiver; and the receiver a giver.” 102
“Like the voices of my readers, the voices on the tapes I made all sounded the same to me. I heard those voices in my sleep - when I did sleep, which was only four hours a night.” 114 ?????????????????????? How can this be? Both that the voices sounded the same and that the school didn’t make allowances for him so he could get more sleep. ~ MSL
“Having fled the horrors of a once-civilized Germany, my family had imbued in me a sense of patriotism and pride in our country. The promise of the righteous land that had rescued their own lives was being fulfilled each day I attended the university.” 116
“The help I required most urgently was to have study material read to me every night. He (Garfunkel) would say, ‘Darkness is going to help you today.’ Or, ‘Darkness is going to read to you from The Iliad.’ I suppose he meant that for me his voice was emerging from the darkness. The voice was smooth and light.” 118 [So Garfunkel gave himself the nickname “Darkness” and maybe later put it in his song “Hello, Darkness” my old friend.]
“There was a clear formula for students back then: do the work, go to the best graduate school, get the best job, earn a lot of money, spend your life around the best people - whatever those things may mean to each student.” 118. [It seems to still be the same now. ~MSL]
GRADUATED COLUMBIA IN 1962;
INVENTED COMPRESSED SPEECH MACHINE;
CH 17 MY BLINDNESS BALANCE SHEET: DEBITS page 201
This is one of my favorite chapters because he talks of his feelings. My memory is that the first part of book is mostly facts. In this chapter, he explains what it’s like to go to a movie theater when you’re blind...how his wife described everything to him until another patron complained. I can see both sides of this scene. I agreed with Sandy that movie theaters could really use a place for people with disabilities to sit and “watch” the movie in their own way.
The scenes about the trumpet his wife, Sue, gave him for his birthday was heartbreaking. The fact that he couldn’t play it because it would break the blood vessels in his eyes is haunting ... all of this because of an ill-trained doctor who didn’t recognize the signs of glaucoma.
CH 18 MY BLINDNESS BALANCE SHEET: ASSETS
”Because I was blessedly gifted with sight until my junior year in college, I have stored mental images of the world upon which I can still draw: great art and architecture, colors and shapes, and the faces of my old friends, my family, and my wife. My manic prowling among museums and art galleries in New York seems in retrospect like the activity of a squirrel preparing for winter.
“If not for my blindness, I would never have made deep friendships with many of those who have helped me, from my readers to my close college friends to my business colleagues. Each has been an individual light in my life.” 216
“Having to develop other ways to see the world has benefited me in multiple ways. One I have mentioned often in these pages is the imagination, a twin of scholarly thought. Imagination seems to me more a generalized mental activity than a path to a clear-cut end result. I can say only from personal experience that memory and imagination, in my darkened life, percolating within the mind, often blend indistinguishable. For better or worse, I am perforce prone to reflection. I’ve had to be my own guru on the road to self-knowledge, and to slowness, and maybe ultimately to serenity - which I believe cannot be achieved by force of will alone.” [This makes me think of Einstein’s quote: Imagination is more important than knowledge.]
“Something special about us blind people - and this, I have come to realize is an unqualified asset - is that we do not see horizons. It is a subtle thing, but not insignificant. I can testify that there are no longer any horizons in my own life. Since I left the hospital in Detroit, I have not perceived any of the everyday horizons that sighted people experience...I don’t have the same sense of boundaries shared by people impaired with sight.” 220
“After losing the vision of my eyes, I crafted a personal vision for my new life. I had to. In losing horizons, I could feel boundaries beginning to lose much of their hold over me. I began to feel free again, albeit in a new and unexpected way. My boundaries began opening up into a beautiful and widening circle of friends and family.” 221
FAVORITE QUOTES:
“I think we all squander our lives away and we don’t even know we’re doing it. Said Garfunkel 120
“Saint-Exupery observed, ‘It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.’ And in Helen Keller’s words, ‘The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched.’ ‘ 218
“Speak, Memory” by Vladimir Nabokov’s elegant biography of the same name. My memory speaks all the time.” 223
“Near the end of the trip, we visited the cemetery where my family is buried. The weather had darkened a bit. We found the spot, and I rested my hand on my mother’s gravestone. It was weathered, but there was still grit to it, a toughness, something enduring about it, which I felt was appropriate. The grass was soft, and so was the air. I thought about what these people, who had had hard lives, would think about me and the kind of life I had let. Their judgment was massively important to me. I felt that they would have been proud of me. But I sensed no response. But (of course!) the response would have to come from inside myself. I lingered a little while, and then we left.” 226
“Information is light, said Tom Stoppard.” 239
“Just trying is insufficient.” 240
LEAST FAV QUOTES & PHRASES:
FOREWORD BY RBG: “Everybody who is anybody will be there. [I find this an arrogant phrase.] XV
I didn’t like the foreword. It didn’t say much about Sandy and did talk about RBG and who she considered to be “toast-worthy.” Weird. I hope her book is well-written - instead of like this.
VOCABULARY:
*DREAMSPIEL P. XV
*CHAI TO LIFE! XVII = type of Indian tea, made especially by boiling the tea leaves with milk, sugar, and cardamom.
*TALLIS p XVIII - A PRAYER SHAWL;
*SHTETL = BLEAK PLACE ON EAST SIDE OF BUFFALO; 12
*The Atlantic Ocean was notes as being famously cruel and capricious ocean 15
*
Sandy & Sue marry & have 3 kids = James, Paul and Kathryn
QUESTIONS:
*Though my mother remarried, I felt - I knew - that everyone in the family looked up to me, and I was well aware that I was supposed to be strong. 6. What a strange thing for adults to think of a young boy and what a strange thing for Sandy to write! Why would anyone think this of a child?
“Blessed art thou, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has kept us in life, sustained us and enabled us to reach this glorious moment.” 248 The Shehecheyanu Prayer
I have been contemplating the idea of a “self-made man” for many years now. First of all because it assumes that only men are self-made. Second because it can never be true. So how has it become such a common phrase in our world? People are not self-made because it took 2 people to bring them into the world in the first place. It took at least 1 adult to raise them, feed them, clothe them, educate them. It took a whole community to pay taxes to build the road in their community, the hospitals, the libraries. It is so arrogant to say “I’m a self-made woman” and it gives no credit to those who came before. So I agree with Sandy on this issue and many others that he wrote about in this book. (Referring to his passage on 228)
Sandy’s overall message is: “I necessarily off my trust to people, which may trigger a correspondingly generous response, especially from good people who happen to be imbued with the spirit of helping others. In other words, I suspect that a reciprocity is established. Whether that is so or not, the fact is that my reliance on so many people has greatly enriched my life. Yet another compensatory balance, perhaps.” 233
Greenberg wrote about tikkun olam (make the world a better place) as “something so large, so ambitious, so crazy, really that it almost scares. It was time to jump in the deep end.” This. Is what he’s been building up to for the whole book. 242
PERSONAL QUESTION: DID ALISSA GET INDUCTED INTO PHI BETA KAPPA? IF YES, IS IT LIKE IN THIS BOOK - THAT THE FACULTY SELECTS YOU FOR THIS HONOR?
PUT THIS IN PRIVATE SECTION: “I wanted to feel secure so I clutched at everything.” 112 [Me too. Is this why Dad had so few possessions at the end of his life and Mom has so many. He felt secure and she doesn’t? ~MSL]
REACTIONS:
I’m angry, sad and looking for justice for Sandy. That doctor should be in
Prison but what good would that do anyone. He should have a mentor watch his every move so he doesn’t blind someone else. I am also amazed by what Sandy accomplished even tho he’s blind. I’m sure that sounds patronizing- people with disabilities accomplish miracles all the time. I can’t figure out how I feel about this book.
After more thought and some time to sleep, I felt more confident that when tragedy strikes someone’s life, there are ways to make a come-back or change course if one has determination and friends. ~ MSL
I had never thought of a blind person needing a great imagination to survive, to succeed. Thanks, Sandy for this image. ~ MSL re: 107
THEMES:
PEOPLE AND TIMELINES:
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1-2. (So many references to eyes & vision which would be natural consequence in a story of someone losing his sight.)
* There were 5 in the family = Father=Albert; Mother= Sarah & 3 kids = Sanford & Joel & Ruthie (5 months old); there was a 4th kid when Sarah re-married = Brenda; their father left them with $54 to live on; His mother was told the Jewish Federation would help her financially if she put each of her children in 3 separate orphanages = she resolved never to permit “any institution or individual to compromise the integrity of her family.” 12
*Sarah was a salesperson and later assembled airplane parts;
*Sandy had a specific dread of blindness and cancer 13
****************************************************************
*Many of Sandy’s neighbors had fled a holocaust....it was as if we were living in the Dark Ages. 14 [Very apt description of what Sandy’s been explaining so far]
*************************************************************************
* Sarah also supported Sandy’s grandmother = Pauline Fox, a survivor of Jewish ghettos, poverty, and pogrom, she’d lost her left eye when young...Sarah and Pauline would cover their eyes when they lit the Sabbath candles...Pauline had a spark of life that she passed on to her grandchildren and Sandy will think of her with unutterable gratitude...she had a layer of white sand in the bottom drawer of Sandy’s old baby dresser - brought back by friends from trips to Israel...Pauline’s death took something sacred from Sandy but left something sacred too.” 15-17
* Sandy’s father passed away when he was a young boy. 5 ....Sandy had recurring nightmare of a father dying on the beach...His own father died in 1946.
* Sandy and younger brother, Joel [ Book of Joel, a book in the Jewish Tanakh, and in the Christian Bible, ascribed to the prophet; Yahweh is God] 10
* “This was a mitzvah = good deed.” 11
*Sandy Greenberg (from the Introduction by Art Garfunkel) “I knew him first on the steps of Hamilton Hall. We were coming out of our humanities class at Columbia College. It was 1959. I had seen him playing basketball that year - a powerful center, a bull....In tiniest increments, in our junior year, glaucoma set in. So I read to him. It was the natural thing to do....My friend is my gold standard of decency.” XVII - XVIII
*My vision was still quite muddy. My soul was muddy as well. I found this extreme physical caution disgraceful. 6”
* “From a hospital bed in Detroit in Feb 1961, his sightless eyes moist with medication, Sanford ‘made a deal with God: If the Lord got him out of this hole, Sandy vowed he would do all he could to prevent others from going through grief like this in the future. XV
“He carried through on that promise, directing prodigious energy to the development of technology for optic-nerve regeneration.
“To the same end, his steady hand is at the helm of the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute (JHWEI).
“These endeavors and multiple other pro bono initiatives are cause for the ‘Big Party’ Sandy hosts in a dreamspiel he imagines and records with elan in a chapter of this book.” XV
PART 1: DAY & NIGHT - HALFWAY THRU SANDY’S JUNIOR YEAR, HE’S ON A TRAIN & GOING HOME; HE DIDN’T KNOW IT YET BUT HIS EYES WERE DYING.
* GEOGRAPHY “It would be an eight-hour ride from New York north to Albany, then west to Syracuse and Rochester, and finally on to Buffalo at the eastern end of Lake Erie.” 3
*ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON = BONE GUY
“The doctor left, but what happened to me next was one of those extraordinary events that take over the mind unexpectedly. The space in front of me, where he had been sitting, was now like a vacuum - an absence. I was alone. No roommates, no comforting background noise of fellow students. Alone in simple fact, yes, but also alone with the gnawing dread about my eyesight, in a panic that suddenly mushroomed. I felt as if I were in an enormous shadowy cavern, a void empty of anything or any sensation. Struck with a sudden rush of terror, I stopped registering even the occasional small sounds coming from the idling train. My mind froze - there was nothing and no one there, or anywhere in my world. There was no world. There was no past, no future. There was only my stunned, frozen self, alone. My stomach turned to stone, and I am sure my heart stopped beating during this negative epiphany - for how long I couldn’t say.” 8
“In my early years, I had a recurring dream. It is a sunny late-summer weekend day at Crystal Beach, just west of Buffalo in Canada. A tall, handsome father in a bathing suit is carrying his five-year-old son on his back about twenty yards from shore out into Lake Erie. The father’s face blocks his son’s; a viewer from the beach would see only the boy’s arms clutching his father’s neck. Both are laughing as the father runs through the waves...At the shoreline, the father hesitates for an instant- then, with board-like rigidity, slams heavily facedown on t he hard, wet sand forcing the boy’s face into it. The boy rolls his father over and see his glazed and vacant eyes, blood pouring from his mouth. The father is dead.” 10
PART 2: A BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS - FEBRUARY, 1961
“Much of that necessarily occurs in one’s head, and by an ironically beneficial twist, a blind person is left largely with only that: the conscious life within his or her head. One then realizes how much of one’s mental life had been anchored in the world one saw. This is something that you, the reader, must contemplate, if you are sighted, in order to understand much of what my account is about.
”Perhaps she saw my blindness as just the next in a long line of hardships.” 84
*
*WW 2
*First husband’s death=Albert;
*Took care of her mother before she passed away
*Sandy’s blindness
*His step-father, Carl, died;
Sandy and his mother never discussed his blindness. 84
“After 4 dismal days and nights, I was discharged from the Detroit hospital. It was a Saturday morning. I walked out and felt fresh air on my face; I took deep breaths. That moment remains the most glorious memory of my life - the first little push toward regaining my life - and my brain gave me a further break by not allowing itself to imagine the struggles ahead.” 85
*The social workers helped Sandy in ways she probably had no knowledge of. I could feel rebellion stirring in my heart.” 90
“God does not send us despair in order to kill us; He sends it in order to awaken us to a new life. The awakening was brutally hard.” 91
“I knew I had some talent and some determination. But would these gifts and the support of my family be enough?...I still harbored a stubborn feeling of being unfulfilled. There were things I just wanted to learn and to know....Newly blind and downcast as I was, it was this hunger to know that ultimately provided the fuel for my liberation. One of my most cherished friends would apply the match.” 92
Garfunkel is godfather to each of Sandy’s 3 kids; he sang at Sandy’s wedding, Sandy’s siblings’ weddings and all 3 of Sandy’s kids 99
Garfunkel needed money to start his music career, to get opinions on his relationships and about family concerns 99
“The giver is a receiver; and the receiver a giver.” 102
“Like the voices of my readers, the voices on the tapes I made all sounded the same to me. I heard those voices in my sleep - when I did sleep, which was only four hours a night.” 114 ?????????????????????? How can this be? Both that the voices sounded the same and that the school didn’t make allowances for him so he could get more sleep. ~ MSL
“Having fled the horrors of a once-civilized Germany, my family had imbued in me a sense of patriotism and pride in our country. The promise of the righteous land that had rescued their own lives was being fulfilled each day I attended the university.” 116
“The help I required most urgently was to have study material read to me every night. He (Garfunkel) would say, ‘Darkness is going to help you today.’ Or, ‘Darkness is going to read to you from The Iliad.’ I suppose he meant that for me his voice was emerging from the darkness. The voice was smooth and light.” 118 [So Garfunkel gave himself the nickname “Darkness” and maybe later put it in his song “Hello, Darkness” my old friend.]
“There was a clear formula for students back then: do the work, go to the best graduate school, get the best job, earn a lot of money, spend your life around the best people - whatever those things may mean to each student.” 118. [It seems to still be the same now. ~MSL]
GRADUATED COLUMBIA IN 1962;
INVENTED COMPRESSED SPEECH MACHINE;
CH 17 MY BLINDNESS BALANCE SHEET: DEBITS page 201
This is one of my favorite chapters because he talks of his feelings. My memory is that the first part of book is mostly facts. In this chapter, he explains what it’s like to go to a movie theater when you’re blind...how his wife described everything to him until another patron complained. I can see both sides of this scene. I agreed with Sandy that movie theaters could really use a place for people with disabilities to sit and “watch” the movie in their own way.
The scenes about the trumpet his wife, Sue, gave him for his birthday was heartbreaking. The fact that he couldn’t play it because it would break the blood vessels in his eyes is haunting ... all of this because of an ill-trained doctor who didn’t recognize the signs of glaucoma.
CH 18 MY BLINDNESS BALANCE SHEET: ASSETS
”Because I was blessedly gifted with sight until my junior year in college, I have stored mental images of the world upon which I can still draw: great art and architecture, colors and shapes, and the faces of my old friends, my family, and my wife. My manic prowling among museums and art galleries in New York seems in retrospect like the activity of a squirrel preparing for winter.
“If not for my blindness, I would never have made deep friendships with many of those who have helped me, from my readers to my close college friends to my business colleagues. Each has been an individual light in my life.” 216
“Having to develop other ways to see the world has benefited me in multiple ways. One I have mentioned often in these pages is the imagination, a twin of scholarly thought. Imagination seems to me more a generalized mental activity than a path to a clear-cut end result. I can say only from personal experience that memory and imagination, in my darkened life, percolating within the mind, often blend indistinguishable. For better or worse, I am perforce prone to reflection. I’ve had to be my own guru on the road to self-knowledge, and to slowness, and maybe ultimately to serenity - which I believe cannot be achieved by force of will alone.” [This makes me think of Einstein’s quote: Imagination is more important than knowledge.]
“Something special about us blind people - and this, I have come to realize is an unqualified asset - is that we do not see horizons. It is a subtle thing, but not insignificant. I can testify that there are no longer any horizons in my own life. Since I left the hospital in Detroit, I have not perceived any of the everyday horizons that sighted people experience...I don’t have the same sense of boundaries shared by people impaired with sight.” 220
“After losing the vision of my eyes, I crafted a personal vision for my new life. I had to. In losing horizons, I could feel boundaries beginning to lose much of their hold over me. I began to feel free again, albeit in a new and unexpected way. My boundaries began opening up into a beautiful and widening circle of friends and family.” 221
FAVORITE QUOTES:
“I think we all squander our lives away and we don’t even know we’re doing it. Said Garfunkel 120
“Saint-Exupery observed, ‘It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.’ And in Helen Keller’s words, ‘The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched.’ ‘ 218
“Speak, Memory” by Vladimir Nabokov’s elegant biography of the same name. My memory speaks all the time.” 223
“Near the end of the trip, we visited the cemetery where my family is buried. The weather had darkened a bit. We found the spot, and I rested my hand on my mother’s gravestone. It was weathered, but there was still grit to it, a toughness, something enduring about it, which I felt was appropriate. The grass was soft, and so was the air. I thought about what these people, who had had hard lives, would think about me and the kind of life I had let. Their judgment was massively important to me. I felt that they would have been proud of me. But I sensed no response. But (of course!) the response would have to come from inside myself. I lingered a little while, and then we left.” 226
“Information is light, said Tom Stoppard.” 239
“Just trying is insufficient.” 240
LEAST FAV QUOTES & PHRASES:
FOREWORD BY RBG: “Everybody who is anybody will be there. [I find this an arrogant phrase.] XV
I didn’t like the foreword. It didn’t say much about Sandy and did talk about RBG and who she considered to be “toast-worthy.” Weird. I hope her book is well-written - instead of like this.
VOCABULARY:
*DREAMSPIEL P. XV
*CHAI TO LIFE! XVII = type of Indian tea, made especially by boiling the tea leaves with milk, sugar, and cardamom.
*TALLIS p XVIII - A PRAYER SHAWL;
*SHTETL = BLEAK PLACE ON EAST SIDE OF BUFFALO; 12
*The Atlantic Ocean was notes as being famously cruel and capricious ocean 15
*
Sandy & Sue marry & have 3 kids = James, Paul and Kathryn
QUESTIONS:
*Though my mother remarried, I felt - I knew - that everyone in the family looked up to me, and I was well aware that I was supposed to be strong. 6. What a strange thing for adults to think of a young boy and what a strange thing for Sandy to write! Why would anyone think this of a child?
July 2, 2022
Parts of this book are a wonderful account of how a man overcame a crushing obstacle through personal determination and the help of family and friends. Greenberg had a hard hand to begin with, having lost his father at 6 and then lived the limited life of a junk-dealer's stepson. But his entrance to Columbia on a scholarship seemed to open his future until a misdiagnosed eye ailment cost him his eyesight in his junior year. The story of how he managed to get back on track, graduate and get a Ph. d from Harvard with study in Oxford and a great career in government and business is inspiring. It helps that the surprising hero/helper is his roommate Arthur Garfunkel (better known as Art). Shat spoils the tale is first of all the way he insists on not being identified as a 'blind man", which leads to a much more difficult road for all those who are trying to help him 9because it closes off ways he could help himself, like using a dog or a cane). His program to end blindness by 2020 obviously didn't happen,. and the next to last chapter describing an imaginary party is one of the worst, most self-indulgent examples of name dropping and showing off your education I have ever encountered.
July 17, 2022
Hello Darkness my old friend
I would not have read this book if it were not for my sisterhood book club. Hello Darkness my old Friend starts out fast and heels my interest, I thought this was going to be a great memoir about a great man. But the story got bogged down in the middle of the book with racks and figures. This middle section may be the most important part Disney's life but he repeats himself to often. I did enjoy the dream chapter where I think he dies a gets to talk to all the people he has ever admired in history as well as all his friends that have passed before him. ( in fact my sister and I have often talked about my father have a beer with Albert Einstein and the man he admired the most a scientist from Australia right after he died.) Also having visual problems myself its always interesting learning how others overcome there own difficulties. I did enjoy learning something about someone I know nothing about and Sanford Greenberg did led an extraordinary life.
I would not have read this book if it were not for my sisterhood book club. Hello Darkness my old Friend starts out fast and heels my interest, I thought this was going to be a great memoir about a great man. But the story got bogged down in the middle of the book with racks and figures. This middle section may be the most important part Disney's life but he repeats himself to often. I did enjoy the dream chapter where I think he dies a gets to talk to all the people he has ever admired in history as well as all his friends that have passed before him. ( in fact my sister and I have often talked about my father have a beer with Albert Einstein and the man he admired the most a scientist from Australia right after he died.) Also having visual problems myself its always interesting learning how others overcome there own difficulties. I did enjoy learning something about someone I know nothing about and Sanford Greenberg did led an extraordinary life.
January 25, 2021
This is a story about a man who suddenly goes blind while attending Columbia University in New York City in the 1960s, it is an interesting book and I really loved the stories he included about his best friend and roommate art Garfunkel. What a beautiful friendship they have. It was a little bit annoying that the author of the book refuses to use a cane or a guide dog. But all in all I enjoyed reading this.
January 28, 2024
I have rarely been as happy to turn the last page as I was with this book. It’s a selection of my book club, so I felt compelled to at least skim to the final page (282), though my patience with Sandy Greenberg sank to zero after the Schindler’s List movie anecdote on page 206.
This sounds so mean, so unsympathetic. Don’t I feel for someone who went blind at the tender age of 19? Don’t I admire his substantive accomplishments? Don’t I recognize his charitable contributions?
The answers are all yes. But I also see a sense of entitlement that dwarfs these other qualities. That entitlement comes out in many ways, but the movie anecdote dramatizes it. Sandy, I wanted to ask, since you are such a smart guy, can’t you figure out that talking during a movie ruins it for five to 10 other people? Why do you think you have that right? Why is your enjoyment more important than the enjoyment of 10 others?
I felt a similar impatience with his refusal to use a cane. It’s his choice, but he subjects others to delay and possible injury as he flounders through public spaces, knocking into doors and falling down stairs.
He evidently doesn’t realize — or doesn’t care — that his selfish choices make life more difficult for family, colleagues, and random strangers.
That said, you might enjoy at least some parts of this narrative. The first chapter (“Strangers in a Train”) is terrific. As the book progresses (and the hand of the professional writer is removed) the prose sinks into turgidity. Greenberg has probably been told that you should not end a sentence with a preposition and, clumsy sentence structure be damned, he will NEVER violate that diktat.
I was left wondering about Art Garfunkel, Greenberg’s roommate, essential helper, the godfather of his children, and lifelong best friend. Garfunkel is hard to figure out from Greenberg’s descriptions; Garfunkel’s own words, in his introduction, are more obtuse than enlightening.
Memoirs often include some score-settling. This one does too: although Greenberg doesn’t name names, he includes enough detail so you know it’s Henry Kissinger who borrowed Greenberg’s tape recorder, broke it, and required several demands before he reimbursed a scholarship student for the replacement. It appears that Kissinger feels even more entitled than Greenberg.
I often ask myself if I’d want to have coffee with the author. I would in this case if Sandy agreed in advance that he’d tell me about the many interesting people he knew (Art Garfunkel, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, LBJ, Margaret Mead), but minimize the self congratulations.
—Notes as I read—
On page 52, the author quotes a letter his girlfriend (later wife) wrote him while they were both college students. The letter is set in italic type.
The last line is clearly the author’s commentary on the letter itself. It should have been set as anew paragraph and in regular, not italic type.
It’s certainly easy to make errors like this, especially if you are blind and cannot see the screen. But that is why editors and proofreaders are supposed to read manuscripts and proofs. Sigh.
And there are some parts that are just plain wrong, as when, on page 57, the author describes attending Yom
Kippur services “just as the High Holidays were beginning.” Umm, Sandy, no, the High Holidays begin with Rosh Hashanah, 10 days before Yom
Kippur. Sandy tells us that he attended an orthodox shul, so he should know this.
The first chapter is terrific. I suspect Greenberg had help from a professional writer. Later chapters sink into turgidity.
I am breathless at the NAMES he had as teachers. At Columbia, it was Margaret Mead, Henry Steele Commager, Allan Nevins. At Harvard, Henry Kissinger.
He was born in 1942 or so, went to single-sex schools.. So I suppose his old fashioned attitude towards his wife is to be expected. I wish we’d learned a little more about who she was, not just what she did for him.
This sounds so mean, so unsympathetic. Don’t I feel for someone who went blind at the tender age of 19? Don’t I admire his substantive accomplishments? Don’t I recognize his charitable contributions?
The answers are all yes. But I also see a sense of entitlement that dwarfs these other qualities. That entitlement comes out in many ways, but the movie anecdote dramatizes it. Sandy, I wanted to ask, since you are such a smart guy, can’t you figure out that talking during a movie ruins it for five to 10 other people? Why do you think you have that right? Why is your enjoyment more important than the enjoyment of 10 others?
I felt a similar impatience with his refusal to use a cane. It’s his choice, but he subjects others to delay and possible injury as he flounders through public spaces, knocking into doors and falling down stairs.
He evidently doesn’t realize — or doesn’t care — that his selfish choices make life more difficult for family, colleagues, and random strangers.
That said, you might enjoy at least some parts of this narrative. The first chapter (“Strangers in a Train”) is terrific. As the book progresses (and the hand of the professional writer is removed) the prose sinks into turgidity. Greenberg has probably been told that you should not end a sentence with a preposition and, clumsy sentence structure be damned, he will NEVER violate that diktat.
I was left wondering about Art Garfunkel, Greenberg’s roommate, essential helper, the godfather of his children, and lifelong best friend. Garfunkel is hard to figure out from Greenberg’s descriptions; Garfunkel’s own words, in his introduction, are more obtuse than enlightening.
Memoirs often include some score-settling. This one does too: although Greenberg doesn’t name names, he includes enough detail so you know it’s Henry Kissinger who borrowed Greenberg’s tape recorder, broke it, and required several demands before he reimbursed a scholarship student for the replacement. It appears that Kissinger feels even more entitled than Greenberg.
I often ask myself if I’d want to have coffee with the author. I would in this case if Sandy agreed in advance that he’d tell me about the many interesting people he knew (Art Garfunkel, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, LBJ, Margaret Mead), but minimize the self congratulations.
—Notes as I read—
On page 52, the author quotes a letter his girlfriend (later wife) wrote him while they were both college students. The letter is set in italic type.
The last line is clearly the author’s commentary on the letter itself. It should have been set as anew paragraph and in regular, not italic type.
It’s certainly easy to make errors like this, especially if you are blind and cannot see the screen. But that is why editors and proofreaders are supposed to read manuscripts and proofs. Sigh.
And there are some parts that are just plain wrong, as when, on page 57, the author describes attending Yom
Kippur services “just as the High Holidays were beginning.” Umm, Sandy, no, the High Holidays begin with Rosh Hashanah, 10 days before Yom
Kippur. Sandy tells us that he attended an orthodox shul, so he should know this.
The first chapter is terrific. I suspect Greenberg had help from a professional writer. Later chapters sink into turgidity.
I am breathless at the NAMES he had as teachers. At Columbia, it was Margaret Mead, Henry Steele Commager, Allan Nevins. At Harvard, Henry Kissinger.
He was born in 1942 or so, went to single-sex schools.. So I suppose his old fashioned attitude towards his wife is to be expected. I wish we’d learned a little more about who she was, not just what she did for him.
July 14, 2022
This is a book that has come highly recommended by many people, possibly following a viral Facebook post. The post told the story Art Garfunkel writing "The Sound of Silence" based on his experiences with his friend and college roommate, Sandy Greenberg. Greenberg is the author of the book.
It's not that Greenberg's life isn't extraordinary. He went almost completely blind (from glaucoma) when a junior at Columbia. After returning to Columbia (being cajoled by and later helped) by Art Garfunkel, he went on to a stellar academic career and work career. He owned various businesses, hung out with the most important people in the country (if not the world), and has done a lot as far as funding research into curing vision loss. However, as one reviewer put it, basically the book is filled with, "I did this, and I did this, and I did this...." That's pretty much what the book was, punctuated with long thank you notes to those whom he knew in his life, and what appear to be a few almost surrealistic dream sequences about life perceptions in general. For those looking for a sequential story of what led to what, or any level of emotional connectivity, there really isn't any.
I was looking for more of a traditional biography. There really were a lot of gaps. Greenberg talked about how he "refused to be blind" and how that was problematic (i.e., no learning Braille, no seeing eye dog, no cane), but the book continued on with Greenberg seemingly never changing his attitude. I'm not sure that was meant to be any type of commentary on anything at all. He talked about the amount of times he had to go to the hospital after running into walls and doors and how that was difficult for his family, but he never gave any context for that. He didn't express much remorse, nor did he seem to say, "Look what I did without all those announcements of being blind."
I was also more curious about the trajectory of his career. This is a guy who knows everyone and is very influential. Ruth Ginsberg was his neighbor and wrote a forward to the book; Margaret Atwood wrote an afterward. He was seemingly friends with Lyndon Johnson and various other powerful people throughout the world. He knew Margaret Mead, and friends with Supreme Court Justices. And yet, I'm still not sure how he got from being blind at Columbia to his place at the top of the echelon of society. He wound up being able to get a Phd in Oxford, and he wound up going to Harvard Law, but the next thing that seemed to happen was that he was a White House Fellow. (No details about how that occurred.) From there, he dropped out of law school and started his own company with recording technology. That branched into starting various other companies and also being placed on the Board of numerous prestigious institutions.
I'm more interested in the missing details. The book emphasized that he was a poor kid from Buffalo who studied government and policy. I'm not sure how that turned into deciding to start a tech company after leaving what he said wasn't a very high paying temporary government position. Of course, maybe every one else isn't quite as interested in this as I am and more interested in the impressiveness of the entirety of the story. His accomplishments are pretty major.
It's not that Greenberg's life isn't extraordinary. He went almost completely blind (from glaucoma) when a junior at Columbia. After returning to Columbia (being cajoled by and later helped) by Art Garfunkel, he went on to a stellar academic career and work career. He owned various businesses, hung out with the most important people in the country (if not the world), and has done a lot as far as funding research into curing vision loss. However, as one reviewer put it, basically the book is filled with, "I did this, and I did this, and I did this...." That's pretty much what the book was, punctuated with long thank you notes to those whom he knew in his life, and what appear to be a few almost surrealistic dream sequences about life perceptions in general. For those looking for a sequential story of what led to what, or any level of emotional connectivity, there really isn't any.
I was looking for more of a traditional biography. There really were a lot of gaps. Greenberg talked about how he "refused to be blind" and how that was problematic (i.e., no learning Braille, no seeing eye dog, no cane), but the book continued on with Greenberg seemingly never changing his attitude. I'm not sure that was meant to be any type of commentary on anything at all. He talked about the amount of times he had to go to the hospital after running into walls and doors and how that was difficult for his family, but he never gave any context for that. He didn't express much remorse, nor did he seem to say, "Look what I did without all those announcements of being blind."
I was also more curious about the trajectory of his career. This is a guy who knows everyone and is very influential. Ruth Ginsberg was his neighbor and wrote a forward to the book; Margaret Atwood wrote an afterward. He was seemingly friends with Lyndon Johnson and various other powerful people throughout the world. He knew Margaret Mead, and friends with Supreme Court Justices. And yet, I'm still not sure how he got from being blind at Columbia to his place at the top of the echelon of society. He wound up being able to get a Phd in Oxford, and he wound up going to Harvard Law, but the next thing that seemed to happen was that he was a White House Fellow. (No details about how that occurred.) From there, he dropped out of law school and started his own company with recording technology. That branched into starting various other companies and also being placed on the Board of numerous prestigious institutions.
I'm more interested in the missing details. The book emphasized that he was a poor kid from Buffalo who studied government and policy. I'm not sure how that turned into deciding to start a tech company after leaving what he said wasn't a very high paying temporary government position. Of course, maybe every one else isn't quite as interested in this as I am and more interested in the impressiveness of the entirety of the story. His accomplishments are pretty major.
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