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If You Could See What I Hear
An inspirational and thought provoking book!
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
5 people are currently reading
198 people want to read
About the author
Tom Sullivan
77 books37 followersTom Sullivan is an American singer, actor, writer, and motivational speaker. Blind since infancy, he has been a public advocate for assistive services for the blind, and research into treatments for blindness.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
August 13, 2023
When a sighted person sees something or someone, his brain makes an instant judgment — 'he's ugly,' 'she's pretty,' 'that's yellow or green,' 'big or small.' I can't do that. I can't see out there. My world is one of intimate confrontation, not of faraway or middle-distance images. I think I gain in not being able to make quick judgments. I have to concentrate more on everyone I meet. I have to allow the senses of smell, touch, and sound to send their different evaluations to my mind. Only then can I judge a person's worth."
Yes, Tom Sullivan is a special person but his and his father's fuckboi-ness in the book made me wanna puke. Also, the narrative sounds so much like a hagiography than an autobiography. There are also a lot of other dated problems in this narrative.
Yes, Tom Sullivan is a special person but his and his father's fuckboi-ness in the book made me wanna puke. Also, the narrative sounds so much like a hagiography than an autobiography. There are also a lot of other dated problems in this narrative.
August 25, 2023
I’d never heard of Tom Sullivan until I stumbled on a blog post from Mike Calvo, CEO of Pneuma Solutions, in which he mentioned this book. Finding it enlightening, I’m glad I picked it up.
I like how Tom Sullivan opens the book with a scene in which his three-year-old daughter nearly drowns in the family’s swimming pool. He then assures us the child survived and takes us back to the beginning of his life.
I was drawn to his fascination with sounds as a child. A good example of this is how, at age five, after climbing the fence in his back yard and ending up in an alley, he found pieces of discarded glass and discovered the delightful sound they made when they shattered upon impact with the ground. I also liked the sound of breaking glass as a kid but never intentionally broke anything just to hear that sound.
Another part of the book I liked was when he talked about his experiences singing in nightclubs. An Italian owner of such an establishment once insisted he sing “O Solo Mio,” even though he didn’t know it and gave him the impression that if he didn’t sing the song, he’d lose life or limb, not to mention pay. He miraculously managed to learn the song between sets. This happened in the late 1960’s, and being a musician myself, I couldn’t help wondering if he was aware that Elvis Presley’s “It’s Now or Never” uses the same tune. That may not have occurred to him at the time, and that’s understandable.
As an aside, I aspired to be a famous singer and often wondered what would have happened if I’d chosen that career path. But after reading about Tom Sullivan’s family’s financial struggles after he made such a choice, I’m glad I took the road I did.
I also liked the speech Tom Sullivan imagined giving to clients and administrators at the Braille Institute in Los Angeles while walking on the beach with his guide dog. I was touched by his reluctance to give an inspirational talk to blind people when no one offered such inspiration to him and his sudden decision to do so after his guide dog was nearly killed by a passing vehicle.
I hope both blind and sighted people find this book entertaining and educational. It’s important that we all see what blind people hear.
I like how Tom Sullivan opens the book with a scene in which his three-year-old daughter nearly drowns in the family’s swimming pool. He then assures us the child survived and takes us back to the beginning of his life.
I was drawn to his fascination with sounds as a child. A good example of this is how, at age five, after climbing the fence in his back yard and ending up in an alley, he found pieces of discarded glass and discovered the delightful sound they made when they shattered upon impact with the ground. I also liked the sound of breaking glass as a kid but never intentionally broke anything just to hear that sound.
Another part of the book I liked was when he talked about his experiences singing in nightclubs. An Italian owner of such an establishment once insisted he sing “O Solo Mio,” even though he didn’t know it and gave him the impression that if he didn’t sing the song, he’d lose life or limb, not to mention pay. He miraculously managed to learn the song between sets. This happened in the late 1960’s, and being a musician myself, I couldn’t help wondering if he was aware that Elvis Presley’s “It’s Now or Never” uses the same tune. That may not have occurred to him at the time, and that’s understandable.
As an aside, I aspired to be a famous singer and often wondered what would have happened if I’d chosen that career path. But after reading about Tom Sullivan’s family’s financial struggles after he made such a choice, I’m glad I took the road I did.
I also liked the speech Tom Sullivan imagined giving to clients and administrators at the Braille Institute in Los Angeles while walking on the beach with his guide dog. I was touched by his reluctance to give an inspirational talk to blind people when no one offered such inspiration to him and his sudden decision to do so after his guide dog was nearly killed by a passing vehicle.
I hope both blind and sighted people find this book entertaining and educational. It’s important that we all see what blind people hear.
May 18, 2012
The book is about a person who's born without sight, but is gifted with a special vision. A vision ─a perspective in life that's more superior than a normal person with sight has.
Though deprived of sight ─was it deprived or was it stolen? It no longer matters. He's born with an I.Q of a genius, born with talents, and unreasonable guts ─imagine a blind person doing something like a skydiving session. Wrestling with other human beings with sight and beating them ─does that exceed the word exceptional? Not to mention, he's a singer, a musician ─he compose musical pieces and plays any musical instrument. He's also a Psych Major. He even became a wrestling coach. And this sounds crazy enough, he even does Counseling. He does so many things that you might surely forget that he's blind. He's got the brains and the guts that compensates for his lost of sight. And obviously, he went through a lot of things more than a normal person does.
The way he sees life without having the sense of sight is something that's truly unbelievable. Sightless, he is. But he found his true love. Found the meaning of his life and found his life itself. I will even say yes if you'll ask me that he sees more in life than I do. We, people with sight, tend to judge immediately. Not like blind people wherein they all use their remaining senses to know the person more. Just like in life. They delve deeper to the experience. They'll know life more.
He have met many significant people on his life w/c made a crucial role in his life. And he's lucky enough to have really really cool parents.
There were times ─lots of it when he cursed himself for being blind ─cursed the WORLD ─cursed GOD. But in the end, he still managed to find the brighter side of it.
Thanks to him. I realized so many things. It's even scary to think about what I could have missed if I haven't read this book. The power of faith. The power of having gone through suffering. The power of learning the hard way. For it is only when one is stripped off of something he thought he can't live without that he will realize and discover the greatest of his potentials.
Though deprived of sight ─was it deprived or was it stolen? It no longer matters. He's born with an I.Q of a genius, born with talents, and unreasonable guts ─imagine a blind person doing something like a skydiving session. Wrestling with other human beings with sight and beating them ─does that exceed the word exceptional? Not to mention, he's a singer, a musician ─he compose musical pieces and plays any musical instrument. He's also a Psych Major. He even became a wrestling coach. And this sounds crazy enough, he even does Counseling. He does so many things that you might surely forget that he's blind. He's got the brains and the guts that compensates for his lost of sight. And obviously, he went through a lot of things more than a normal person does.
The way he sees life without having the sense of sight is something that's truly unbelievable. Sightless, he is. But he found his true love. Found the meaning of his life and found his life itself. I will even say yes if you'll ask me that he sees more in life than I do. We, people with sight, tend to judge immediately. Not like blind people wherein they all use their remaining senses to know the person more. Just like in life. They delve deeper to the experience. They'll know life more.
He have met many significant people on his life w/c made a crucial role in his life. And he's lucky enough to have really really cool parents.
There were times ─lots of it when he cursed himself for being blind ─cursed the WORLD ─cursed GOD. But in the end, he still managed to find the brighter side of it.
Thanks to him. I realized so many things. It's even scary to think about what I could have missed if I haven't read this book. The power of faith. The power of having gone through suffering. The power of learning the hard way. For it is only when one is stripped off of something he thought he can't live without that he will realize and discover the greatest of his potentials.
July 18, 2012
I'm just old enough to remember seeing Tom Sullivan on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. It must have been a Friday and I was able to stay up past 10:00. I thought he was incredibly inspirational and he was funny and seemed remarkable. For awhile this was one of my favorite books about someone who had overcome a challenge and in an uplifting, comical, seemingly carefree way. Amongst a bunch of books that were all in the weepy, someone dying of something genre that a teen will enjoy, this one was about someone who survived, lived well and was happy. Thank goodness I found at least one! Some of his stunts are things I wouldn't try myself with my vision. Today, he might rethink some of the choices also!
December 1, 2014
Read this book when I was in high school. Very inspirational. Tom Sullivan and his wife named their daughter Blythe (a pivotal part in his story). I fell in love with the name and never forgot it. We later named our daughter Blythe, and she has read and loves this book as well. I think I need to download and read this one again!
June 1, 2015
Love reading about blind people.... fascinating how they view things and how they do daily activities.... they are more bold and have outlook on life more keenly then most sighted do. I was inspired......I love this sentence that he says from the book.... "Sight paints a picture of life, but sound, touch, taste and smell are actually life itself."
February 12, 2019
Sometimes mothers wonder that their children survive to adulthood. Undaunted, Tom Sullivan tempted fate on more than a singular occasion and must have tested his mother's fortitude. Unfortunately, this book is apparently out of print, but the search proved well worth the effort and the wait.
January 10, 2018
A wonderful auto-biography of a courageous soul.
December 6, 2018
Awesome biography. Kids have been coming into the library asking for books about blindness. I wish we had it to share.
May 19, 2022
Read this for class and I am so so glad I did. A must-read :)
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July 29, 2022#LittleLibrariesofGreaterVictoria
June 25, 2021
This is the story of Tom Sullivan. A person that became blind after the moment he was born (due to retrolentalfibroplasia) and had to adjust to life being without something the sighted daily take for granted.
It tells his experiences- from his upbringing to his realizations at being academically bright, his musical career, his struggles with getting on with life all told in a literary flair.
We get insight on what he has gone through from his genius abilities to what he could "see" from his disability, to his personal, sad first family relationships to starting his own, and his achievements and doings in life all in a startling, vivid, sometimes frank life story as we get it all.
From the first chapter you will be drawn into his amazing ability to know how to act not by normal sight to the final pages as he and his wife chat by a fireplace with deep love for each other (reminds me of a picture in this book that is my favorite of the small bunch, and contains pics from the actors in the film version of the story); you will be set on wanting to know a lot about this man's life. A life that he went through- the ups and downs, as failings would make the successes not attainable, a man who can only wonder if you would see what he experienced.
He is brutally honest, a man who would help you understand the blind's perspective. Also a glance at a spiritual awakening, though brief. There is such a deep heart in this book. I might just cherish it more than I once did and may re-read it in the near future.
Enough to make the sighted and non-sighted alike hope to achieve greatness. A wonderful, realizing book.
It tells his experiences- from his upbringing to his realizations at being academically bright, his musical career, his struggles with getting on with life all told in a literary flair.
We get insight on what he has gone through from his genius abilities to what he could "see" from his disability, to his personal, sad first family relationships to starting his own, and his achievements and doings in life all in a startling, vivid, sometimes frank life story as we get it all.
From the first chapter you will be drawn into his amazing ability to know how to act not by normal sight to the final pages as he and his wife chat by a fireplace with deep love for each other (reminds me of a picture in this book that is my favorite of the small bunch, and contains pics from the actors in the film version of the story); you will be set on wanting to know a lot about this man's life. A life that he went through- the ups and downs, as failings would make the successes not attainable, a man who can only wonder if you would see what he experienced.
He is brutally honest, a man who would help you understand the blind's perspective. Also a glance at a spiritual awakening, though brief. There is such a deep heart in this book. I might just cherish it more than I once did and may re-read it in the near future.
Enough to make the sighted and non-sighted alike hope to achieve greatness. A wonderful, realizing book.
Read
May 7, 2013this is truly a wonderful story of inspiration. it is not with what you have that you experience everything in it's fullness but it is with what you don't have that you realize how important little things are. there are a lot of little things that go thru life unnoticed, simply because we thought of them with so little value. unfortunately, we have a poor definition and understanding of the word "value".
August 23, 2022
At a time before technology would even the playing field for the blind, Tom Sullivan made his adventurous way in the world with unmatched spirit and determination. I read this story when I was seven or eight, but I've deepened my appreciation for it as an adult. It's inspirational, but more than that, it's hilarious! If you love memoirs, check it out.
November 21, 2017
Read this in 8th Grade. Had seen the movie starring Marc Singer. The movie is a movie and a false one at that. Tom Sullivan's real story is very interesting. As far as changing things for movie from whats in the book it ranks up there with Midnight Express for falsehoods
May 30, 2008
Tom Sullivan is inspirational and more than a little crazy. This book made me laugh soooooooo many times. He's a unique individual who is well worth giving a read to.
March 7, 2009
An autobiography, written when the author was 26 years old, telling of his childhood, early music career, and family.
December 29, 2009
read this twenty years ago and loved it
Currently reading
January 23, 2010This book will make you cry when you read it and is an inspiration to anyone that if you work hard anything is possible.
July 12, 2011
very interesting-neat life story about blind man
August 9, 2011
I guess I'm not into biographies so much... This man overcame the blindness to achieve many things in his lifetime. It was ok as a book read.
August 3, 2012
Un roman qui a bouleversé mon enfance! Il me suit depuis des dizaines d'années et son souvenir est toujours vif! Il est vrai que je l'ai lu, et relu, et re-relu!
October 6, 2012
I found this life story amazing and sad, hopeful and hopeless.
October 16, 2012
Fun book and fun movie.
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June 20, 2016Inspiring.
April 5, 2012
I LOVE THIS BOOK
July 19, 2013
I read this book in either high school or junior high. I loved it!
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July 30, 2017A true story that is absorbing and inspiring.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews