Helen Keller (1) (1880–1968)

This is Helen Keller’s autobiography (for about the first half). Then, it includes some of the letters Helen wrote to various people. Helen, of course, was both blind and deaf in the late 19th century as a child when she and a teacher had a breakthrough as her teacher, Annie Sullivan, was trying to teach her to communicate. Helen grew up to become very educated and published more than one book.

I listened to the audio, and it was ok, but I did lose focus more than I would have liked. It turns out Helen loved books and reading, which was interesting. It was kind of repetitive between the biography portion, then much of what was in the letters had already also been mentioned in the autobiography. Helen Keller was a pretty impressive woman.… (mais)

If I had read Helen Keller's The Story of My Life without this version's supplementary accounts by her teacher Anne Sullivan, her editor John Macy, and the introduction and afterward by Roger Shattuck, I'd have been very skeptical of it because the eloquence of the writing. How could she have had such a strong connection to the world of language, as isolated as (I thought) she was? The additional material about her life experiences, her education, the unique methods used by her teachers, and her own lifelong devotion to reading and letter writing erased any trace of skepticism I had.… (mais)