Fixing My Gaze: A Scientist's Journey Into Seeing in Three Dimensions

I ordered this new book just after meeting the inspirational Dr. Barry at this year's meeting of the Vision Sciences Society. The book arrived this last Friday and I spent the day reading it. I confess to be blown away by her story, as well as the scientific and clinical implications of her work. Add me to the list of people who loved the book!Sue Barry's astonishing development of stereopsis at age 48 changed - profoundly - the way that many scientists (me included) view visual development and plasticity. Somehow we had tuned out, en masse, one hundred years of successes using vision therapy (including the extensive the work of Frederick Brock). The stuff of vision therapy was ignored, relegated to the fringes of sensible vision care. Instead, several generations of us took the Nobel Prize winning research of Hubel and Wiesel as gospel truth, going beyond the data by wrongly concluding (perhaps unlike the Nobel laureates) that stereopsis could only develop during a critical period during infancy. It took Barry, a well-established neuroscientist and keen observer, to bring us to our senses.And yet now, having read her new book, I see that the story is much deeper and profound than I thought. First off, she's a very entertaining storyteller in her own right. The human drama escalated as she went through frightening surgeries as a child (including an encounter with a deceptive anesthesiologist); as she experienced shock and disappointment at being exposed as stereoblind; as she had her vision problems dismissed by one ophthalmologist as a psychiatric disorder; as she experienced steropsis bursting out at her for the first time; as she gained steam and knowledge, recognizing the scientific, clinical, and human implications of her story; as she brought celebrity neuroscientists on board. And so it is a story of empowerment for Barry the patient, Barry the scientist, Barry the teacher, and Barry the instiller of hope.I believe that Susan Barry has demonstrated for many of us that stereopsis is, indeed, important. I, for instance, was trained to believe that binocular vision and any advantage it afforded us wasn't that big a deal. Sure, I loved stereo viewers and all that... But as an undergrad at Berkeley in the early `80s, I recall a visit by Bela Julesz, of cyclopean vision fame. Two of my academic heroes, Russ and Karen De Valois rose to challenge Julesz, eventually (as I recall) suggesting that two eyes really aren't that much better than one. As I read Barry's book, as well as her descriptions of the consequences of her visual deficit, I realized that my early academic training (as a I had encoded it) was quite wrong. The book makes it clear that lack of stereopsis, and having two eyes that don't fuse images properly, has profound consequences for people like Barry (e.g., her driving, her energy level, and her sense of efficacy). Moreover, it is fair to say that Barry is an extraordinary observer of stereoscopic experience, and that she uses her newfound, developing perceptual ability to achieve scientific and clinical insights that are elusive to us who grew up with normal stereopsis.One of the epiphanies for me was when I read and grasped the following paragraph: "Just as I could not imagine a world in stereo depth, an individual with normal normal stereopsis cannot experience the worldview of a person who has always lacked steropsis. This may be surprising because you can eliminate clues from stereopsis simply by closing one eye. What's more, many people do not notice a great difference when viewing the world with one eye or two. When a normal binocular viewer closes one eye, however, he or she still uses a lifetime of past visual experiences to re-create the missing stereo information."People interested in stereopsis will find excellent coverage of the basic issues and the key scientific figures past and present (e.g., Wheatstone, Hering, Helmholtz, Eileen Birch, Shin Shimojo, Denis Levi, Uri Polat, Chris Tyler). It is nice, if not surprising, to learn that the already positive, cool Oliver Sacks played a positive, cool role in Susan Barry's story.If you have strabismus or some other disorder of binocular vision, you will find what you need here. You will find out how to find an appropriate vision therapist. You will find extensive, understandable information about the theory and science of binocular vision. More importantly, you will learn in marvelous detail about the experiences and practices that can in some instances lead to acquiring stereopsis late in life. My guess is that vision therapy patients will use this book as a guide for years to come.One last thing: I recommend listening to two NPR interviews (2006, 2009) featuring Sue Barry, as well as other key scientific figures in the story, including Sacks, Hubel, Levi, and, briefly, the heroic Theresa Ruggiero. The NPR programs are available online and go quite well with the book.Two thumbs up! (one with uncrossed disparity; one with crossed disparity).

Fixing My Gaze was an excellent book. The author explained her experience in gaining "stereo vision" in terms that are understood from the patient's point of view, with a scientist's understanding. It was interesting to read how "stereopsis" and the absence of "stereopsis" affects virtually all aspects of our daily lives and how our brains adapt. Yes, I would recommend this book.

Do you have depth perception, that visual ability to judge what is closer and farther away?If you are reading this review, the answer is yes. From the time of the Renaissance, artists have made use of cues for depth to endow their canvases with a sense of life: streets become narrower in the distance; subjects that are closer are also larger and overlap those that are behind; there is the slightest haze in the distance, a subtle indistinctness of form, a difference in shadow. These devices trick the mind into perceiving depth whether we have one eye or two.There is a second, more vivid form of depth perception, however, which requires the use of two eyes. To experience it, try the following experiment: Hold your hand at a forty-five degree angle to your face about ten inches in front of your eyes and spread apart your fingers. Closing one eye at a time, view the hand first with one eye, then the other. You'll find that each view is different, that the fingers have different separations depending on which eye you use. Next, open both eyes and see how your perspective changes, how the fingers seem now to be separated by more air, how there is an increased sense of space. This two-eyed form of depth perception is called stereopsis. Those individuals who have a "crossed" or "wall-eye" (strabismus), rather than combining the two views into a three-dimensional percept, typically see one of the views while ignoring the other. Dr. Susan Barry, a neuroscientist, and the author of FIXING MY GAZE: a Scientist's Journey in Seeing in Three Dimensions was one such individual. Her eye crossed when she was three months old. Three surgeries between ages two and seven cosmetically straightened her eyes, but-as is frequently the case-the surgeries did not restore the brain's ability to combine the information from the two eyes. Sue's doctors, basing their opinions on the science of the day, assured her that she would never develop stereopsis. The story of "Stereo Sue" regaining her depth perception at age 50 and astonishing the medical community was first told in a 2006 article by Oliver Sacks in a New Yorker. FIXING MY GAZE, however, is far more than a fleshing out the Sacks article. The book is a touching and sometimes lyrical tale of perseverance in overcoming obstacles. It's an excellent resource on Optometric Vision Therapy, the treatment through which Sue regained her vision. It's a wonderful overview of the science and neuroscience underlying the perceived changes. Most importantly, it's the best book ever written about how subjective experience changes during the journey from one-eyed to two-eyed seeing. The story is completely accessible to nonscientists, the more technical discussions appearing in over fifty pages of endnotes, including copious references. As for who will benefit from or enjoy the book, there are many possible audiences: 1) Those who like well written success stories that also increase their understanding of the world. 2) Those who have ever had strabismus (a condition in which an eye turns in toward the nose or out towards the ear)-whether or not the condition has been "corrected" surgically. 3) The parents of those with strabismus. 4) Those who feel their own vision makes life more difficult. 5) Those with an interest in psychology or the brain. 6) Those doctors, whether ophthalmologists, optometrists or pediatricians, who profess to care for patients with strabismus. And finally (7), those who have pondered the topic of human consciousness: Sue, a neuroscientist, knew practically everything there was to know about stereopsis, but her world and joy of seeing changed profoundly when she experienced stereopsis. To share the excitement and insights of that change, read this outstanding book.

I guess maybe I am just very, very lucky, but doing the brock string exercise for 10 minutes has made a massive difference to my eyesight. I am 38 years old and have basically only looked through 1 eye or the other alternately all my life. To be honest, most of the time it has not been a problem, but recently I started have serious issues because my eyes started swapping continuously (this used to only happen when tired) which would give me eye strain, headaches and even motion sickness! I went to the opticians and as usual nothing. In desperation I started googling, reading forums etc. and finally came across this book and the associated youtube videos. I decided to have a go with the brock string one night (just a piece of string, I didn't have the beads the first time) and the very next day I noticed the difference. I am definitely seeing in 3D, have far less eye strain, no headaches or motion sickness and my reading has massively improved. I am sure without all the articles and talks that susan barry has done over the years I would not have found what I was looking for on the internet. Why this has not been mentioned to me in over 30 years of going to opticians (including specialists in the hospital) in the UK is frankly unbelievable, surely it is always going to be worth a try?The book itself is a good read, even if you haven't had similar issues, but if you have then it's a must read.

I do not have binocular vision, though I have had two eye-straightening ops in my life. In U.K. there seems very little interest in eye treatment of this kind. My surgeon, 9 years ago, told me my op would not help me towards binocular vision, and did not think I could ever achieve it. This book has given me hope.

This is a fascinating read. It should be compulsory for all opticians. It does sadden me though that so much could have been done for my eyesight all those years ago if people had more open minds and didn't just go with the narrow flow of science.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I would recommend it to anyone who has a lazy eye. The author is very helpful in her explanations of the workings of the eye and how she developed and improved her stereoscopic vision (using specialist opticians). All very encouraging

Having discovered, at the age of 47, that I am stereoblind I was keen to find out more about my condition. This is a facinating and informative book written in an easy going accessable style. There are copious notes and links to aid you in further reading around the subject and also the hope, should you choose to persue it, that it is not always too late to achieve stereo vision.