Film

Read an excerpt from “Blindsight,” Simon Lewis’ astonishing story

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Last year, Simon Lewis spoke at the INK Conference in India, telling — for the first time onstage — his story of recovery from terrible brain damage, and the surprising new understanding of consciousness that he gained. (Watch the TEDTalk.)

Now, over at the online magazine The Atavist, writer Chris Colin has produced a thoughtful and well-reported story of Lewis’ life, both before and after the crash that destroyed a third of the right hemisphere of his brain. (Before the crash, Lewis was a film producer — he helped make Look Who’s Talking.) Spending days with Lewis, Colin shows a man seeking to reconnect with life — but also possessed of a new way of seeing the world, a new way he wants to try to share.

One early review: “Colin tells Simon Lewis’s story of wreckage and rebirth with economy, vividness, and grace.” — Nicholson Baker, author of House of Holes, Vox and The Mezzanine

Read an excerpt from “Blindsight” on TheAtlantic.com >>

Buy “Blindsight” for Kindle and iPad/iPod >>