Reviews for Voyage of the Secret Duchess

The average rating for Voyage of the Secret Duchess based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-01-06 00:00:00 Bruce S Kennedy It took me over a week to finish this book, but it was very good. My copy had the world's smallest font and that really slowed me down. I thought a couple things were going on, and it turned out that I was wrong on one end but right on the other. The baddie in this one is outrageous, completely soulless, I'm talking total empty shell territory. Since I apparently can't leave a review without griping about something, I may as well get started. The story had a very racist tone aimed at Chinese people. I know it's written in 1975, but it read more like it was written in 1925. Chinaman this, Chinaman that. The worst thing was when some characters were discussing the death of a Chinese man, and the baddie said his death didn't matter because he was Chinese and there were plenty more out there. Shameful stuff, but the book was still a solid read.

Review # 2 was written on 2021-02-04 00:00:00 Vivek Bhardwaj Dear Dr. Sacks, On page 112 of the paperback edition of your book, the second paragraph begins with the following sentence: "And with this, no feeling that he has lost feeling (for the feeling he has lost), no feeling that he has lost the depth, that unfathomable, mysterious, myriad-levelled depth which somehow defines identity or reality." I've read this sentence at least twelve times, and I still don't even have the slightest inkling of what the hell it means. What is the subject? What is the verb? Why is the word "that" italicized (twice?)? Good God man, what are you trying to tell me? Sincerely, Baffled in Brooklyn Some people may think "well, if I read the whole chapter, I'm sure I could decipher the meaning." To those people I say: good luck, Charlie. I hope you may succeed where I have so miserably failed. This book has many fascinating studies of neurological disorders, and the stories behind the patients are easily understood and, in many cases, enthralling. However, Dr. Sacks seems to give his readers too much credit when he throws off "hyperagnosia", "Korsokovian", and "meningioma" like he assumes we had read an entire neurology textbook before picking this one up. Also, many of his sentences (like the example above) include so many digressions and sudden turns that each one could practically be its own M. Night Shaymalan film pitch. All of this might have to do with the fact that it was written in the eighties, when I presume people were smarter.