Susan R. Barry is professor emeritus of biology at Mount Holyoke College. She received her Ph.D. in biology from Princeton University and has is the author of scientific papers on the study of nerve cells, neuronal plasticity and eye-head-hand coordination.
Dubbed “Stereo Sue” by neurologist Oliver Sacks in a New Yorker article by that name, Sue went on to write her own book Fixing My Gaze: A Scientist’s Journey into Seeing in Three Dimensions, published by Basic Books, which describes the astonishing experience of gaining 3D stereovision after a lifetime of seeing in only two dimensions. Intensive vision therapy created new neural connections, and with them, a new view of the world. Challenging conventional wisdom that the brain is programmed for life during a critical period in childhood, Fixing My Gaze offers a revelatory account of our capacity for change.
Publishers Weekly called the book, “… a poignant story of her gradual discovery of the shapes in flowers in a vase, snowflakes falling, even the folds in coats hanging on a peg … Recommended for all readers who cheer stories with a triumph over seemingly insuperable odds.”
Sue Barry’s website can be found at www.stereosue.com