Blindness by José Saramago Summary
Overview of Blindness
In Saramago's Nobel Prize-winning masterpiece, an epidemic of blindness exposes humanity's darkest instincts as society collapses. This haunting allegory of moral decay - compared to Kafka and Camus - forces us to question: What would you see if everyone went blind?
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Key takeaways
A World Drowned in White
A man sits at a traffic light. The signal turns green, but he doesn't move. Not because he's distracted or hesitant-because suddenly, without warning, he's engulfed in a sea of brilliant, impenetrable whiteness. This isn't the darkness we associate with blindness. It's worse. It's a luminous fog that swallows everything, leaving him stranded in his car, hands trembling on the wheel, voice cracking as he tells a stranger, "I can't see." Jose Saramago's *Blindness* begins here, with one man's terror, and spirals outward into a haunting exploration of what happens when an entire society loses its ability to see-and, more devastatingly, what it reveals about the blindness we carry even when our eyes work perfectly. This "white sickness" spreads like wildfire. The good Samaritan who helps the man home? He steals the car and goes blind thirty paces later-karma delivered with surgical precision. An ophthalmologist examining the first victim finds nothing physically wrong: clear corneas, responsive pupils, healthy optic nerves. Yet by nightfall, the doctor himself is drowning in whiteness. One by one, ordinary people-a hotel maid, a pharmacist's assistant, a girl in dark glasses-find their worlds erased. What makes this epidemic so insidious is its invisibility. No symptoms, no warning, just sudden, total submersion in brilliant white. And it's contagious, spreading through proximity, through the simple act of being near someone afflicted, as if seeing itself has become toxic.
Quarantine: When Society Locks Away Its Fear
The Emergence of Tyranny
A Civilization Erased
The Art of Survival
The Terrible Gift of Sight
What We See When We Finally See
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"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
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"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
From Columbia University alumni built in San Francisco
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
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