Relearning to See: Improve Your Eyesight Naturally! [Paperback]

Thomas R. Quackenbush (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 24, 2000

In this accessible presentation of the famous Bates method, Thomas R. Quackenbush (who teaches the Bates method in California and Oregon) describes how eyesight can improve naturally, at any age and regardless of heredity. This book is a wonderful tribute to the genius of Dr. Bates, who was a pioneer in discovering how vision becomes blurred and how it restores itself naturally to clarity and acuity. Now 80 years later, his findings and teachings remain light years ahead of our contemporaries. His approach to treating vision problems was truly holistic and the theme throughout this book is very much an extension of that holistic approach. Dr. Quackenbush is to be commended for his dedication in getting the truth out and keeping the torch burning in this "bible" on vision improvement.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Relearning to See is a very impressive text!...outstrips all its predecessors...Most complete text that we've ever seen on natural vision improvement. For anyone seeking to improve their eyesight without drugs, surgery or prescription lenses...For anyone seriously interested in vision improvement or the Bates method, Relearning to See is a 'must have'..."
—Rosemary Jones

"Relearning to See...has got to be one of the best and most comprehensive books on natural vision improvement and the Bates method ever written...many glorious illustrations...two books for the price of one!...a very well-written book professionally presented. If you only want to buy one book on natural vision improvement, make sure this is the one."
—Chen Hanwen

From the Publisher

This huge book, filled with illustrations and color, walks one through the original Bates writings with updates and improvements. Quackenbush's work seizes the head of the field. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 552 pages
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books; 1 edition (January 24, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556433417
• ISBN-13: 978-1556433412
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,889 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Medical Books > Allied Health Professions > Optometry
  • #4 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Aging > Eye Problems

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

173 of 176 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Encyclopedia of vision improvement, February 5, 2001

By 

David - See all my reviews

This review is from: Relearning to See: Improve Your Eyesight Naturally! (Paperback)

Far and away the most comprehensive book on vision improvement I've come across, this is more of an encyclopedia than a book you read straight through. Mr. Quackenbush - not an eye doctor, but a long-time teacher of the Bates method - goes through the mechanics and physiology of the eye and the eye's natural vision habits in exhaustive detail. He also gives pointers on reducing one's prescription, movement exercises, acupressure, relaxation games, left-brain/right-brain physiology, and holistic health, all geared toward improving your eyesight. Central to his teaching of the Bates method is that there are NO exercises. These are habits which are to be practiced 24 hours a day! And they are so simple, so easy to do, and afterwards you'll wonder why people are still stuck in poor vision.

Tom, who founded the Natural Vision Center, used to teach his courses in the San Francisco Bay Area but is now in Ashland, Oregon. I've taken his natural vision course and I found it to be profound. It's been a year and a half; my prescription used to be 20/400, but now I can occasionally see 20/50 or better. Progress is expected to be slow but steady, and I saw jumps in my vision after only a few weeks in the course.

398 of 414 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blinded by Science, December 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Relearning to See: Improve Your Eyesight Naturally! (Hardcover)

"What is quality?" asks Robert Pirsig in his exceptional novel, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Relearning to See is QUALITY plus!

This book is a wonderful tribute to the genius of Dr. Bates, who was a pioneer in discovering how vision becomes blurred and how it restores itself naturally to clarity and acuity. Now 80 years later, his findings and teachings remain light years ahead of our contemporaries. There is at least one current book which gives you the impression that improving your vision naturally is "newly" discovered. Hardly. Tom is to be commended for his dedication in getting the truth out and keeping the torch burning in this "bible" on vision improvement.

As an ophthalmologist, Dr. Bates distinguished himself from the pack as a truly critical thinker. His colleagues were content to ignore or rationalize away the numerous cases of patients whose vision improved yet shouldn't have according to the orthodox theories. Dr. Bates was troubled enough to undertake his own extensive experiments and thorough analysis to debunk the myths. His approach to treating vision problems was truly holistic and the theme throughout this book is very much an extension of that holistic approach.

My vision improvement using the Bates method has been nothing short of spectacular. When I began, my near-sightedness was roughly 20/600. Now on a clear and sunny day outside, my vision settles in to about 20/30 on average, with many periods of 20/20. Under indoor artificial light, my vision averages about 20/40, with periods of 20/30. (Why does it vary, you ask? Read this book and you'll understand why eyesight isn't a fixed and rigid condition under all lighting conditions.) My vision continues to improve subtly each day (it's amazing how one can sense the differences that I'm sure no instrument could detect) and at this rate, I know that the perfect vision I fondly recall as a child will soon be restored.

Being formally educated and employed in the sciences, there was a time when I would have been extremely skeptical about holistic healing. I'm a firm believer now, because I have had reversals of other types of conditions that I never in a million years would have related to poor vision. This book describes many negative cognitive, emotional and physical symptoms that result from blurred vision.

Before getting this book, I had already been using the Bates method of improvement for several months. I was making good progress based on an obscure paperback first published in 1929, Better Sight Without Glasses, by Harry Benjamin. Tom's in-depth and comprehensive book gave me a much fuller understanding and appreciation for some of the finer points of Dr. Bates' work. The book also describes phenomena that I had experienced very early in my vision improvement that startled me at the time, such as brief "flashes" of 20/20 vision and incredible depth perception.

"Blinded by science" takes on a literal meaning when it comes to orthodox methods of "correcting" vision. There's no doubt that the eye care profession in its infancy was developed on good intentions. But it's a science that has gone terribly astray, with countless numbers of people needlessly suffering the consequences. This book discusses one of the founding principles of the profession based on experiments conducted in the mid-1800's where the reflection of a candle on a subject's eyes was checked under different focusing conditions. This experiment and its erroneous conclusions wouldn't likely meet the grade for a current school science fair.

I assume that many have chosen a career in the orthodox eye care industry for noble reasons beyond the almighty dollar. Yet they've been duped in their education to faithfully believe the mythical genetic condition of progressive myopia and they are unwittingly selling us snake oil (prescription lenses and contacts). To add insult to injury, a new brand of snake oil (laser surgery) is being offered. It's utterly preposterous the harm that has been inflicted to our most valuable sense organs in the guise of "treatment".

A philosopher once stated that truth goes through three steps. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. And thirdly, it is accepted as self-evident. Buy this book and go immediately to step 3. Learn the proper vision habits (not exercises) and you will be rewarded with marvelous clarity, incredibly healthy eyes and a whole new outlook on life.

164 of 167 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended, November 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Relearning to See: Improve Your Eyesight Naturally! (Hardcover)

This is the best book I've seen on the Bates method of how to improve your vision naturally. It's extremely well researched, thorough, and very readable. At $25, it's a real bargain, as the quality of the publishing (including many color plates) is much closer to that of a $60 college textbook.

My personal story: I went from -9.5 in each eye to -6.0 (+0.25 astigmatism) in the left and -6.75 in the right in just a week after getting this book and committing the natural vision habits to heart. Factoring in the cost of the book, a new eye exam, and new glasses, that's well under $400 for a 30% improvement in my natural vision. My girlfriend is also steadily improving her vision and has already moved to her next oldest prescription as a result of this method. Now everyone I've talked to who wears glasses has been extremely interested in this technique, and I recommend this book to them.

It's a real shame that the medical establishment is so resistant to promoting these ideas. Maybe it's because not everyone can master them. Like meditation, it's a skill that can't be mastered by struggling and stressing out (especially since, according to Bates, stressing out and squinting to see is what got us myopes in this mess in the first place!). So it's definitely not a sure thing, *but* there's certainly no risk to trying it (unlike, say, the inevitable risks of surgery, or even the slight risk of eye damage from contact lenses).

If you are thinking about getting laser eye surgery (LASIK), do yourself a favor and buy this book now. Surgery is expensive and even if the risk of side effects seems small, ask yourself, is your vision worth risking?

Before reading this book, I was already a bit uncomfortable with the idea of laser surgery. After reading this book, I believe that the idea of surgery, which is basically having your current prescription etched onto your cornea permanently, rather than solving the true problem that your eye has lost the ability to focus properly (due, in most cases, to years of our eye doctors' prescription of stronger and stronger glasses as "eye crutches") is fundamentally the wrong approach.