Connecting Dots, Joshua A. Miele
Connecting Dots, Joshua A. Miele
List: $27.99 | Sale: $19.59
Club: $13.99

Connecting Dots
A Blind Life

Author: Joshua A. Miele, Wendell Jamieson

Narrator: Greg D. Barnett

Unabridged: 9 hr 32 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/04/2025


Synopsis

In this extraordinary memoir, a scientist who became blind at a young age shares how he navigates the world around him, and how his contributions led to cutting‑edge work in accessibility—packed with humor, adventure, and insights on life and disability.

At the age of four, Joshua Miele was blinded and badly burned when a neighbor poured sulfuric acid over his head. It could have ended his life, but instead, Miele—naturally curious, and a born problem solver—not only recovered, but thrived. Throughout his life, Miele has found increasingly inventive ways to succeed in a world built for the sighted, and to help others to do the same. At first reluctant to even think of himself as blind, he eventually embraced his blindness and became a committed advocate for disability and accessibility. Along the way, he grappled with drugs and addiction, played bass in a rock band, worked for NASA, became a guerilla activist, and married the love of his life and had two children. He chronicles the evolution of a number of revolutionary accessible technologies and his role in shaping them, including screen readers, tactile maps, and audio description.

Connecting Dots delivers a captivating first-person perspective on blindness and disability as incisive as it is entertaining, and ultimately triumphant. Joshua Miele's story is one of one ordinary blind life with an indelible impact.

Reviews

Goodreads review by *TUDOR^QUEEN* on February 04, 2025

I have a vague memory of hearing about this horrific crime from the early 1970s that took place in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, NYC. As this four-year-old boy answers the doorbell, a disturbed next door neighbor pours a cup of acid over the child's head. The author recounts this in unabashed......more

Goodreads review by Lady Katie on March 25, 2025

First, I need to thank Goodreads, as this is a book I won in a giveaway. This will, in no way, affect my honest review of the book. Second, TW: physical harm, underage drug and alcohol use and drug and alcohol abuse If you're sensitive to salty language, this book may not be for you. I really like how......more

Goodreads review by Anne on February 22, 2025

This memoir was an incredibly inspiring read. I didn't want to stop listening. The author does a great job reflecting his emotions, thoughts, challenges, and timeline. Going from his early childhood, through rough teenage years, difficulties with schooling, post secondary education with many breaks......more

Goodreads review by Foster on March 05, 2025

Twice before today I had picked up a book and read it cover to cover without putting it down. Today was the third time. I pre-ordered Connecting Dots as soon as it was announced because I knew the author growing up and I try to support people I know. I have read a dozen books by (or about) people I......more

Goodreads review by Ginni on February 16, 2025

I had this pegged as a "something bad happened to me and I overcame it" memoir going in. I really couldn't have been more wrong. Josh Miele, blinded by an acid attack when he was 4, devotes a surprisingly small amount of this book to the attack. He covers it briefly, moves on, and never looks back.......more