His problem is familiar to us now: each word he read produced images that distracted him and blocked the meaning of a sentence. When it came to texts that contained descriptions of complex relationships, formulations of rules, or explanations of causal connections, S. fared even worse.
For example, I read him a simple rule such as the following, which any schoolboy could easily understand: “If carbon dioxide is present above a vessel, the greater its pressure, the faster it dissolves in water.” Consider the obstacles this abstract, yet nonetheless uncomplicated, statement presented.
“When you gave me this sentence I immediately saw the vessel. As for that above that is mentioned, it’s here . . . I see a line (a). Above the vessel a small cloud that’s moving in an upward direction. That’s the gas (b). I read further: ‘the greater the pressure’ — so the gas rises . . . Then there’s something dense here — the pressure
(c). But the pressure is greater — it rises higher . . . As for the phrase ‘the faster it
