This is an online copy of Dr. William Bates’s original 1920 book. The cover title was Perfect Sight Without Glasses. The title on the inside title page was The Cure of Imperfect Sight by Treatment Without Glasses.
Bates self-published this book under The Central Fixation Publishing Company.
The hardcover books were leather-bound, in green, blue and red. I believe they must have been different publishing runs. In any case, the original printing seems to be 1920, and he may have done more publishing runs over the next few years. Bates died in 1930.
The book’s copyright expired in 1948. It is now in the public domain.
This book should not be confused with Better Eyesight Without Glasses, also titled The Bates Method for Better Eyesight Without Glasses, an abridged edition first published in 1943, twelve years after Bates’s death. That edition is more widely available, but it excludes large portions of the text and all pictures, and a little content added by his widow Emily.
His method was only called the “Bates method” later on. While he was alive, Bates explained it as simply the methods used by the eye with good vision, and he didn’t give it any other formal name.
There is also a relatively short 1996 book titled simply The Bates Method, by Peter Mansfield, and several other books with variations on the title.
Note that this book is not really a book of eye exercises. The author gives many suggested methods, but the value of the book is in his explanation of his approach. This was the pioneering book that started the whole modern natural vision improvement movement.
Chapters
Chapter 2 – Simultaneous Retinoscopy
Chapter 3 – Evidence for the Accepted Theory of Accommodation
Chapter 4 – The Truth About Accommodation … (1)
Chapter 5 – The Truth About Accommodation … (2)
Chapter 6 – The Truth About Accommodation … (3)
Chapter 7 – The Variability of the Refraction of the Eye
Chapter 8 – What Glasses Do to Us
Chapter 9 – Cause and Cure of Errors of Refraction
Chapter 10 – Strain
Chapter 11 – Central Fixation
Chapter 12 – Palming
Chapter 13 – Memory As an Aid to Vision
Chapter 14 – Imagination As an Aid to Vision
Chapter 15 – Shifting and Swinging
Chapter 16 – The Illusions of Imperfect and of Normal Sight
Chapter 17 – Vision Under Adverse Conditions a Benefit to the Eye
Chapter 18 – Optimums and Pessimums
Chapter 19 – The Relief of Pain and Other Symptoms by the Aid of the Memory
Chapter 20 – Presbyopia: Its Cause and Cure
Chapter 21 – Squint and Amblyopia: Their Cause
Chapter 22 – Squint and Amblyopia: Their Cure
Chapter 23 – Floating Specks: Their Cause and Cure
Chapter 24 – Home Treatment
Chapter 25 – Correspondence Treatment
Chapter 26 – The Prevention of Myopia in Schools: Methods that Failed
Chapter 27 – The Prevention and Cure of Myopia and Other Errors …
Chapter 28 – The Story of Emily
Chapter 29 – Mind and Vision
Chapter 30 – Normal Sight and the Relief of Pain for Soldiers and Sailors
Chapter 31 – Letters from Patients
Chapter 32 – Reason and Authority
Credit to the people who assisted in this project.
| William H. Bates, M.D. | — author of the book |
| Health Research Books | — 1978 reprint |
| Thomas R. Quackenbush | — conversion into digital format, including scanning, OCR, and proofreading |
| Jon Sherling | — conversion into html for use on a website |
| Alex Eulenberg | — additional editing and making available at i-see |
After reading the comments and then downloading the book, I thought you might like to know my experience. My computer is running on Ubuntu and I use Firefox in Private mode. I had not the least trouble. The download was swift and the text quite readable. Thank you.
I will be reading it directly on my computer.
i cannt find the button for download…..if u can help me?
If you are not seeing the green button, disable adblock for this site.
ive got to know how to download,thank u
please send me this book, i can’t download it
Thanks very much for your kindness to keep the book available for wider community. Appreciate it a lot.
Good morning David. thank you for providing this PDF book. I see what Lee was saying about the PDF version of the book not being good, as when trying to read on an ebook reader, there is no way to make the font size any bigger. i was able to find a website that provided a way to convert the PDF to EPUB, as this is the format I need for my ebook reader, however, I believe it can change the format for all types of ebooks. https://ebook.online-convert.com/convert-to-epub
Ten years back I had blood in my lt eye. On examination it was revealed that blood had came due to blood clot stuck in the he eye resulted into blood occlusion. Later on due to capillaries formation, at least ten times laser treatment was carried out . Resultant effect I have lost near vision, now I can not read with lt eye. In addon to this there is chromatic difference between rt and lt eye. e. g. Green Color looks to my eyes as it is, where as lt eye color is dull. Is there is any remedy to recover my vision.
Ravindra, I’m not familiar with that, but I’m sure you’ll get it back in time!
Hi David
April 9, 2017 at 23.04 hr.
Pdf download not good to read which I have tried a couple of times. But your online is excellent presentation for me to read and I want to say how I appreciate your kindness for putting this online. I will read it tomorrow as it getting late. Looks very interesting. Thanks.
Thanks for the heads up – Can you tell me what’s wrong with the PDF version?
When I first happened upon your website, I was interested in someone named Eric, who seemed to have a problem similar to mine with his cataract(s (mine are NOT a beginner’s cataracts). I don’t see his entries anymore. Did he find help for his cataract(s)? Has anyone you know of who frequents this site found help for “mature” cataracts?
I’m not sure! I don’t keep track of people on here very well. I kind of just put info out there and don’t really get much feedback lately.
Filled in my e-mail adres, confirmed, but then did not receive a downloadlink for the pdf.
Did you end up getting the email?
I also just changed it so that you get the download link on the confirmation page when you click the link in the email, instead of having to wait for another email.
I can’t see any download button for the pdf despite diasabling Adblock, closing my browser and opening again. It’s a shame, because I don’t find it easy reading from online sources and I’m looking elsewhere now to get a pdf.
Do you see the “send me the link” button?
David I hope we can communicate about reawakening global interest in better sight without glasses. THE TIME IS RIGHT. I have been at it for nearly 22 years in Cape Town with many weekend workshops in Durban and Johannesburg. its been fitted in between my design architectural business…. more anon. My website is about to get a major step up. originally it was empowering vision. Regards Christopher
Hi Christopher, that sounds great, send me an email! I’m trying to get this site looking a little better too.
If somebodys computer has Adblock, Ghostery or sth else like those, user can’t see download-button.
But unblocking trakcing and advert’s blockers means that next step want’s to install to the downloader’s computer “fromDOCtoPDF”. It really helps to convert the doc-s to the pdf and has other bonuses but also wants to analyse users behaviour and traffic.
Thanks for online version!
Ah that could be why someone occasionally still reports a problem finding the download.
I subscribed as instructed in order to download a copy of the book. I clicked the link in the email & I’m now right back where I started with no download link to the book!
Kitten, sorry to hear about the problem! Other people seem to be clicking to the right page without a problem. Please email me here with the email address you signed up with and I’ll see what happened and get you the link.
http://www.iblindness.org/contact/
I click on the download…the arrow indicates it is being downloaded……………but then I can’t fnd it to print out.
Anyoine able to help. I use firefox. Thanks.
I can’t help with finding it on your end once you’ve downloaded it. In Windows 7 I know it’s usually saved in Downloads.
How do I down load this PDF file. I have adobe reader. It says check below….but I don’t get it.
well, where is the download button, couse it desapears after sharing
After sharing you should see a link that says “download the PDF version here” in place of the box.
ok
Only 10 days without my glasses, doing Bates exercises, and I can now read without glasses for the first time in years! What a wonderful gift Dr. Bates gave us. Our eyes can heal and do it very quickly. I’m greatly enjoying the progress I make each day toward my newly healthy eyes! Thanks so very much.
Thank you for your account!
The Wikipedia article is very skeptical; there’s no scientific evidence. So I don’t really want to read the whole book, so what are those exercises you do?
Is it really works
yes its works
https://epubconversion.com
GOOD BOOK