12 h 1 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 12 h 1 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a hole in the familiar world leads to a reality no one can fully grasp?
In The Blind Spot, Austin Hall and Homer Eon Flint build a science fiction adventure around a gap in reality. Here, the ordinary rules of space seem to fail, and another world lies close by. The mystery draws people toward a place where understanding no longer feels certain.
Scientific curiosity becomes a kind of courage. Those who seek to understand the blind spot move toward danger, driven by questions they cannot leave alone. Bold scenes keep the mystery moving, while dread gathers around a troubling idea: the world may hold things human beings cannot measure or fully understand.
What you’ll discover
- A gap in reality Explore a place where familiar space gives way to the possibility of another world.
- Curiosity with a cost Follow the urge to understand as it draws people closer to danger.
- Dread beyond the familiar Feel the unease of meeting something that refuses to fit human understanding.
- Bold pulp adventure Enjoy a fast, old-fashioned tale that favors striking scenes over quiet reflection.
- Questions without easy measures Consider what happens when the tools of reason meet something they cannot fully grasp.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who enjoy early science fiction, haunted house mysteries, detective trails and big what-if ideas about hidden worlds, told by several narrators with different voices.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A stranger has never seen sunlight
- A house conceals the missing professor
- Friendship keeps belief in Holcomb alive
- A ring makes Harry responsible
- The Nervina warns of the cost
- Harry begins slipping away from others
- A strange arrival becomes a rescue
- Our senses do not reveal everything
- Promises bind the different accounts together
Who’s who
- Harry WendelA young San Francisco lawyer who takes up a dying friend's ring and a mystery, driven by honor and by his bond with the professor.
- Hobart FentonHarry's lifelong friend, a practical engineer who trusts measurement over magic and is determined to solve the Blind Spot by plain reasoning.
- Charlotte FentonHobart's sister and Harry's love, brave and clear eyed, who comes to hold the ring and keeps faith with those she has lost.
- Dr. HolcombThe cheerful, white whiskered philosophy professor who promises to prove the occult by material means and is missing on the day of his lecture.
- Rhamda AvecA tall, courteous stranger who looks both old and young, seems new to the world, and wants the ring for reasons he will not state.
- The NervinaA dazzling, sorrowful woman who seems made of moonbeams, pleads with Harry to give up the ring, and always knows more than she says.
- Albert JeromeThe blunt, honest ferry detective who follows a hunch into the haunted house and stays to see the matter through.
- Chick WatsonA former college athlete, now wasted by the ring, who begs his friends to carry on the search for the professor.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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The Blind Spot in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Blind Spot
by Austin Hall; Homer Eon Flint · 1921
A stranger on a San Francisco ferry has never seen the sun, and a professor is about to vanish.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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In short
What would you think of a man who has never seen the sun, never held a cigarette, and still speaks perfect English? On a foggy morning in 1905, a ferry detective meets exactly that stranger.
The Blind Spot at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h 55 min5 h 30 min fast, 8 h 15 min slow
- Length
- 98,900 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1921by Austin Hall; Homer Eon Flint
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A stranger on the ferry has never seen the sun
On a foggy September morning in 1905, a tall man in a black overcoat boards the Key Route ferry to Berkeley. He looks old, yet the longer people watch him, the younger he seems. His eyes are so dark that they glow red.
At the cigar stand he asks a clerk for a cigarette and for help in using it. The clerk sends word to the ferry detective, Albert Jerome. On deck the man gives his name as Rhamda Avec. He says calmly that he has never seen the sun. When the fog lifts, he stares at the sunrise like a child and is dazzled.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1921
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Hall, Austin, and Homer Eon Flint. The Blind Spot. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-blind-spot.
Hall, A., & Flint, H. E. (2026). The blind spot. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-blind-spot (Original work published 1921)
Hall, Austin, and Homer Eon Flint. The Blind Spot. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-blind-spot.
@book{hall2026blind,
author = {Hall, Austin and Flint, Homer Eon},
title = {The Blind Spot},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-blind-spot},
note = {First published 1921}
}
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What is The Blind Spot about?
A philosophy professor in Berkeley promises a lecture proving the occult, then disappears. A ferry detective, a young lawyer and an engineer follow a strange ring, a haunted house and a mysterious visitor named Rhamda Avec to find out what happened.
Who is Rhamda Avec in The Blind Spot?
He is the tall, courteous stranger who appears on a San Francisco ferry in 1905. He looks both old and young, has never seen the sun, and is connected with Dr. Holcomb. Who he is and what he wants drive the story.
What is the Blind Spot in the book?
It is a spot in the house on Chatterton Place where people vanish, marked by a blue dot on the ceiling, a thread of light and a single stroke of a bell. Characters debate whether it is science, spirit, or something between.
The author
Austin Hall
1885–1933 · American fantasy writer
Austin Hall (1885–1933) was an American writer who lived in the United States. He wrote short stories and novels, including science fiction, fantasy, and Westerns. He co-wrote The Blind Spot with Homer Eon Flint, published in 1921. His novel The Spot of Life appeared in 1932.
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