Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Book Review: Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet




I literally liked this book some much I read it all in one day.


"Born on a Blue Day" is a memoir by autistic savant Daniel Tammet; who also has synesthesia. (synesthesis is when your senses are a bit crossed; like associating colors with numbers or hearing tastes)

I could relate to some of the things in the book, like prefering nonfiction over fiction; the tendency to hoard 'odd' objects, and the struggle to become independent. In fact, I'd love to be as independent as his is; where he has gone to many countries and runs his own language teaching website. I actually laughed when he mentioned his hatred of brushing teeth but doing it anyways. People don't talk about that much, but I can relate! I do get confused when he starts talking about math equations. (I'm terrible at math) However, I love how he puts this to good use. Since he had seizures as a child; he helped fundraise money for the National Society for Epilepsy by reciting 22,514 digits of pi, which beat the record for England. He does various other things to increase awareness and help out others.

He astounds me by his ability to not only learn over 5 languages but use them to express how his mind works.

Overall, I'd say it's a great book if you are an adult on the Autism Spectrum, want a good read, interested in savant syndrome, or are interested in adults on the Autism Spectrum.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Keep posting stuff like this i really like it

Adelaide Dupont said...

I didn't know he did the pi thing to raise money for the Epilepsy Foundation!