Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant

Autobiographies are often less than compelling, but this one is unusual. Daniel Tammet is unusual, and that's the reason primarily, but also his journey thru life and the way he's adapted while bearing the weight of autism and it's ant-social inclinations is quite stirring. It's hard to say if his unusually rare abilities stemmed from his near-death seizure attack at age four, along with other seizures around that time of his youth, but regardless of the source of his mental powers, there's no doubt that he indeed has serious cognitive abilities that are unique to himself alone. There's other savants in the world, but I've never read a book that they've written, primarily because most of them aren't able to do something like author a book, let alone travel around the world and speak to audiences of hundreds to sometimes thousands about the nature of cognitive perceptions and in particular offering new ways to see how tasks can be approached. His synesthesia, or "linked-sensorial" thinking allows his mental gymnastics with numbers, which is impressive, but equally impressive is his linguistic abilities, as he has fluency in at least ten languages including Icelandic dialect which does not have its roots in latin or Greek as most Eurpean languages do. Being able to converse in a foreign language after a mere week of study on that language is nothing short of genius in my estimation, and when combined with his prodigious mathematical abilities, like reciting 22,514 decimal places of the value of Pi in one continuous 5 hour plus sitting on "Pi Day" at Oxford University in Cambridge, and seeing numerical solutions in a dance of colors and shapes and textures all add up to a super special character that is an ongoing source of much interest to many professional minds around the globe. Able to sustain a loving relationship with another person as well makes Daniel a gifted and very special individual who has much to give to the world at large. I only wish the tale didn't end so quickly, since I was mesmerized by his personality and his benign ways, and the humility that characterizes him in all that he does. Highly recommend this book, and also recommend googling him on youtube to listen to the cadence and the sureness of his demeanor after you've comprehended the essence of his capabilities. It's all very impressive stuff, really.

Born on a Blue Day is the memoir of Daniel Tammet, a British autistic savant. The subject of a documentary entitled The Boy With The Incredible Brain (also broadcast under the title Brainman) Tammet has gained some notoriety and worldwide attention for his incredible feats of memory and mathematics.Tammet has a form of autism known as Asperger's Syndrome, a condition that effects social and communication skills. It is characterized by narrow interests and unconventional preoccupations; by repetitive behaviors; by logical and technical patterns of thought; by behavior and interpersonal interaction that can be socially and emotionally inappropriate; and by clumsy and uncoordinated motor control. Tammet also has Savant Syndrome, the condition most commonly associated with Dustin Hoffman's character from the film Rain Man in which he portrayed Kim Peek, an actual person who suffers from the syndrome. Savants are typically developmentally or mentally handicapped in some areas but display extraordinary abilities in others. They are often amazingly gifted in memory, mathematics, art or music. Added to these, Tammet experiences synesthesia, a rare neurological condition which results in the ability to see letters and numbers in colors, shapes, motions or textures. He is truly an extraordinary individual.My interest in this book was primarily owing to the fact that both a member of my family and three children who live next door to us have Asperger's Syndrome. While there is much that can be learned about the condition through typical books or websites, Tammet has the unusual ability to describe the condition and to provide an insider's perspective on it. Like many people with the syndrome, his ability to communicate through the written word far exceeds his ability to express himself verbally.A frustrating problem I found with this book is that while Tammet's conditions and abilities are fascinating, his life is in many ways very ordinary and, since he is only twenty seven years old, has probably only just begun. Like many people with Asperger's, he has a fascination with details and the story sometimes becomes bogged down in these. It seems at times that no detail is too small to include, a fact that is interesting in light of his condition, but can occasionally make for tedious reading. Where the book begins with lots of interesting information about how Tammet's abilities made him different, the book soon focuses more on his disabilities. It is not until the final few chapters that he focuses again on his amazing and unique abilities.The book's first seven chapters take the reader from Tallet's birth into what soon became a very large family to his first experience of independence--a trip to Lithuania where he served in a volunteer capacity as an English teacher. This trip was pivotal, for it helped him discover that he was capable of some level of independence (certainly not a given for people with Asperger's) and that this was something he desired. It also allowed him to come to terms with his homosexuality and it was here that he made his sexual orientation public. That he is homosexual did not come as a surprise to me based on my knowledge of people with Asperger's, for their social handicaps make them look and feel different. It is little wonder that they often gravitate away from traditional relationships. They are also very easily victimized and can be led to homosexual behavior through predators.Following the description of his travels in Lithuania, the pace of the book slows. Tallet meets Neil, a man who quickly became and continues to remain his partner. Together they began an internet-based company specializing in teaching languages. Tallet also undertook some amazing feats, such as setting the European record for memorizing the value of pi, taking just three months to memorize its first 22,517 digits. As part of the Brainman documentary he was challenged to learn the language of Icelandic in just one week and succeeded enough that he was able to converse quite freely in Icelandic on national television. He also discovered religion, embracing Christianity (he does not mention his denominational affiliation, but judging by his particular love of Ave Maria I think we can guess) and marking his conversion as Christmas of 2002. He enjoys the writings of Chesterton, a man who may well have been on the higher end of the autistic spectrum. Sadly, Tallet's brief testimony includes no mention of sin and certainly no mention of modified behavior. I found it particularly interesting that he regards his love of Christianity to be almost entirely intellectual. His autism makes it difficult to understand emotions and feelings and thus his conversion was largely intellectual and logical. This is something important to keep in mind for those of us who interact regularly with people diagnosed with this condition and who wish to see them embrace the Savior.While somewhat uneven at times, Born on a Blue Day was an interesting read and quite a quick one. It is certainly amazing to see the remarkable abilities God gives to some people and to realize that, despite advances in technology and medicine, the power of the human brain is still far beyond our comprehension. This book will certainly not appeal to everyone (though, based on the fact that it has appeared on the New York Times list of bestsellers, it does seem to have wide appeal), but I am glad to have read it and would not hesitate to recommend it to others, though only in view of the caveats mentioned earlier.

After seeing this appealing young man on a 60 minutes video clip, I bought the book to learn more about him. In the tv interview, I found it hard to believe that he was particularly autistic, but his memoir convinces me that, yeah, he is pretty autistic. In spite of his high-functioning, he does have fairly serious difficulties with normal living. He is able to make a living, of a sort, though in a somewhat sheltered environment. He has fallen in love and the warmth of his affection towards his partner and towards his family members is particularly touching since he seems so naive and had to actively learn to be cognizant of other people and their feelings.But in addition to overcoming the limitations of autism, he also has very impressive savant abilities. Under controlled conditions, he has proven that he can memorize thousands and thousands of digits of pi and that he can learn the fundamentals of the vocabulary and grammar of an unfamiliar language in less than a week. (I do disagree that Icelandic was a stunningly difficult language choice. It's not a bad choice, since it's a language that few people know any little snippets of. But it is actually related to Old English and is nowhere near as unrelated or difficult as Vietnamese or Navajo would be for an English-speaker.)The story is sweetly and gently told, reflecting the mind of a sweet and gentle guy with a highly unusual mind. And the implications of savant abilities continue to suggest that our minds are far different than we might suspect.

Amo este libro, llego en buenas condiciones

This book offered a great deal of insight into the man that is intriguing the world. As a prodigious savant he is able to describe the inner world of someone affected by Asperger's and the phenomenal capacity afforded him through synesthesia. I was captivated by this book.

Touching

Einblicke in das Leben eines Menschen mit Asberger-Syndrom aus erster Hand. So kann man besser verstehen, wie man mit Mitmenschen mit dieser Diagnose umgehen kann. Und auch wenn heutzutage alles zu Tode diagnostiziert wird, hilft es mir auch mit "nicht-diagnostizierten" Menschen, die manchmal befremdliche soziale Umgangsformen an den Tag legen, besser umzugehen.

This book needs a rating of 5 because it describes so clearly the experience of a savant, a story so important for everyone to understand.