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Sceadufaux
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: May 05, 2008
Age: 20
Posts: 72
Location: Maryland
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 Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 12:28 pm Post subject: Born on a Blue Day |
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Has anyone else read Daniel Tammet's memoir? He's an Aspie, has chromographic synesthesia, and is considered a savant. INCREDIBLE book, really, I truly enjoyed reading it. Some of our numbers are the same color, and we both have a fondness for the number 333 
If you haven't already read it, check it out! It's a good read, and very well written.
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venuseagle
Raven
Joined: Jan 11, 2008
Age: 36
Posts: 112
Location: South of England, UK
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 3:11 pm Post subject: |
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Yes it is a good book.
Venus |
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Faramir
Hummingbird
Joined: Mar 02, 2008
Posts: 18
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 3:17 pm Post subject: |
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| I especially liked his parents, who were so very patient and understanding. |
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slowmutant
Heyyyy!
Joined: Feb 14, 2008
Posts: 3471
Location: The Great White North
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 3:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Numbers have colours? Explain this, please. |
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Zsazsa
Phoenix
Joined: Apr 20, 2007
Posts: 574
Location: Upstate New York, USA
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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| slowmutant wrote: | | Numbers have colours? Explain this, please. |
Numbers are seen as "colors" and if you read Daniel Tammet's book, "Born On A Blue Day," you would understand what it
means to have such synesthetic experiences...Daniel sees numbers as shapes and textures besides colors. It is an excellent book, both fascinating and inspiring.
Check it out at your local library. |
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pluto
Phoenix
Joined: Aug 27, 2006
Age: 47
Posts: 975
Location: Paisley,Scotland UK
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 7:02 pm Post subject: |
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I've read about half of it so far and have found
it very interesting,especially as I can relate to the Synesthesia aspect. I don't know what
day I was born on,but it couldn't have been
blue because it's not one of the seven colours
I associate with any of the days
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Zonder
Phoenix
Joined: Feb 23, 2008
Age: 44
Posts: 608
Location: Great Lakes
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 7:40 pm Post subject: |
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I read the book and also saw the British television special on him - Brainman. It's fascinating the combination of skills he has, as well as the life he has created to compensate for his difficulties.
Z |
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MomofTom
Phoenix
Joined: Aug 06, 2006
Posts: 522
Location: Where normalcy and bad puns collide
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 7:57 pm Post subject: |
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His experience gives confidence that we can overcome--or at least get used to--the things that drive us batty. To a certain extent, we are able to pass for "normal" as we age. However, I agree that his parents set the stage for his success.
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9CatMom
Ailurophile
Joined: Jan 02, 2007
Posts: 5256
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 8:24 pm Post subject: |
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| I thought the book was very interesting. Although I can't relate to all of it, not being a synesthete, I found his descriptions interesting. Like Daniel Tammet, I credit my parents for most of my success. |
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equinn
Phoenix
Joined: Apr 20, 2007
Posts: 607
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 9:44 pm Post subject: |
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| 9CatMom wrote: | | I thought the book was very interesting. Although I can't relate to all of it, not being a synesthete, I found his descriptions interesting. Like Daniel Tammet, I credit my parents for most of my success. |
I don't think my kids will credit their success to me--honstly, I'd rather they didn't. Their success is theirs alone. I'm merely a facilitator. It's all in the genes, good modeling--mostly genes, I think.
Honestly, that burden is too big for me--I don't want it. We enter the world alone and exit alone--what we do with ourselves is our personal map.
Parents, too often, are the blame for kids woes or success. I don't think it's fair, so I quit. (too old for that I suppose)--okay, I'm done. I used to enjoy quitting when things weren't going my way. I miss that.
Too much posting tonight. 437 posts so far...
I will pick up D. Tammet's book--haven't read it yet--am interested. I've never had such a fondness for numbers and disliked math. My son, too, is not so great with math but loves the sciences. I did like to count words on my hands and liked to reduce a sentence to five words (not sure why)--one word for each hand. I'm a reductionist I guess.
Nevertheless, the idea of associating numbers with colors and textures is intriguing. One of my characters (pretty much feral and nonverbal--autism in the 60's) does something somewhat similar so this would be helpful. According to my research, I discovered that autistic-savants are gifted in numbers. Makes sense. My son thinks of dots rather than the numbers when he's performing basic computations (so he tells me).
equinn |
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Sceadufaux
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: May 05, 2008
Age: 20
Posts: 72
Location: Maryland
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| Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 12:47 am Post subject: |
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My numbers, letters, days of the week, months, years, ect. all have colors and genders. For example, Wednesday is yellow and female, while K is yellow-orange and male; 6 is magenta and female, and July is red and male.
Some non-synesthetic people have some letters which may "make sense" as red or whatever, but it's only when asked. Synesthetes have that sensation every time they see a letter or number.
For example, if you're in a dark room with a piece of pumpkin pie, you smell it, and think "Oh, pumpkin pie," you get that instant "picture" of pumpkin pie in your head.
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Belfast
Vast Ambivalence
Joined: Jul 18, 2005
Age: 35
Posts: 1540
Location: New England
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| Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 11:01 am Post subject: |
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Last thing I want to do is criticize a book that others like-but I don't like feeling as if I'm supposed to stifle my dissenting opinion.
Am trying to be polite yet honest. There's nothing wrong with the book, it's not bad-it just happened to bore me. Maybe my personality features or AS traits are so unlike those of the author, that I couldn't relate-so it "left me cold". Am not "against" the book-merely stating that it didn't do much for me, personally, compared with many other ASD memoirs that I've liked a lot.
Of course, in the big scheme of things, I'm glad that other people enjoyed it, esp. since it has positive portrayal of dx'd person.
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Sceadufaux
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: May 05, 2008
Age: 20
Posts: 72
Location: Maryland
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| Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 11:21 am Post subject: |
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Belfast-
That's fine man, no one said you had to love the book Varying opinions are good... Was it just in general the book didn't strike you with the different symptoms, or was it a few particular parts?
What are some other good books on AS you've read? I'd like to check them out 
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howzat
Phoenix
Joined: Aug 24, 2007
Age: 21
Posts: 760
Location: Hornsey North London
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| Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 11:36 am Post subject: |
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| I have read a few pages on dat book n it is a good book although it isn't my cup of tea but each 2 they own. |
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Belfast
Vast Ambivalence
Joined: Jul 18, 2005
Age: 35
Posts: 1540
Location: New England
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| Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 11:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Sceadufaux wrote: | Belfast-
That's fine man, no one said you had to love the book :) Varying opinions are good... Was it just in general the book didn't strike you with the different symptoms, or was it a few particular parts? |
Style of storytelling/narration & technical aspects of writing were okay/fine. Author's personality didn't feel familiar, nor similar to mine. Material was very dull (to my mind)-his mental content didn't much overlap with what occupies my brain, so the book never really got interesting/went anywhere (according to my tastes/perceptions/experiences/outlook).
I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, it was just "eh".
| Sceadufaux wrote: | | What are some other good books on AS you've read? I'd like to check them out :D |
Depends on what angle you're coming from, what you've already read-and liked or disliked...
I quite liked, for a memoir, Jeanette Purkis's "Finding a Different Kind of Normal". She may have a bit of schizophrenia going on (which I do not) & was a bit more criminal than I ever was, but nonetheless relate to lot of what she describes, in both experiences & interpretations.
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