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Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant

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This is an astonishing book, written in first person. It is a memoir of the author's life with the "synaesthesia and savant syndrome", a rare form of Asperger's syndrome.

People with synaethesia see numbers as forms with color and texture, and days as vivid colors, and so Daniel Tammet has the ability to see in his mind numbers and days as colors, each number and day having its own distinct color as an attribute. A day with a color, like a flower with a scent! The blue day of the title of this book refers to Wednesday, which, like the number nine, he sees in his mind as blue. "I know it was a Wednesday," narrates Tammet, "because the date is blue in my mind and Wednesdays are always blue, like the number nine or the sound of loud voices arguing."

Daniel is also a savant, with a remarkable ability to multiply and divide given numbers with astonishing speed. He can recite from memory the number pi, 22 divided by 7, or 3.1428571 to 22,514 decimal places, a feat which will take him a little over five hours! He says numbers are beautiful things, and that pi is as beautiful as Mona Lisa.

Like Christopher John Francis Boone, the fifteen year old hero of Mark Haddon's novel, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time", Daniel, too, is very fond of prime numbers. "Prime numbers feel smooth, like pebbles," he says. He can recognize every prime number up to 9,973. He can speak in ten languages, including Icelandic, Lithuanian and Welsh, and he has the ability to learn a new language within a few days. He learnt Icelandic, for example, within a week; a most remarkable feat for any human being. He doesn't understand jokes easily, and the expressions on human faces he finds baffling. And like Christopher, he doesn't like to be touched.

He is perhaps the only person in this world with the "synaesthesia and savant syndrome" who has written a book in his own words, without using a ghost writer. What causes this syndrome is a mystery to neurologists; they have been trying to unravel the mystery, so far without much success. They speculate that a series of seizures Daniel suffered in his childhood might have caused the savant syndrome. But this is just their speculation; no one knows the real cause.

For a man who sees numbers and days as colors, this book is written in a simple, bland, colorless prose. Nevertheless, reading this book is a marvelous and rewarding experience. This book will touch and warm your heart.

A must read for parents and family of autistic children and adults. To finally discover an explanation for the little habits...obsession with spinning, walking in circles, plugging/covering of the ears, rocking... It's all here in one place. While I have become very accustomed to my son's habits, I have never understood what exactly was causing the behavior. After reading Tammet's book, I feel I can better help my son enjoy his environment.

If a picture is truly worth a thousand words, then the savant gifts of Daniel Tammet are all the more startling because he has an ability to meld his senses together seamlessly to see things nobody else can. It's an impressive, even daunting prowess that comes at a high price since he has Asperger's syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes him to be limited in his ability to fit in with the larger culture, as well as synaesthesia, a condition where sounds, words or numbers can translate into colors, shapes or textures. In fact, the latter condition is reflected in the book's title as he associates the color blue with Wednesdays. What makes this book so thoroughly unique is that the book is not a treatise of a subject by a medical professional but a memoir by the subject himself.

As such, there are no grand conclusions drawn about either medical condition, or scientific assumptions of how Tammet came to his gifts. What the author does quite plainly is share how he approaches such astonishing feats as reciting pi to over 22,000 decimal points over the course of five hours. We get a palpable sense of how he perceives theorems and automatically develops strategies based on his innate sense with numbers and images. But before you can say Rain Man, you also see a young man who is actually functioning in the world on his own, which illustrates perfectly the spectrum of severity with autism. Tammet's affliction has mild enough for him to be relatively self-sufficient, even though his struggles to gain societal acceptance have been a traumatizing road.

Raised by loving parents, he spent most of his childhood alone and could only relate to fellow outsiders like immigrants and exchange students, people who heightened his facility for foreign languages. There were signs - a hyper-sensitivity to noise; almost complete literal-mindedness; a narrow but intense interests in a few, eccentric subjects at the exclusion of others; displays of socially inappropriate behavior (which he has since been able to manage); and peculiarities in speech and thought patterns. It all comes together as a fascinating portrait with no pretense toward a false sense of triumph over extreme adversity. Such clichés are better left to Lifetime TV-movies since Tammet lives a good, simple life in London with his life partner Neil Mitchell and is busy creating a new language and conquering other mathematical frontiers. One cannot help but root for him thanks to his wonderfully personal, unaffected memoir.

Numbers have a special shape and color, according to autistic savant Daniel Tammet. Put together, they form beautiful and stunning shapes that his mind can see. Much like the wonderful book, Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin, Daniel's book allows us to see something that we use and think about everyday in such an interesting and unique light.

The awareness of autism is spreading across the country and our world like wildfire. Some statistic recently released said that one of our every 150 births results in an autistic child. The murky origins of this baffling condition are under study. It's people like Temple Grandin and Daniel Tammet that are finally allowing us to see, however brief and unique, a glimpse into the inner workings of an autistic mind. And what a fascinating journey it is.

Daniel Tammet recounts his early life, when a particularly jolting seizure at the age of four gripped him, possibly forever changing his mind and his thinking. Perhaps as a result of this seizure, Daniel begins to see numbers in their essence, shapes and colors in his mind, helping him perform amazing and miraculous math feats in seconds. Think Rain Man, and now, his moniker, Brain Man. Daniel knows math and the calendar, and worked to memorize pi so detailed that he could recite the string of numbers for five hours without a mistake. Daniel can also master a language after studying it for around a week, as he tells about in his quick study of one of the world's most challenging languages: Icelandic.

Such gifts comes with limitations, the limitations often found in the lives of autistic kids. Certain forms of touch drive him crazy, drastic changes in his routine are difficult to adjust to, morning porridge that must be 45 g (weighed everyday!). Idioms challenge him, as he prefers the literal to the implied. Yet, Daniel manages to cope with such details, with the love and support of his family and his partner Neil, and puts himself out here in the world to raise awareness of autism and help people understand it more.

Because of Daniel's detachment, the book may read to be a mere recounting of events. Daniels father becomes sick in the book, and Daniel recounts the event literally. Also his account of discovering his sexuality and falling in love also reads matter of fact. Yet, when Daniel expresses his emotions, it is both delightful and touching; he is befuddled about his tears, as if he's discovering them for the first time.

"Born on a Blue Day" is a wonderful journey with Daniel. I hope he knows what positive impact he can have on our lives by sharing a little bit of his. It's a wonderful way to walk in the shoes of an autistic savant, and experience, if only for a little bit, the life of Daniel. Thanks for sharing that, Daniel.

Over the last couple of years there has been an explosion of new and valuable material written on the experience of autism, much of it written from the points of view of either how to deal with an autistic child or a more medical explanation of symptoms. Reading about what it actually feels like to live with autism is very rare. Daniel's ability to so carefully describe to us how he experiences life is highly unusual and must be incredibly valuable to researchers.

Daniel Tammet is still a very young man, and his autobiography is necessarily not going to be very long. Moreover, due to the nature of his condition it was not until very recently that he has had much by way of dealings with the outside world. Much of the book takes place in his own mind, his relationships with numbers, logic, mathematics, chess and puzzles, essentially how his mind organizes its thought. One also finds how the tiniest irregularities in his routines - a dropped spoon, perhaps, or the ring of a cell phone - can not only disrupt his thought but can set him off on a 'meltdown' psychologically and physically, from which recovery may take minutes or hours. Order, quiet, routine, predictability and an internal logic assume incredible importance.

The part of his personality dealing with events outside his own mind is very fragile and stunted. Although Daniel comes across in his writing as a giving, kind and basically generous person, there is a lack of understanding, of feeling, what love, empathy, and interpersonal relations are all about. His discovery of another kind man in Neil, his partner, must have been an inestimable blessing, but no doubt a very rare one for a person with autism, and it has helped him slowly grow. Nonetheless, after all of the sacrifices his family has made - and they are clearly a very loving and supportive family who must have endured much (Daniel is not even their only autistic child), one reads of Daniel's fathers breakdowns and decline into poor health and senses no special bond or understanding, only a clinical detachment. I do not write this to accuse Daniel of not caring; it is part of the condition and Daniel's honesty in writing how he feels (or not) is important.

There are chapters about his setting the records for recitation of pi, of meeting Kim Peel (the real-life subject of the movie Rain Man), of his travels to Iceland and his making of the Brainman movie, interviews of him on Letterman, etc, which are less interesting than the opening discussion of just how he perceives his mind to work. But the last chapter is also fascinating: he reveals his Christianity, somewhat of a surprise, he discusses the impact his reading of G K Chesterton (very well known in Britain but much less so in the States) has had on his life, and ponders the future.

The book is validation for all those who feel alienated, different, and unusual, and show how all can still make their own unique contribution. That Daniel was able to find himself and some satisfaction and happiness will hopefully inspire many others.

Number fans rejoice. Asperger's Syndrome-affected Daniel Tammet knows them like nobody in his right mind. Not only can he manipulate them well, both large and small, but he can actually see them in his mind as "shapes, colors, textures and motions." "Numbers are my friends and they are always around me," he says. Born in 1979 in England, and raised as the eldest in a family of eleven (including parents), Tammet remained undiagnosed until his twenties with the high-functioning form of autism known as Asperger's Syndrome. He suffered the standard treatment of the very different at the hands of his classmates, primarily teasing and ridicule during his schooling as a mainstreamed student, a loner both there and within the confines of his home, where his siblings interacted normally. He eventually finds his place: in life, in love and in the world. His mechanically written, minimally descriptive telling of the journey is, at times, an astounding adventure of numerical proportions, which might be better appreciated in video format (see Brainman). Although help from an experienced co-author might have facilitated a more compelling telling, what is lost in literate content is found in its authentic feel: skill with numbers - infinite, skill with language learning - incomprehensible, skill as an author - average. Those capable of appreciating the story in spite of its writing style will probably also enjoy The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. Also good: A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar and for younger readers, G is for Google by David Schwartz.

This is an extaordinary story written by an extraordinary young man. I work for psychiatrists and we have several autistic patients. I often wondered what goes on in their minds that cause them to react to certain circumstances; and to actually hear it from Daniel, an autistic savant, in his own words, is truly amazing. His mathematical skills are beyond my comprehension.The story of how he learned to live with his differences and incomparable thought processes, touched my heart. I recommend this book to everyone. Being "normal" is nothing extraordinary. Being born Daniel Tammet was truly extraordinary!

Geniuses will always attract attention, but there is a special interest in savants. These are people who have an extraordinary gift for one or two talents, but are otherwise lacking in customary traits like understanding the feelings of others or being able to perform basic tasks like making change. The movie example, of course, is the character Dustin Hoffman played in _Rain Man_, based on a real savant; other real-life examples have been described in the popular writing of Oliver Sacks. Savants (they used to be called "idiot savants", but it is kinder and more accurate to concentrate on their unusual talents) often have the psychiatric diagnosis of autism, an impairment of social interaction, communication, and empathy. Most people with autism have no extraordinary mental talents, but some of them have a special form called Asperger's Syndrome, and despite their impairments, have good language skills. Then there are people with synesthesia, which is a neurological mixing of the senses, so that, for instance, words or letters are seen in color. Daniel Tammet has a rare case of Asperger's combined with synesthesia. It is fair to say that his mind works completely differently from those of most people, with amazing skills and also crippling voids. Tammet is in the middle of a successful life, and has written a memoir to tell about it, and also to illustrate how his brain works. _Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant_ (Free Press) is a heartfelt memoir, but it is also a fascinating guided tour of a mind that is wired completely differently.

First, think about the things that Tammet can do. He sees numbers in shapes, colors, textures, and motions. "Five is a clap of thunder or the sound of waves crashing against rocks. Thirty-seven is lumpy like porridge, while 89 reminds me of falling snow." Somehow the strange connections help his lightning calculations. "I see 37's fifth power - 37 x 37 x 37 x 37 x 37 = 69,343,957 - as a large circle composed of smaller circles running clockwise from the top around." He not only has an amazing facility with numbers, but also with languages, and his synesthetic capacity helps him here, too: "Associating the different colors and emotions I experience for each word with its meaning helps bring the words to life." He currently knows ten languages, and that "currently" is there because he picks up languages with amazing ease, learning Icelandic with fluency in a week. The extraordinary capacities of Tammet's brain are coupled with extraordinary deficits and problems. He has an excessive need for order and routine: "For example, I eat exactly 45 grams of porridge for breakfast each morning; I weigh the bowl with an electronic scale to make sure... I get anxious if I can't drink my cups of tea at the same time each day." Communication was hard then, and it remains so: "When someone is speaking to me it often feels like I'm trying to tune in to a particular radio station and a lot of what is said just passes in and out of my head like static." When his romantic partner drove him to the airport for a trip that would be their first separation in years, he was startled to be hugged: "I did not realize that I should show any emotion."

Tammet's absorbing book is not just an account of how peculiar, in both abilities and deficits, his brain is. It is an affecting memoir. He has worked his parents recollections into it, and is amazed at how much work they did for a very peculiar little boy who could repay them little in affection. He writes with enormous affection and gratitude for them now, and for his eight siblings (one with autism). His family has accepted a lot from him that is out of the ordinary, and they have accepted his partner, Neil. As the subject of a documentary and a pi recitation record holder, he has become something of a celebrity, even to the point of being on the David Letterman show. He continues to be the subject of research, and doesn't mind being a guinea pig, because he enjoys learning how his own mind works, and knowing that such research might provide insight into ordinary brains as well. When you read his story, you have to wonder what it must be like to have a brain that manages numbers and languages with the facility Tammet's does, but you also have to appreciate just how much your brain does that you take for granted but which he can do only with difficulty if at all. There are other memoirs written by outsiders viewing foreign lands; here is an outsider who has generously let us take a look at a truly foreign interior.

I first came across "Brain Man" on Sixty Minutes. I found this autistic savant fascinating and endearing. I work with teens with Asperger's Syndrome and am familiar with a lot of their idiosyncrasies: the social difficulties, the sensory sensitivities, the unique way they have of seeing the world as "outsiders." This, coupled with simply awe-inspiring synesthesia, makes for a truly unusual and often difficult way of life. Daniel Tammet is unique in his ability not only to have insight and understanding into how he is different, but also to able to articulate his experiences, his perceptions, and his emotions in a way that most in his position would not be able to. He has had quite an extraordinary life, and though not quite 30, he can say that he has learned to speak several languages, meet well-known celebrities, visualize and memorize 5-hours' worth of "pi", and find true love. Man, to have accomplished just a fraction of this in a lifetime would be quite an accomplishment. Kudos, Daniel! Thank you for sharing your story!

I saw Mr. Tammet on Good Morning America and immediately ordered this book. My daughter is a Physical Therapist who works with many children who have autism, so I hear about the ravages of autism on a daily basis. But reading about the condition from the perspective of a person who actually lives on the autism spectrum was fascinating. However, anyone who reads this book needs to recognize that Mr. Tammet is VERY high-functioning and that people who live on the lower levels of the autism spectrum may exhibit considerably more difficulties at greater severity. But the hope that arises from reading this book cannot be dismissed. Advances in the diagnosis and treatment of autism are being made everyday!