Synaesthesia: The Strangest Thing (Hardcover)

by John Harrison (Author) "For the vast majority of us sensation is neatly divided into touch, vision, hearing, taste and smell-the five senses..." (more)
Key Phrases: coloured hearing synaesthesia, colour correspondences, synaesthetic experience, Richard Cytowic, Sir Ronald, Tower of London (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A new look at the strange world of synaesthesia."--Time Magazine
"A treat.... investigates...brains that have a weird and unexplained propensity to mix up senses." New Scientist
"[P]rovides a useful account of a phenomenon that in recent years has come to receive increasing serious attention from cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists alike. Harrison presents the material in a way that makes it accessible to novices as well as experts."--Contemporary Psychology, APA Review of Books


Product Description
Synaesthesia is a confusion of the senses, whereby stimulation of one sense triggers stimulation in a completely different sensory modality. A synaesthete might claim to be able to hear colors, taste shapes, describe the color, shape, and flavor of someone's voice or music, the sound of which looks like 'shards of glass'. Throughout history, many notable artists and writers have claimed to suffer from synaesthesia, including, Arthur Rimbaud, Wassily Kandinsky, Vladimir Nabokov, and David Hockney. The condition remains as controversial now as when first brought to the public eye many years ago--one notable scientist dismissing it as mere 'romantic neurology.' In Synaesthesia: the strangest thing, a world authority on synaesthesia takes us on a fascinating tour of this mysterious condition, looking at historical incidences of synaesthesia, unraveling the theories for the condition, and additionally, examining the claims to synaesthesia of the likes of Rimbaud, Baudelaire, and others. The result is an exciting, yet scientific account of an incredible condition--one that will tell us of a world rich with the most unbelievable sensory experiences.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (June 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192632450
• ISBN-13: 978-0192632456
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,312,468 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Synaesthesia: The Strangest Thing, January 19, 2004

By A Customer

This book was more of an "Introduction to Everything" textbook than what it was supposed to be about...Intro to Psychology, Intro to Genetics, Intro to Statistics, Intro to Neuroscience...The topics may have been somewhat interesting at times, but not necessary to understanding Synesthesia. He certainly hopped, skipped, and jumped all over the place.