Daniel Tammet’s mind works in extraordinary ways. He can calculate huge sums in his head in moments.
He came to fame a few years ago when he recited pi to the 22,514th digit without skipping a beat. He speaks 10 languages. Learn Islandic and Lithuanian in a week? No problem.
Daniel Tammet has a rare form of autism called savant syndrome – one of 50 in the world today. A real life Rain Man.
As he drifts off to sleep at night he sees a landscape of numbers – numbers of all different colors and sizes – which soothes him.
Talents the rest of us can only dream about. Challenges, too.
This hour, On Point: the brilliant mind of autistic savant Daniel Tammet.
Guests:
Daniel Tammet, author of “Born on a Blue Day: A Memoir”;
Geraldine Dawson, professor of psychology at the University of Washington and director of the university’s Autism Center. She’s author of “A Parent’s Guide to Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism: How to Meet the Challenges and Help Your Child Thrive”
Growing up, it never occurred to me that others didn’t see words in terms of colors and textures. Working with language has always been intuitive for me. Math (especially algebra) was extremely difficult until a teacher in college taught in a way that I intuitively understood. I’m going to pick up your book tomorrow. How exciting to be able to read more about this! Thank you for giving me a deeper understanding of how our brains really work!
Posted by Linda, on January 12th, 2009 at 9:04 pm EST