Tammet - Born on a blue day: inside the extraordinary mind of an autistic savant

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Praise for Born on a Blue Day

A riveting account of living with autism... At times, he is quite poetic, especially when he writes about numbers... Transcends the disability-memoir genre.

Kirkus Reviews

You close Born on a Blue Day with a sense of profound admiration.

The Daily Mail (London)

Although Tammet is only 27, his autobiography is as fascinating as Benjamin Franklins and John Stuart Mills, both of which are, like his, about the growth of a mind... He also writes some of the clearest prose this side of Hemingway; he tells his story with such concentration, precision, and simplicity that his familial poverty, schooling as a mainstreamed student, self-realization as gay, and embracing of Christianity prove as enthralling as they are, ultimately, normal.

Booklist , starred review

Tammet, who turns 28 on Jan. 31, comes across as a warm and mellowing soul. In whats bound to surprise some readers, he describes himself as both gay and a Christian. His worthy memoir broadens and deepens our understanding of who people with Aspergers and savant syndrome are and can become.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Mr. Tammets book is an elegant account of how his condition has informed his life, a rare first-person insight into a mysterious and confounding disorder. He is unusual not just because of his lucid writing style and his ability to analyze his own thoughts and behavior, but also because he is one of fewer than 100 prodigious savantsautistic or otherwise mentally impaired people with spectacular, almost preternatural skillsin the world.

The New York Times

Flows very well... Each chapter has intrigue as you follow his development. And as a reader, youre always pulling for Tammet.

Pages

This unique first-person account offers a window into the mind of a high-functioning, 27-year-old British autistic savant with Aspergers syndrome.... As one of only about 50 people living today with synesthesia and autism, Tammets condition is intriguing to researchers; his ability to express himself clearly and with a surprisingly engaging tone (given his symptoms) makes for an account that will intrigue others as well.

Publishers Weekly

Born on a Blue Day is Daniel Tammets remarkable story, yet it is also a source of encouragement to anyone who has persevered despite uncontrollable obstacles.

University News Wire

Daniel Tammet is a remarkable man... His first book is a charmingly precise, tenderly honest account of his life so far.

Daily Express (London)

Admirably modest but affecting autobiography by a man blessed with incredible mental gifts but struggling with Aspergers.

The Sunday Times (London) top choice of the books you really must read

A memoir of outstanding lucidity and charm.

The Sunday Times (London)

It was fascinating to read how the mind of a mathematical savant is both similar to and different from my visual brain. Daniel thinks in patterns of color, shapes, and relationships between numbers, instead of in photo-realistic images. This book is a must-read for anybody who is interested in how the mind works.

Temple Grandin, bestselling author of Animals in Translation and Thinking in Pictures

Something in the way that Mr. Tammet describes the beautiful, aching, hallucinatory process of arriving at his answers illuminates the excitement of all cogitation.

The New York Times

This is a concise book about a very expansive mind. By studying Daniel we may come closer to being able to tap the little Rain Man that exists, perhaps, within us all.

Daniel has a heartfelt missionserving as an inspiration for other persons, demonstrating by his own example that such conditions as epilepsy or Aspergers need not always interfere with overall development and potential. Daniel is articulate, soft-spoken, pleasant, polite, gentle, and modest. Those traits shine through in his writing, and his goals mirror most of our ownbecoming closer in our intimate relationships, and becoming closer in our relationships with family and friends as well.

Darold A. Treffert, MD, author of Extraordinary People: Understanding Savant Syndrome

The probability of someone having both synesthesia and autism is incredibly smallabout 1 in 10,000. Are Daniels talents the result of his two rare syndromes coming together in one person? His synesthesia gives him a richly textured, multisensory form of memory, and his autism gives him the narrow focus on number and syntactic patterns. The resulting book is a story of a life that is both remarkable and inspiring.

Simon Baron-Cohen, author of Mindblindness and The Essential Difference

To my parents,

for helping me become the person I am today

and to Neil,

for always being there for me

I would like to thank the following people, without whom this book would never have been possible:

My parents, Jennifer and Kevin, for all their love and patience and for all that they have taught me

My brothers Lee, Steven and Paul and sisters Claire, Maria, Natasha, Anna-Marie and Shelley, for their love and understanding

Rehan Qayoommy best friend from my schooldays

Elfriede Corkhillmy favorite schoolteacher

Ian and Elaine Moore, Ian and Ana Williams and Olly and Ash Jefferymy closest friends

Birut Zilienethe person I think of when I remember my time in Lithuania

Sigriur Kristinsdttirmy Icelandic tutor

Suzy Seraphine-Kimel and Julien Chaumonfor all their help with the Optimnem.co.uk website

Martin, Steve, Toby, Dan and Nicolathe team behind the Brainman documentary

Karen Ammond, for showing me the power of enthusiasm

Andrew Lownie, my literary agent

Rowena Webb, Helen Coyle and Kerry Hood at Hodder for all their help and advice with the book

Bruce Nichols and the team at Free Press for their help with the U.S. edition

Finally my partner Neil, for being himself

I was born on January 31, 1979a Wednesday. I know it was a Wednesday, because the date is blue in my mind and Wednesdays are always blue, like the number 9 or the sound of loud voices arguing. I like my birth date, because of the way Im able to visualize most of the numbers in it as smooth and round shapes, similar to pebbles on a beach. Thats because they are prime numbers: 31, 19, 197, 97, 79 and 1979 are all divisible only by themselves and 1. I can recognize every prime up to 9,973 by their pebble-like quality. Its just the way my brain works.

I have a rare condition known as savant syndrome, little known before its portrayal by actor Dustin Hoffman in the Oscar-winning 1988 film Rain Man. Like Hoffmans character, Raymond Babbitt, I have an almost obsessive need for order and routine which affects virtually every aspect of my life. For example, I eat exactly 45 grams of porridge for breakfast each morning; I weigh the bowl with an electronic scale to make sure. Then I count the number of items of clothing Im wearing before I leave my house. I get anxious if I cant drink my cups of tea at the same time each day. Whenever I become too stressed and I cant breathe properly, I close my eyes and count. Thinking of numbers helps me to become calm again.