Born On A Blue Day

Author: Daniel Tammet
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 141654819X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Book Description
A journey into one of the most fascinating minds alive today—guided by the owner himself. Bestselling author Daniel Tammet (Thinking in Numbers) is virtually unique among people who have severe autistic disorders in that he is capable of living a fully independent life and able to explain what is happening inside his head. He sees numbers as shapes, colors, and textures, and he can perform extraordinary calculations in his head. He can learn to speak new languages fluently, from scratch, in a week. In 2004, he memorized and recited more than 22,000 digits of pi, setting a record. He has savant syndrome, an extremely rare condition that gives him the most unimaginable mental powers, much like those portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the film Rain Man. Fascinating and inspiring, Born on a Blue Day explores what it’s like to be special and gives us an insight into what makes us all human—our minds.

Embracing the Wide Sky

Author: Daniel Tammet
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416570136
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Book Description
Owner of "the most remarkable mind on the planet," (according to Entertainment Weekly) Daniel Tammet captivated readers and won worldwide critical acclaim with the 2007 New York Times bestselling memoir, Born On A Blue Day, and its vivid depiction of a life with autistic savant syndrome. In his fascinating new book, he writes with characteristic clarity and personal awareness as he sheds light on the mysteries of savants' incredible mental abilities, and our own. Tammet explains that the differences between savant and non-savant minds have been exaggerated; his astonishing capacities in memory, math and language are neither due to a cerebral supercomputer nor any genetic quirk, but are rather the results of a highly rich and complex associative form of thinking and imagination. Autistic thought, he argues, is an extreme variation of a kind that we all do, from daydreaming to the use of puns and metaphors. Embracing the Wide Sky combines meticulous scientific research with Tammet's detailed descriptions of how his mind works to demonstrate the immense potential within us all. He explains how our natural intuitions can help us to learn a foreign language, why his memories are like symphonies, and what numbers and giraffes have in common. We also discover why there is more to intelligence than IQ, how optical illusions fool our brains, and why too much information can make you dumb. Many readers will be particularly intrigued by Tammet's original ideas concerning the genesis of genius and exceptional creativity. He illustrates his arguments with examples as diverse as the private languages of twins, the compositions of poets with autism, and the breakthroughs, and breakdowns, of some of history's greatest minds. Embracing the Wide Sky is a unique and brilliantly imaginative portrait of how we think, learn, remember and create, brimming with personal insights and anecdotes, and explanations of the most up-to-date, mind-bending discoveries from fields ranging from neuroscience to psychology and linguistics. This is a profound and provocative book that will transform our understanding and respect for every kind of mind.

How to Be 'Normal'

Author: Daniel Tammet
Publisher: Little Ways to Live a Big Life
ISBN: 9781529410204
Category : Asperger's syndrome
Languages : en
Pages : 64

Book Description
An eye-opening short book by the international bestselling writer of Born on a Blue Day and Thinking in Numbers.Have you ever wondered how neurotypicals - so called 'normal' people - come across to those who are on the autistic spectrum? Daniel Tammet is an essayist, poet, novelist and translator. In 2004, he was diagnosed with high-functioning autistic savant syndrome. In this eye-opening and fascinating book, he takes readers on a tour around nightclubs, ponders the significance of tattoos, delves into anti-age creams and puzzles over playing the lottery, all from the perspective of someone who approaches everything in life from a unique angle. After all, this is a man for whom Wednesdays are always blue, who sees numbers as shapes and who learned conversational Icelandic from scratch in seven days.These short essays come together in a beautifully written, sometimes humorous but always refreshing narrative that focuses on the eccentricities of modern life as seen through the eyes of someone always on the outside. Rather wonderfully, it illustrates the eccentricity inherent in every kind of mind, reminding us of the little-noticed strangeness of our common humanity, while subtly questioning what it means to be thought 'normal'.

Nine Minds

Author: Daniel Tammet
Publisher: Profile Books
ISBN: 1800811128
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 263

Book Description
From the bestselling author of BORN ON A BLUE DAY and THINKING IN NUMBERS 'Bursting with feeling and possibility' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'Nine Minds offers something that autistic people urgently need: it humanises us' KATHERINE MAY 'Tammet's exquisite portraits remind us that the variety of brains is every bit as essential as any other form of diversity' ANDREW SOLOMON 'A book as beautiful as the minds it portrays' AMY TAN A Japanese researcher in psychology sets out to measure loneliness while drawing on her own experience of autism. A quirky boy growing up in 1950s Ottawa sows the seeds of his future Hollywood stardom. In the US, a non-verbal man explores body language, gesture by eloquent gesture, in his mother's yoga classes. Nine Minds delves into the extraordinary lives of nine neurodivergent men and women from around the globe. From a Fields Medal-winning mathematician to a murder detective, a pioneering surgeon to a bestselling novelist, each is remarkable in their field, and each is changing how the world sees those on the spectrum. Exploding the tired stereotypes of autism, Daniel Tammet - acclaimed author and an autistic savant himself - reaches across the divides of age, gender, sexuality and nationality to draw out the inner worlds of his subjects. Telling stories as richly diverse as the spectrum itself, this illuminating, life-affirming work of narrative nonfiction celebrates the power and beauty of the neurodivergent mind, and the daring freedom with which these individuals have built their lives. 'Nine Minds reminds us of the diversity within neurodiversity' GRAEME SIMSION

Thinking In Numbers

Author: Daniel Tammet
Publisher: Little, Brown Spark
ISBN: 0316250805
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Book Description
The irresistibly engaging book that "enlarges one's wonder at Tammet's mind and his all-embracing vision of the world as grounded in numbers" (Oliver Sacks, MD). Thinking in Numbers is the book that Daniel Tammet, mathematical savant and bestselling author, was born to write. In Tammet's world, numbers are beautiful and mathematics illuminates our lives and minds. Using anecdotes, everyday examples, and ruminations on history, literature, and more, Tammet allows us to share his unique insights and delight in the way numbers, fractions, and equations underpin all our lives. Inspired variously by the complexity of snowflakes, Anne Boleyn's eleven fingers, and his many siblings, Tammet explores questions such as why time seems to speed up as we age, whether there is such a thing as an average person, and how we can make sense of those we love. His provocative and inspiring new book will change the way you think about math and fire your imagination to view the world with fresh eyes.

Born on a Rotten Day

Author: Hazel Dixon-Cooper
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 143918870X
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 206

Book Description
In this wickedly funny guide, professional astrologer Hazel Dixon-Cooper casts off sugar-coated astrology in favor of exploring the maladjusted side of the universe. If you want the inside scoop, the real deal, the lowdown on each sun sign, then look no further. It's time to forget those traditional astrology books where Sagittarians are gregarious, Capricorns are ambitious, and Pisceans are dreamers. Instead, enter a world where Archers are loud-mouthed bores, Goats are pompous social climbers, and Fish are chronically helpless. Dixon-Cooper debunks the myths, reveals the flaws, and examines the dubious virtues of each sun sign. Discover how to use your own inner brat to outwit bullies, outmaneuver manipulators, and win those endless games that lovers play. Learn how to deal with those dysfunctional people you encounter every day, including how to: contain a Ram's oversized ego calm a raging Bull keep a fickle Twin faithful Irreverent, biting, and laugh-out-loud funny, Born on a Rotten Day exaggerates the bad, exorcises the good, and puts a new spin on the age-old question -- what's your sign?

The 1619 Project: Born on the Water

Author: Nikole Hannah-Jones
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0593307356
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 49

Book Description
The 1619 Project’s lyrical picture book in verse chronicles the consequences of slavery and the history of Black resistance in the United States, thoughtfully rendered by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and Newbery honor-winning author Renée Watson. A young student receives a family tree assignment in school, but she can only trace back three generations. Grandma gathers the whole family, and the student learns that 400 years ago, in 1619, their ancestors were stolen and brought to America by white slave traders. But before that, they had a home, a land, a language. She learns how the people said to be born on the water survived. And the people planted dreams and hope, willed themselves to keep living, living. And the people learned new words for love for friend for family for joy for grow for home. With powerful verse and striking illustrations by Nikkolas Smith, Born on the Water provides a pathway for readers of all ages to reflect on the origins of American identity.

The Blue Day Book

Author: Bradley Trevor Greive
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ISBN: 0740791877
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 110

Book Description
Tenth anniversary ed. features hand-colored photo enhancements and illustrated endpapers and new foreword.

Born Blue

Author: Han Nolan
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0152019162
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 244

Book Description
Janie was four years old when she nearly drowned due to her mothers neglect. Through an unhappy foster home experience, and years of feeling that she is unwanted, she keeps alive her dream of someday being a famous singer.

Bright Not Broken

Author: Diane M. Kennedy
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470623322
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 325

Book Description
The future of our society depends on our gifted children—the population in which we’ll find our next Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, or Virginia Woolf. Yet the gifts and talents of some of our most brilliant kids may never be recognized because these children fall into a group known as twice exceptional, or “2e.” Twice exceptional kids are both gifted and diagnosed with a disability—often ADHD or an Autism Spectrum Disorder—leading teachers and parents to overlook the child’s talents and focus solely on his weaknesses. Too often, these children get lost in an endless cycle of chasing diagnostic labels and are never given the tools to fully realize their own potential. Bright Not Broken sheds new light on this vibrant population by identifying who twice exceptional children are and taking an unflinching look at why they’re stuck. The first work to boldly examine the widespread misdiagnosis and controversies that arise from our current diagnostic system, it serves as a wake-up call for parents and professionals to question why our mental health and education systems are failing our brightest children. Most importantly, the authors show what we can do to help 2e children, providing a whole child model for parents and educators to strengthen and develop a child’s innate gifts while also intervening to support the deficits. Drawing on painstaking research and personal experience, Bright Not Broken offers groundbreaking insight and practical strategies to those seeking to help 2e kids achieve their full potential. Diane M. Kennedy, author of The ADHD-Autism Connection, is a long time advocate, international speaker/trainer, and mother of three twice-exceptional sons. Rebecca S. Banks, M.A., co-author of The ADHD-Autism Connection, is a veteran educator, national speaker/trainer, and mother of two twice-exceptional children. Temple Grandin, Ph.D., is a professor, prolific author, and one of the most accomplished and renowned adults with autism in the world.