Bookfanatic reviewed on 2/23/2011

Helpful Score: 1

Daniel Tammet may be the only person in this world with the "synaesthesia and savant syndrome". This along with his other diagnosis (Asperger's Syndrome) allows him to do amazing math calculations in his head. He sees texture and color in numbers, words and sounds.

If you're at all familiar with autism or the autism spectrum, you'd know that as someone with Asperger's, Daniel is a very high-functioning individual. So high-functioning that he was diagnosed when he was a young adult. He is clearly not like a lot of autistic people, but, if you like me, enjoy reading books about people on the autism spectrum, then this is a book you should read. It is a bit dry, and at times, Daniel goes on and on about his mathematical abilities, and I found that to be a trait of his autism. This is a great first person account of how autism condition affects someone, and how that person has overcome it to function independently in the world. I found it remarkable that he wrote the book entirely by himself given the fact many typical (i.e. normal) people who write memoirs use the assistance of ghost writers. The author could have expanded more on the negative things that happened to him growing up because it's quite clear he struggled a lot. His parents struggled a lot too apparently for the father had a nervous breakdown. Daniel writes about these episodes with a bit of detachment, but that is to be expected given his diagnosis.

I loved these quotes from the book ""Most important of all, give your children the self-belief to hold on to their dreams, because they are the things that shape each person's future." and "You don't have to be disabled to be different, everybody's different".

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