I was randomly clicking on "Next Blog" every 2 minutes, in search of a an interesting read. My eyes first roved around a blog written in Spanish, (Nexxxxxxxt!) then one on Vietnamese handicrafts (Nexxxxxxxt! You can only admire wooden elephants for so long!) and then.....
I landed on Daniel Tammet's blog! Now the blog kinda irritated me. It was one of those My-article-got-published-in-the-papers and I-am-famous-know-my-every-move blogs.
On any other occasion, I would have clicked on "Next Blog" in an instant.
But the name seemed vaguely familiar, I remember some teacher saying the name with reference to something in some class some years ago.
Yes, that vague! :P
So, I just decided to Google him.
Daniel Tammet.
186,000 results in 0.22 seconds.
He's 31. He writes. He draws. He talks. He eats.
But he also happens to be what they call a "high functioning autistic savant".
Yeah, I'm not sure what it means as well. And I'm not really buying the idea of the savant- syndrome anyway.
"Savant Syndrome refers to what are called Islands of Ability, but are usually exceptional skills which seem to come out of nowhere with no previous learning or experience. Savant skills can cover everything from exceptional memorisation skills, to outstanding mathematical skills, calendar calculation, astounding special skills, unaccountable ability to acquire foreign languages, exceptional artistic or musical abilities and, some people have added, exceptional sensing abilities."
Okay, back to this guy.
He sees numbers as shapes and colours. For example, he thinks 333 is very attractive and 25 a party going number and pi is beautiful. (Wtf. :/)
He has recited 22,514 digits of pi in five hours. I don't know what comes after 3.14.
He speaks ten languages, and is developing a new language Mänti.
He is a bestselling author.
In the Oscar winning film American Beauty, young Angela Hayes declares, "I don't think there's anything worse than being ordinary."
Normally, I wouldn't agree 100%. I could think of worse things. Like being stranded in the middle of an ocean etcetera etcetera.
And then I read about guys like him.
And wonder why wasn't I one of the 0.0001% of the population with Savant syndrome!
Un-savant these geniuses, or savant-ify me!!!
5 comments:
That was a lucky click. This guy is amazing. I must track down his blog. Have you got a link?
Yeah link link! But you know that thing about numbers..I think everyone has it more or less..less rather than more..for eg, I think 5 is for some reason a lovely number and that 11 looks awesome and that 1729 is special! you know what i mean, or am i sounding absolutely crazy here? :D
Haha, here is the link!
http://optimnemblog.blogspot.com/
And Tangled up in blue, (sounds like the codename of a secret spy by now.:P), I hate maths so yes, you do sound crazy! :D
Ooh ooh, now I'm imagining I am like a stockier, less athletic Angelina Jolie in Salt! :D On a more serious note, there's this really cool condition called synesthesia, you cud look this up, you'd like it..
its where these people get their senses all mixed up..like they can hear smells, see days of the week as colours and so on..
some of these people also describe numbers having certain tastes..like there was this one guy who says the number six tastes like chicken..
now I hope I sound a lil less crazy..btw, are you on facebook? If you are, I cud add you and reveal my top secret identity! :D
WHOA! WHOA MANNNN. Is this guy for real or what? He thinks pi is beautiful? whoa.
And ooohhh, synthesia sounds cool. I'll look it up too. :)
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