Daniel Tammet



Daniel Tammet (born 31 January 1979) is an English essayist, novelist, poet, translator, and autistic savant. His memoir, Born on a Blue Day (2006), is about his early life with Asperger syndrome and savant syndrome, and was named a "Best Book for Young Adults" in 2008 by the American Library Association's Young Adult Library Services magazine.

Born on a Blue Day (2006)

 * My algebra was relatively poor. I found it very difficult to use equations that substituted numbers — to which I had a synesthetic and emotional response — for letters, to which I had none.  It was because of this that I decided not to continue math at Advanced level, but chose to study history, French and German instead.
 * Chapter 6: Adolescence.
 * I had eventually come to understand that friendship was a delicate, gradual process that mustn't be rushed or seized upon but allowed and encouraged to take its course over time. I pictured it as a butterfly, simultaneously beautiful and fragile, that once afloat belonged to the air and any attempt to grab at it would only destroy it.
 * Chapter 8: Falling in Love.

Bookreview by Jim Withers, Canwest News Service, June 8 2009

 * My relationship with scientists has changed. Now, they consider me more of a peer than a guinea pig, and I'm part of the scientific discussion.


 * When someone asks me, "Do you speak Breton or Inuktitut?" I say, "Not yet."