Born on a Blue Day

I am taking the AP Psychology test in a couple of weeks, it studying for it has introduced to me to so many fascinating ideas and concepts, but above everything else, I am so happy this course lead me to find this book. After a Wikipedia dive about Savant Syndrome, I found myself on a page about the author of this book, Daniel Tammet, and made the spontaneous decision to walk to the library and check it out immediately. That was one of the best decisions I have ever made this school year.

‘Born on a Blue Day’ is the autobiography of Daniel Tammet who has Asperger’s Syndrome, an earlier way of diagnosing high-functioning autism. He also has synthesia, where he can see numbers as colors, feelings and concepts, allowing him to memorize a whole lot of them and perform extreme calculations in his head in a manner of seconds. Daniel is also really good at learning languages, and knows how to speak multiple fluently. As a child, these differences and abilities set him apart from his peers and often made communicating and making friends hard. Throughout his life, he learns how to adapt to his disabilities and abilities, and this book gives us the opportunity to walk into his mind and understand the way he thinks, which is absolutely fascinating.

There are so many things that make this book amazing, and one of them is the way it is written. Usually when reading autobiographies, the writing doesn’t feel distinct and personal, but with this book, I can feel that every word he says is honest and genuine. The author’s personality shines through the concise and direct writing style, and that makes it so enjoyable, like I’m actually getting to know the author as a person. He also communicates the way he thinks really well, and I can imagine what is going through his mind when he says something like this:

“When I divide one number by another, in my head I see a spiral rotating downwards in larger and larger loops, which seem to warp and curve.”

That is a really descriptive retelling of what he thinks of when he divides, and as readers, it is easier to associate the looping spirals with the repetitive steps of long division. It is easy to imagine what he is talking about, though we obviously can’t experience it perfectly ourselves. Also, later in the book when he talks about memorizing 22,500 digits of pi for a charity event, he mentions how the long sequences of numbers form complex numerical landscapes in his mind, and includes pictures that represent what he sees.

Tammet also sees words as colors and feelings as well, and he points out so many details of his experience with them, like how the colors of the words usually correspond to the first letter of the world, and how he sees some words aesthetically as well, and notices if it looks wrong to him. Because of this, he created his very own language and made out of roots from other languages. It has over a thousand words, and it was used by scientists to better understand his thought process. that is such an incredible capability, and this book helped me as a reader understand that really well. It is an amazing experience to be able to step into someone’s mind like that, and this book is a reminder that every single one of us is unique and amazing in the way we process information mentally.

In addition to the insight this book provides, I really enjoyed reading it as someone’s life story. His childhood experiences and stories were all so interesting to read, like his various fascinations, imaginary friend, and his family. Also, because this was written almost 20 years ago and takes place in Europe, the way people lived at that time and place was completely foreign to me. The author talked about how he decided to volunteer in Lithuania for a year teaching English, and described the application process, training, and his actual experience there. I didn’t even know that was a thing people could do! It sounds like a hard but extremely worthwhile way to learn about the world and gain different experiences.

Also, the author talked about first going on a computer and proclaimed it as the World Wide Web, which no one says these days. That was pretty funny to me, because things have changed so much in just the past 20 years, and a lot of things back then are so outdated now. He also talked about chat rooms? I had to figure out what those were, but I couldn’t believe at all that he was able to meet his partner through the internet. It must have been really safe back then, because nowadays, you can’t trust anything you see. The 2000s craze about computers was really interesting to read about though, because it is definitely something we take for granted now.

Reading this book felt like getting to know someone you could theoretically meet in everyday life. Others who write autobiographies feel far away and distant when reading about them, like you won’t expect to actually get to know Michelle Obama anytime soon. However, with this book, it feels like you are listening to the author talk and it is really personal. It was such a unique experience to read this book and it was completely unexpected, because it was a series of searches and clicks that lead me to it. I hope you try reading this book, because it was genuinely one of a kind!