The paperback edition of 'Born On A Blue Day' is out now in the UK - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Born-Blue-Day-Daniel-Tammet/dp/0340899751/ref=ed_oe_p/202-2824593-0947815
BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week is featuring excerpts (read by an actor) from the book all this week: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/book_week.shtml
21 comments:
Daniel- I've been waiting for your book & I finally was able to pick it up at a Barnes & Noble in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I bought it on Saturday & finished it this morning. Thanks so much for sharing your story. I especially appreciated your information and impressions of your epileptic seizures. My (now 21 year old) son suffered from nocturnal seizures as a child & he was also treated with carbamazopine. He outgrew his seizure disorder around 15 years of age. He had speech issues but now is a college sophmore. I'd love to hear you in person if you ever speak in my area (New Orleans or Baton Rouge, Louisiana). God bless you, Cindy Shotwell
I just finished reading your novel and I had to tell you that it was amazing. The way your mind works is truely wonderful. Your descriptions of how you see numbers really helped me to visualize what you must see every day. You are an inspiration to the world.
Daniel, I just finished your book. I picked it up the other day at the library. I don't have a TV so I have missed hearing of you from the shows. Like so many others, I am fascinated and heartwarmed by your story. Your ability to share and explain is profound and much needed. There is a type of meditation called Vipassana that you might be interested in. It is a logical process of mental purification through self observation. Being non sectarian, it can be practiced by those of any religion. Courses are offered on a donation only basis. It is completely free of commercialism. There is a center in Hereford called Dhamma Dipa, where you could get more info. I think those bright shining moments of self forgetting are where all of us are evolving, and the Vipassana meditation technique gives us a tool to practice. May all beings be happy. With kindest regards, alta
I happened across your 60 Minutes interview yesterday afternoon, and was absolutely captivated. I plan to order your book this afternoon!
I am quite interested in your language courses, and curious to know if they are structured differently. Will you offer more languages?
daniel,we have had your book for some time now, we have a signed copy !i'm sure you must get asked this all the time but we have a nine year old son with autism,his favourite books are maps and the argos catalogue !he has an amazing memory, he reminds us of you ! we live in sevenoaks,kent not far from you we would love you to meet him, a long shot i know but we live in hope!
Hello Mr. Tammet. I just listened to your interview for On Point on NPR, and I very much enjoyed hearing your story. Thank you for sharing yourself with the medical community; I hope the research you've sparked will lead to significant advances in neurology. Good luck in your future endeavors. Sincerely, Regina (Connecticut, USA)
Hello Daniel,
I heard the third excerpt from your book this morning on Radio 4 and I've been thinking about you all day.
I was really moved by the brief account of your adolescence, especially the part where you said you made some people uncomfortable by standing too close to them. It sounds corny but I really like the sound of your world - you felt a need to be physically close to people so you stood close enough to feel their body heat. I know this is a manifestation of Asbergers and I really do not mean to underestimate the huge problems you have overcome but the simplicity of that action seems to cut through such a lot of bullshit and adolescent angst and I think we'd all be happier if we had the courage to stand closer to each other.
I've been reading more about you online and the way you describe seeing numbers and their different appearance and personalities is pure poetry.
At the risk of being corny again, I'm so glad that you have someone special, besides family and friends, to share your life. I think you're a very special person. Vive la difference!
Thank you!
Declan
London
Hi Daniel,
I'm enjoying listening to the Radio 4 readings of your book very much, and have given the details to a friend whose son has a form of Aspergers. Your work is a bridge between people with Asperger's and their families or carers.
I also share your self-sufficiency advice.
I wonder if you could tell us how you got the book published? Did you write the whole book first and then looked for publishers? Was it difficult to get it published?
Thanks for your work,
Teresa
Daniel - we found out last July 2006 that our son has an High Function Austim and Semantic Pragmatic language disorder.
My Dad listens to Radio 4 and rang to tell me, "switch in! there is a brilliant book reading you must tune in".
I found your book reading fascinating, the little things you describe, I can see some characteristics in my four year old son - you are an inspiration and I have ordered the book for more insight.
What can I say, just thank you for sharing your experiences with us, I think its wonderful thing!
Hi, Daniel! Your book was wonderful. Thank you for sharing your story, it was truly amazing. I am a tutor for children who are diagnosed with autism, and even though the spectrum of autism is so vast, I still felt that I came away with a better understanding of the way the autistic brain works. I know your amazing abilities with numbers is extremely rare, but the way you described the feelings you felt throughout your childhood really opened my eyes. Not all of the children I work with are verbal, and it helped me gain a little insight on how they might be feeling even though they can't tell me. I would love it if you had any advice to give me from the perspective of someone who has been through it all. I wish I knew what it was like to be on the other side so that I could better understand the disability and do more to help.
Dear Daniel, I just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed hearing your story on Radio 4 this week.
My partner David & I used to live in your neck of the woods and it was so inspiring to hear someone talk so openly and warmly about their relationship.
We had our civil partnership ceremony in July last year on the occasion of our twentieth anniversary, and hearing your words about Neil and your life together was inspiring. We live in North Cumbria now and have had to endure the most horrific homophobia. Stories like yours will surely help the more closed-minded people in our society to see that there are
some lovely, stable same-sex relationships out there, and that are held together by the greatest love.
All the very best to you and Neil for the future and BIG congratulations on the book,
Paul & David, Cumbria
Great Blog Daniel. I have been reading your past post and agree with a lot of what you say. I am a Christian too and like the Westwing. Perhaps the Westwing will come back with Santos. Are you still making up prints up of pi? Shoot, soon we'll see them on every pencil case, t-shirt, rucksack and duvet cover all across America. I'll keep reading your blog. Thanks for sharing so many insights with me (I can't speak for everyone else, though it seems like they like you too). I will read your book most likely, someday soon. Thanks again.
It astounds me that you have a blog. I couldn't think of a single thing to differentiate my comment from all the others that I'm sure you receive, so I decided to do this. I hope it works. :)
Hi Daniel
i first heard about you in my physics lecture at college, when my professor told me about your interview on 60 minutes, however it was only today that i came across your interviews on Yahoo.
Like millions of others i too i'm so amazed, i think you are exceptionally talented and it just baffles me to understand how you can memorise or even calculate with such accuracy and speed.
even the fact that you associate it with patterns and colours, its sure a lot of patterns to remember!!!
i just wanted to post this note to congratulate you, poeple like you inspire others to work hard and make nothing seem impossible.
God bless you,...you have an amazing gift,i hope you use it well.
Michelle Bailey
I'm an 18 year old girl who is both a synaesthete and having Asperger's syndrome, and your book reminded me of me in so, so many ways –
It's just nice to know there are other people who really do understand. I've never actually met someone else who's been able to articulate what it's like at all.
Now when people won't listen to me, like they haven't really since I was diagnosed at eight, I can hand them Born on a Blue Day.
Thank you for that.
Is Mänti easy to learn? If you decide to teach it , I'm in! ~ That reminds me of an interview I saw on google video "Ali G interviews Noam Chomsky" Not a big Ali G fan, but its funny.
Make him eat his words!!~
Daniel,
I have just purchased your book. Between my partner and myself we are fighting over who reads first, we have a beautiful son who is in the spectrum of Autism.
Congratulations and thanks for being you.
Any tips on how to get a 13 year old interested in numbers? My son has no passion for numbers but I must say has many other positive qualities.
Kind Regards, Paulene
Dear Daniel,
I just finished reading your book. Your story is so beautiful and so touching it has made me cry.
Wishing you and Neil all the best.
Ana
Hello Daniel
I have just read your book and found it very moving and inspirational. I realise that there has been a price to pay, but I envy you your abilities - I'm hopeless with maths and always have been. I heard you on Radio 4 last year and have been wanting to get hold of Born on a Blue Day ever since. It certainly was worth waiting for. Will the 'Brainman' programme be broadcast again as I missed that?
Very best wishes to you and yours.
Dianne
I read your book and it's very well written. It has yet taught me more and more about myself. Synaesthesia is so me! (you can see that in my username and avatar) I've noticed since first grade that even numbers are feminine and odd numbers are masculine. When I thought about negatives, however, it was reversed. I created a number language of my own, because I've been devoted to numbers since a young age. I've been giving people numbers based on their personality and appearance, once i got to know them. Some people have misunderstood this about me, because to them, numbers meant nothing. They almost thought I was mimicking the police policy of numbering arrested criminals. But they eventually realized that my mind just didn't work like theirs.
I haven't seen your movie, but i'm looking foward to it. I watched your youtube clips and the are amazing. Keep up the great work!
Hi Daniel
I have just finnished reading your book, its is fascinating, I feel very privileged to have shared some of your life experiences and hopefully understand the trials and tribulations that others experience in their life journey. Thank you so much for taking the time to write and share your story. I wish you and Neil a long and happy life together. God Bless.
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