Video for Thinking in Numbers!

What was Count von Count's favourite number?

Apparently it was 34,969. For those who have never seen Sesame Street, here's a quick video of the count in his prime: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJxKvwMIVtA Btw 34,969 is divisible by 17 (it's 187 squared, or ((17 x 17) x (11 x 11)). The BBC website has more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19409960

Sunday Times Bestseller !

Back from my summer hols in Provence. What a lovely surprise to learn that Thinking in Numbers is no.8 in this week's Sunday Times hardback bestseller list! Hearty thanks to everyone who has purchased a copy so far!

Scotsman Profile

Lovely profile by Claire Black in today's Scotsman: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/features/interview-daniel-tammet-writer-mathematician-and-author-of-thinking-in-numbers-1-2464159 Rendez-vous at the Edinburgh Festival on Wednesday August 15th. My event begins at 3.30pm!

Olympics Article (Observer/Guardian)

The Observer (print) and Guardian (online) have published my article on the maths of the Olympic Games. You can read and comment online here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/aug/12/olympic-records-time-numbers-mathematics?newsfeed=true

Times (UK) Profile: The Prime of His Life

Profile by Tom Whipple in today's The Times. "Seven years ago, for a documentary, he taught himself to understand Icelandic in a week. At about the same time he was diagnosed as having savant syndrome by the authority in autism, Professor Simon Baron-Cohen. Now it feels as though, with a few more years of application, he has somehow taught himself to understand the language of humanity - a language that long eluded him."

4 million digits of Pi as a multi-coloured mural

Have a look at this amazing webpage where it is possible to visualise the first 4 million digits of Pi as a multi-coloured mural: http://two-n.com/pi/ Not sure how they came up with the colours for each digit (5 light blue? For me, fives are definitely yellow!). Draw your mouse across the page to pick out all kinds of number sequences. What's the most beautiful pattern you can find?

Edinburgh Book Festival August 15th 2012

I will be speaking on Wednesday 15th August (my event begins at 3.30pm) at the Edinburgh Book Festival. Tickets can be purchased via the festival's website here: http://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/how-to-book

My new book!

Apologies for the long absence, but I've put the time to good use and am very pleased to announce that Hodder (UK) will be publishing my third book, Thinking in Numbers, in August. Stay posted for more details as publication nears!

Ciudad de Las Ideas

Just returned from speaking at the wonderful Ciudad de Las Ideas festival in Puebla, Mexico. Honoured to have been invited to take part alongside a wide variety of speakers that included the filmmaker Oliver Stone, Nobel economist Paul Krugman, neuroscientist David Eagleman, and Olympic swimmer Mark Spitz, among others. Enjoyed some very stimulating conversations behind the scenes with mathematicians Amir Aczel (origins of the zero, and computer-generated proofs) and Arthur Benjamin (combinatorics).

Beautiful weather for my first trip to Central America. 24C in November - for a European like me it was quite the surprise! Loved the colourful buildings, baroque churches, and eating tortillas with refried beans for breakfast.

You can find out more about the festival, and watch the presentations as they are uploaded at: http://www.ciudaddelasideas.com/

Portrait by Siegfried Woldhek for TED2011

A fun portrait of me by the artist Siegfried Woldhek for my TED2011 talk. Find more examples of his work on the artist's flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/woldhek/

Ted2011 Talk Now Online

My TED2011 presentation in Long Beach, California, filmed in March 2011, is now available to watch via the TED.com website:

http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_tammet_different_ways_of_knowing.html

Booking Me to Speak in the UK

A quick note for those interested in having me speak at their company, conference, school, university, in the UK: I am now represented by the JLA speakers agency in London and can be booked directly through them. Here is my profile: http://www.jla.co.uk/conference-speakers/daniel-tammet

Speaking at TED2011

I've just returned from a week in Long Beach, California, where I was invited to speak at the annual TED event. It was a wonderful experience and amazing to meet such inspiring people and share my own thoughts and ideas with a large and diverse public.

TED talks generally last no longer than 18 minutes, and my session's time limit was shorter still: a maximum of 12 minutes. Worried as I was as I prepared my remarks in the days and weeks beforehand, I actually came in nicely under the set limit with a whole ninety seconds to spare!

Beautiful weather on the West Coast of course, and delicious seafood too. Definitely worth the jet lag!

New Artwork

The artwork page has been updated and now includes a new limited edition print (of how I visualise the sum 53 x 131 = 6943) as well as a series of number synaesthetic photos by the photographer Jerome Tabet. All prints and photos are available for purchase. Find our artwork page here: http://www.optimnem.co.uk/artwork.php

Brain: The Inside Story - Museum of Natural History New York

I invite all New Yorkers to visit the fascinating new 'Brain - the Inside Story' exhibition opening November 2010 at the Museum of Natural History. My Pi recitation record forms part of the 'Memory' section and my books will be available for purchase at the exhibition's 'brain bookstore'.

For more information: http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/brain/

Idea Festival - Louisville Kentucky 1 Oct 2010

I will be a guest speaker at this year's fantastic Idea Festival in Louisville, Kentucky. My event at Kentucky's Center for the Performing Arts starts at 3pm on 1 October. For more information about the festival, and my lecture: http://www.ideafestival.com/

France's 'Most Read' Books of 2009

France's Express magazine has named my second book "Embracing the Wide Sky" (Embrasser le Ciel Immense) as one of the country's 'most read' books of 2009. On March 16th I attended a ceremony at the Fouquet's restaurant in Paris. A photo of the authors was taken (I'm top right), and yes that is the former President Jacques Chirac in the middle! A very memorable day and a wonderful honour.

Click the photo (copyright Express magazine) to see in larger version.

Le magazine L'Express a nommé mon deuxieme livre 'Embrasser le Ciel Immense' l'un des 'plus lus' de l'année 2009. Le 16 Mars j'ai assisté a une ceremonie au Fouquet's a Paris. Je suis en haut a droite sur la photo des auteurs, et oui c'est le Président Chirac au milieu ! Une journée dont je me souviendrai et un grand honneur.

Cliquez sur la photo (copyright l'Express) pour l'agrandir.

A Tribute to Kim Peek (1951-2009)

I would like to say a few words to pay tribute to Kim Peek, who passed away December 19th, at age 58. I was informed yesterday morning, but wanted to await Kim’s father Fran’s permission before making the news public.

For those who don’t know, Kim was the inspiration for Dustin Hoffman’s character in the Oscar-winning movie ‘Rain Man’.

I met Kim and his father Fran in July 2004, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Our time together was filmed for the documentary film “Brainman” (pun intended) and many viewers subsequently told me that this sequence was the highlight of the film. I also dedicated a chapter of my 2006 memoir “Born On A Blue Day” to our encounter.

Kim was a remarkable human being, blessed with astonishing mental gifts; he also battled numerous handicaps throughout his life. At the same time, he was funny, provocative, and down-to-earth. I remember fondly how he regaled me (and the documentary’s film crew) with all manner of facts and jokes, tunes and anecdotes. When I interviewed his father Fran, he was unsurprisingly extremely proud of his son, and vividly described Kim’s history and current life, which included much travel across the States with the important message that difference needn’t be a disability, because everyone’s different.

The memory I most treasure of Kim is of our mutual feelings of joy and excitement at finding someone who understood, in some small way, what it was like to think and feel and perceive the world very differently. We spent a long time swapping facts and figures with the kind of affection normally reserved for the gossip and reminiscences of old friends. And it really did feel as if we had known each other for years. There was a warm and wonderful ease and intimacy between us. I was and remain profoundly moved and inspired by the experience.

Meeting Kim and Fran helped me to learn much about what it means to be a savant, and a man. Kim faced his condition, its blessings and its burdens, with great courage, humour, and dignity. I must also pay homage to the tremendous and untiring dedication of Fran, on whom Kim depended and of whom he famously said: “We share the same shadow.”

Rest in Peace.

(If you would like to learn more about Kim's life and about Savant syndrome in general, please visit the excellent website by Dr. Darold Treffert, the world's leading expert on the condition: http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant_syndrome/whats_new)

New York Times Article

Apologies for the long hiatus - I'm busy at work on my third book (more details on which to follow). In the meantime, I'm posting a link to today's article in the New York Times which references me and 'Embracing the Wide Sky' and includes a recent photo and some of my number drawings.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/health/03asperger.html