Response to "Born on a Blue Day"

The non-fiction book that I chose to read this summer is called Born on a Blue Day. It is an autobiography written by an autistic savant from Britain named Daniel Tammet, and I really enjoyed it.

I had planned on reading this book long before I decided to join our AP Composition class because I had been introduced savant syndrome and to Daniel during my beloved AP Psychology class last year and wanted to learn more. Savants are absolutely incredible, and Daniel Tammet is no exception. For those of you who don't know, savant syndrome is generally described as a rare condition in which a person with a developmental disorder (which may or may not be found on the autistic spectrum like Daniel's is) has one or more areas of expertise, exceptional ability, or brilliance that contrast with his or her overall limitations that result from his/her disorder.

Many of you have probably seen Dustin Hoffman's portrayal of this amazing disorder in the movie Rain Man. Raymond Babbitt, Hoffman's character, is inspired by real-life savant Kim Peek--someone Daniel got to meet (which he recounts in his book). However, Kim Peek is slightly different from Daniel Tammet in that Peek suffers from severe brain damage whereas Tammet has autism.

Specifically, Daniel has Asperger's syndrome, a relatively mild and high-functioning form of autism. He explains autism is his book as follows:

Autism, including Asperger's syndrome, is defined by the presence of impairments affecting social interaction, communication, and imagination (problems with abstract or flexible thought and empathy, for example). . .People with Asperger's often have good language skills and are able to lead relatively normal lives. Many have above-average IQs and excel in areas that involve logical or visual thinking. . .Single-mindedness is a defining characteristic, as is a strong drive to analyze detail and identify rules and patterns in systems. Specialized skills involving memory, numbers, and mathematics are [also] common.


Being that Tammet's autism is, for the most part, non-limiting and that he is a savant with unbelievable abilities, he has been able to accomplish a number of incredible things so far, which he explains in Born on a Blue Day. Some of these achievements include traveling to Lithuania to teach women there how to speak English, learning ten different languages, memorizing the irrational number Pi to the 22,500th digit, being filmed in a documentary about himself while traveling in the United States, meeting fellow savant Kim Peek, developing his own website, Optimnem, with online courses for language learners, and appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Many of these attainments were possible because of Daniel's brilliance as a savant. In addition to having an amazing memory, Tammet is also able to experience numbers and letters visually and emotionally. Within his mind he has a rare mixing of the senses called synesthesia that allows him to see letters of the alphabet or numbers in color and with texture. "Each one is unique and has its own personality," Tammet explains. It is because of this occurrence in his brain that Daniel is so capable of learning new languages and long sets of numbers (like Pi)--he can visualize the words and numbers chain as colorful landscapes in his head.

Aside from his successes, Daniel also describes the struggles he has faced and continues to face due to his autism and the important points of his person life, including falling in love with his partner, Neil. Overall, I found it really interesting to learn about how Tammet has been able to overcome the constraints of his disability and, instead of simply living a normal life, been able to lead an absolutely extraordinary life.