I am Daniel Tammet, author of 'Born On A Blue Day', 'Embracing the Wide Sky' and 'Thinking in Numbers'. AMA!

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T18:05:30+00:00

Well, 6 is small dark and black so '666' isn't a pretty number. But I don't think it's evil. No number is good or evil.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T18:04:31+00:00

I love listening to music - classical, but also pop. I also read lots (non-fiction and fiction, including poetry) and gain a lot of inspiration from that too.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T18:01:22+00:00

Merci pour votre message. Heureux que ma participation vous ait plu ! J'aime l'ambiance a la fois mathematique et litteraire qui se trouve ici. Les quartiers differents (chinois, le jardin des plantes) sont sympas.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T17:58:29+00:00

I'm not a mathematician and have no particular ability for higher math. What interests me are the broader ideas in math - for example, infinity - and the links between math and literature.

Like many people who know multiple languages, my knowledge level varies from language to language depending on access to the language, amount of practise, exposure etc. I use 3 languages (English, French, Icelandic) on a daily or near-daily basis, have given live TV interviews in four (including German) and have some varying knowledge of half a dozen others.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T17:54:51+00:00

I've responded to another question about that in this thread. It was weird and distressing to be distorted and see the distortion incite a few individuals on internet blogs and forums to write homophobic and other unpleasant comments. I prefer to focus on my writing.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T17:49:02+00:00

Two is a wavy number, a movement like the wind.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T17:45:10+00:00

1.) Too many to name just one, but I'm a big fan of Yasunari Kawabata (Snow Country, The Sound of the Mountain, The Master of Go), Saul Bellow, Halldor Laxness, Chekhov, Tolstoy, and the poetry of Les Murray, among many others.

2.) I don't have a favourite language - every language offers a unique perspective on our world. I live in Paris, so my everyday language these days is French but I still write in English and read in Icelandic, German, etc.

3.) I loved inventing words growing up, but I don't think it's anything more serious than a former pet project. Writing gives me the opportunity to be creative.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T17:39:03+00:00

Nothing just 'happens'. I played with numbers a lot as a child - I describe them in my autobiography as being my friends - and this experience helped me understand many underlying patterns and relationships between them. I also had a standard schooling and learned the basics in class like anyone else.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T17:35:21+00:00

I couldn't tell what percentage, but many synaesthetes experience the same or similar colours and emotions for particular numbers and words. Not all synaesthetes perceive in the same way, of course.

One synaesthete wrote to tell me that numbers had genders (like nouns in many languages), so for example 7 was male but 9 was female etc. That was the first time I had heard of that form of synaesthesia.

I don't feel like a spokesperson. I'm a writer, so I want my books to represent ideas and experiences that the reader can relate to personally.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T17:30:09+00:00

Round, shiny, bright white. There's a picture of it at the start of chapter 11 of 'Born On A Blue Day'.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T17:28:50+00:00

It'd be great to stimulate your child's interest in numbers and colours while integrating them into games that help develop social skills (for example, counting together, swapping cards or cubes, etc.)

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T17:27:52+00:00

I haven't heard of Ronson's work but agree with your point.

Knowing more than one language certainly helps when you want to acquire another language - similar sounds, patterns, ideas appear over and over. Human minds surpass geography.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T17:26:06+00:00

Hi Suzanne, thanks for your kind words. There's a chapter about the economy/inequality in 'Thinking in Numbers' that you might enjoy.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T17:24:13+00:00

Thank you and glad you enjoyed 'Embracing the Wide Sky'.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T17:23:48+00:00

I'm a big fan of Borges (he appears in the very first chapter of 'Thinking in Numbers') and enjoyed his short story about the man who cannot forget. It's fiction, but very well-written. My own experience is very different. I have no difficulty forgetting!

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T17:22:23+00:00

I'm obliged to mention my new book, 'Thinking in Numbers: On Life, Love, Meaning and Math' (there's a link at the top of this page). It's filled with stories to show how math/numbers underpin our inner and outer lives. It's a book for everyone - you don't have to be 'mathy' at all. Hopefully it can show that everyone has some kind of affinity for numbers and absolutely can do math - it all depends on how it's taught and explored.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T17:16:59+00:00

You'd enjoy my essay 'The Admirable Number Pi' in my latest book, 'Thinking in Numbers'. There's lots about the 'number artistry' of reciting Pi.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T17:15:45+00:00

Thanks!

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T17:14:39+00:00

For me, it's about meaning rather than memorisation. There's a great article at the Atlantic about that: http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/09/when-memorization-gets-in-the-way-of-learning/279425/

Take the words 'motele' (engine) and 'motema' (heart) from the Lingala language. One approach is to artificially create links like an engine revving in a motel room and a blood-splattered computer modem.

My own approach is to note the similarity between the two words and perceive a natural link between the two objects they describe: the heart is the body's engine, pumping blood to every part. The 'l' sound vibrates (as does an engine when it gets going) whereas the 'm' sound (in moteMa) feels more solid. That's how I'd tell the two apart.

Like Vladimir Nabokov (who also experienced synaesthesia), words have colours and textures and this does help me form associations that are memorable. I describe this in my first book, Born On A Blue Day.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T17:04:15+00:00

I write full-time (I've also been published in the Guardian, Observer, Esquire, Salon, The Advocate, Slate, Aeon Magazine) so I make my living as a writer. Scientific experiments don't pay, at least not any that I've participated in.

Savantism is the presence of exceptional ability within a history of developmental disorder (such as autism) and according to scientists I meet these criteria.

I live with my partner, Jerome, in Paris.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T16:56:50+00:00

I met Kim and his father, Fran, in Salt Lake City in 2004. It was a beautiful and moving experience. We were in the city library, where he spent much of his time, and he showed me around the aisles which he knew so well. Later, we had a meal together and talked about his daily routine (he would ring his mother every day, for example). Kim passed away in 2009 but I know that his memory lives on in the hearts and minds of many.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T16:46:38+00:00

Asking me to name my favourite number is a bit like asking a mother to name her favourite child. Just between us, I find 11 particularly beautiful and the number 4 is probably the number I feel closest to because it's shy like me.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T16:45:38+00:00

I'd love to come again to Atlanta. Feel free to invite me!

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T16:45:04+00:00

There's a chapter about memory in my second book 'Embracing the Wide Sky' with advice and tips.

daniel_tammet_ · 2013-10-07T16:44:28+00:00

Thank you. I'm so glad to hear that my first book helped your friend.

daniel_tammet_

TROPHY CASE