Daniel Tammet
Encyclopedia
Daniel Tammet is a British writer. His best selling 2006 memoir, Born On A Blue Day, about his life with high-functioning autism
and savant syndrome
, was named a "Best Book for Young Adults" in 2008 by the American Library Association
.
Tammet's second book, Embracing the Wide Sky, was named one of France's best selling books of 2009 by L'Express
magazine in its March 2010 edition.
Tammet's books have been published in 20 languages.
, England, the eldest of nine children. He suffered epileptic seizures as a young child, which he subsequently outgrew following medical treatment. At age twenty-five, he would eventually be diagnosed with Asperger syndrome
by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen
of the Autism (Spectrum) Research Centre at Cambridge University
. Tammet is one of fewer than a hundred "prodigious savants" according to Dr. Darold Treffert, the world's leading researcher in the study of savant syndrome.
Tammet finished school with nine GCSEs (an 'A*' in History, 'A' grades in English, English Literature, French, and German, two 'B' grades in the Sciences, a 'B' in Maths, having obtained an 'A' in his preliminary Maths exam, and a 'C' in Woodwork) and three A-Levels in History, French and German, all at grade 'B'.
Preferring travel to university, Tammet taught English for a year in Lithuania.
Tammet twice participated (in 1999, and 2000) under his birth name in the World Memory Championships
in London. Placing 12th in 1999, and 4th in 2000, behind a trio of present and future 'World Memory Champions'.
He changed his birth name by deed poll
because "it didn't fit with the way he saw himself."
In 2002 Tammet launched his website, Optimnem. The site offers language courses (currently French and Spanish) and has been an approved member of the U.K.'s National Grid for Learning
since 2006.
at the Australian National University
has said of Tammet: "Savants can't usually tell us how they do what they do. It just comes to them. Daniel can describe what he sees in his head. That's why he's exciting. He could be the 'Rosetta Stone
'."
Tammet's unusually vivid and complex synesthesia
has been widely reported. In his mind, he says, each positive integer up to 10,000 has its own unique shape, colour, texture and feel. He can intuitively "see" results of calculations as synaesthetic landscapes without using conscious mental effort and can "sense" whether a number is prime
or composite
. He has described his visual image of 289 as particularly ugly, 333 as particularly attractive, and Pi
as beautiful. The number 6 apparently has no distinct image yet what he describes as an almost small nothingness, opposite to the number 9 which he calls large and towering. Tammet has described 25 as energetic and the "kind of number you would invite to a party". Tammet not only verbally describes these visions, but has also created artwork, including a watercolour painting of Pi.
Tammet holds the European record for reciting Pi from memory to 22,514 digits in five hours and nine minutes on 14 March 2004. Tammet's record currently ranks 6th in the world.
Tammet states in Born On A Blue Day that he speaks ten languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Finnish, Lithuanian, Romanian, Icelandic, Welsh, and Esperanto
. He learned conversational Icelandic in one week, which he demonstrated in a television interview conducted entirely in the language His instructor described Tammet's feat as "not human" and "genius." Segments of the interview showing Tammet responding to questions in Icelandic were televised on 28 January 2007 edition of the CBS
news magazine, 60 Minutes
.
His savant abilities were showcased in a documentary film entitled (in the UK) The Boy With The Incredible Brain, first broadcast on the British television station Channel Five
on 23 May 2005. The documentary showed him meeting Kim Peek
, a world famous savant
. Peek was shown hugging Tammet telling him that "Some day you will be as great as I am," to which Tammet replied, "That was a wonderful compliment; what an aspiration to have!".
For his U.S. book tour, he appeared on several television and radio talk show
s and specials, including 60 Minutes
and Late Show with David Letterman
.
In February 2007 Born on a Blue Day was serialised as BBC Radio 4
's Book of the Week in the United Kingdom.
Tammet's second book, Embracing the Wide Sky, was published in 2009. Professor Allan Snyder, director of Sydney University's Centre for the Mind, called the work 'an extraordinary and monumental achievement'. Tammet argues that savant abilities should not be seen as "supernatural" or computer-like but as "an outgrowth" of normal brain functioning and "natural, instinctive ways of thinking about numbers and words", which suggests that affected brains might be at least partially retrained and that normal brains might be taught to develop or retain some savant abilities.
Tammet was among the invited speakers at the TED2011 'Rediscovery of Wonder' conference in Long Beach, California.
After the World Memory Championships, Tammet participated in a group study of several superior memorisers later published in the New Year 2003 edition of Nature Neuroscience
. The researchers investigated the reasons for the memorisers' superior performance. They reported that the superior memorisers used "strategies for encoding information with the sole purpose of making it more memorable", and concluded that superior memory was not driven by exceptional intellectual ability or differences in brain structure.
In another study, Simon Baron-Cohen
and others at the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge tested Tammet's abilities in around 2005. He was found to have synaesthesia according to the "Test of Genuineness-Revised" which tests the subjects' consistency in reporting descriptions of their synaesthesia. He performed well on tests of short term memory (with a digit span of 11.5, where 6.5 is typical). Conversely, test results showed his memory for faces appeared to be impaired, and he scored at the level expected of a 6-8 year old child in this task. The authors speculated that Tammet's savant memory could be a result of synaesthesia combined with Asperger syndrome
, while noting that mnemonic strategies (such as the method of loci
) could also explain savant memory abilities.
Baron-Cohen, Bor and Billington investigated whether his synaesthesia and Aspergers syndrome explained his savant memory abilities in a further study published in Neurocase in 2008. The authors state that the memory training used by other experts does not explain his abilities, as he had not had explicit training. They concluded that his abilities might be explained by hyperactivity in one brain region (the left prefrontal cortex
), which results from his Aspergers syndrome and synaesthesia. On the Navon task, relative to non-autistic controls, Tammet was found to be faster at finding a target at the local level and to be less distracted by interference from the global level. In an fMRI scan, Tammet did not activate extra-striate regions of the brain "normally associated with synaesthesia", suggesting that he has an "unusual and more abstract and conceptual form of synaesthesia". Published in Cerebral Cortex (2011), another fmRI study by Professor Jean-Michel Hupé and others at the Centre de Recherche Cerveau and Cognition at the University of Toulouse observed no activation of color areas in ten synaesthetes. Hupé suggests that synaesthetic color experience lies not in the brain's color system, but instead results from "a complex construction of meaning in the brain, involving not only perception, but language, memory and emotion".
In his book Moonwalking with Einstein, former US Memory Champion Joshua Foer
speculates that study of conventional mnemonic approaches has played a role in Tammet's feats of memory, while accepting that Tammet meets the standard definition of a prodigious savant. In a review of his book for The New York Times, psychologist Alexandra Horowitz described Foer's speculation as among the book's few "missteps" and his decision to devote space to the case of a "renowned savant" such as Tammet "inexplicable," questioning whether it would matter if he had used such strategies or not.
company Optimnem, where they created and published language courses.
Tammet now lives with a new partner, Jérôme Tabet, a French photographer whom he met while promoting his autobiography. Although he has said that he did not think he would be here if it were not for the love and support of Mitchell, more recently he noted that he used to live a rigid existence aimed at calming his many anxieties — "I was very happy, but it was a small happiness" — whereas now, as the subtitle of Embracing the Wide Sky: A tour across the horizons of the mind asserts, he believes that we ought to seek to liberate our brains — a belief reflected in his new life:
that Tammet has created. The word 'Mänti' comes from the Finnish word for 'pine tree' (mänty). Mänti uses vocabulary and grammar from the Finnic languages. Some sample words include:
High-functioning autism
High-functioning autism is an informal term applied to autistic people who are deemed to be "higher functioning" than other autistic people, by one or more metrics. There is no consensus as to the definition. HFA is not yet a recognised diagnosis in the DSM-IV-TR or the ICD-10.The amount of...
and savant syndrome
Savant syndrome
Savant syndrome , sometimes referred to as savantism, is a rare condition in which people with developmental disorders have one or more areas of expertise, ability, or brilliance that are in contrast with the individual's overall limitations...
, was named a "Best Book for Young Adults" in 2008 by the American Library Association
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
.
Tammet's second book, Embracing the Wide Sky, was named one of France's best selling books of 2009 by L'Express
L'Express
L'Express is the name of:*L'Express , the first news magazine in France*L'Express Airlines, a commuter airline in the southern USA between 1989-1992.*L'Express d'Ottawa, a Canadian weekly newspaper*L'Express de Timmins, a Canadian weekly newspaper...
magazine in its March 2010 edition.
Tammet's books have been published in 20 languages.
Early life
Tammet was born Daniel Paul Corney and raised in East LondonEast End of London
The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...
, England, the eldest of nine children. He suffered epileptic seizures as a young child, which he subsequently outgrew following medical treatment. At age twenty-five, he would eventually be diagnosed with Asperger syndrome
Asperger syndrome
Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen
Simon Baron-Cohen
Simon Baron-Cohen FBA is professor of Developmental Psychopathology in the Departments of Psychiatry and Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. He is the Director of the University's Autism Research Centre, and a Fellow of Trinity College...
of the Autism (Spectrum) Research Centre at Cambridge University
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. Tammet is one of fewer than a hundred "prodigious savants" according to Dr. Darold Treffert, the world's leading researcher in the study of savant syndrome.
Tammet finished school with nine GCSEs (an 'A*' in History, 'A' grades in English, English Literature, French, and German, two 'B' grades in the Sciences, a 'B' in Maths, having obtained an 'A' in his preliminary Maths exam, and a 'C' in Woodwork) and three A-Levels in History, French and German, all at grade 'B'.
Preferring travel to university, Tammet taught English for a year in Lithuania.
Tammet twice participated (in 1999, and 2000) under his birth name in the World Memory Championships
World Memory Championships
The World Memory Championships is an organized competition of mental sports in which competitors memorize as much information as possible within a given period of time. The Championship has taken place annually since 1991 and has been staged by various organisations...
in London. Placing 12th in 1999, and 4th in 2000, behind a trio of present and future 'World Memory Champions'.
He changed his birth name by deed poll
Deed poll
A deed poll is a legal document binding only to a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an active intention...
because "it didn't fit with the way he saw himself."
In 2002 Tammet launched his website, Optimnem. The site offers language courses (currently French and Spanish) and has been an approved member of the U.K.'s National Grid for Learning
National Grid for Learning
The National Grid for Learning was a United Kingdom Government-funded gateway to educational resources on the Internet. It featured many individually selected links to resources and materials deemed to be of high quality...
since 2006.
Savantism
Tammet's memory, mathematical and linguistic abilities have been studied by some of the world's leading neuroscientists at California's Center for Brain Studies and the UK's Cambridge Autism Research Centre and have been the subject of several peer-reviewed scientific papers. Professor Allan SnyderAllan Snyder
Allan Whitenack Snyder is the director of the Centre for the Mind at the University of Sydney, Australia where he also holds the 150th Anniversary Chair of Science and the Mind...
at the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
has said of Tammet: "Savants can't usually tell us how they do what they do. It just comes to them. Daniel can describe what he sees in his head. That's why he's exciting. He could be the 'Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian granodiorite stele inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script, and the lowest Ancient Greek...
'."
Tammet's unusually vivid and complex synesthesia
Synesthesia
Synesthesia , from the ancient Greek , "together," and , "sensation," is a neurologically based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway...
has been widely reported. In his mind, he says, each positive integer up to 10,000 has its own unique shape, colour, texture and feel. He can intuitively "see" results of calculations as synaesthetic landscapes without using conscious mental effort and can "sense" whether a number is prime
Prime number
A prime number is a natural number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself. A natural number greater than 1 that is not a prime number is called a composite number. For example 5 is prime, as only 1 and 5 divide it, whereas 6 is composite, since it has the divisors 2...
or composite
Composite number
A composite number is a positive integer which has a positive divisor other than one or itself. In other words a composite number is any positive integer greater than one that is not a prime number....
. He has described his visual image of 289 as particularly ugly, 333 as particularly attractive, and Pi
Pi
' is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter. is approximately equal to 3.14. Many formulae in mathematics, science, and engineering involve , which makes it one of the most important mathematical constants...
as beautiful. The number 6 apparently has no distinct image yet what he describes as an almost small nothingness, opposite to the number 9 which he calls large and towering. Tammet has described 25 as energetic and the "kind of number you would invite to a party". Tammet not only verbally describes these visions, but has also created artwork, including a watercolour painting of Pi.
Tammet holds the European record for reciting Pi from memory to 22,514 digits in five hours and nine minutes on 14 March 2004. Tammet's record currently ranks 6th in the world.
Tammet states in Born On A Blue Day that he speaks ten languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Finnish, Lithuanian, Romanian, Icelandic, Welsh, and Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
. He learned conversational Icelandic in one week, which he demonstrated in a television interview conducted entirely in the language His instructor described Tammet's feat as "not human" and "genius." Segments of the interview showing Tammet responding to questions in Icelandic were televised on 28 January 2007 edition of the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
news magazine, 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
.
His savant abilities were showcased in a documentary film entitled (in the UK) The Boy With The Incredible Brain, first broadcast on the British television station Channel Five
Channel Five
Channel 5 is a television network that broadcasts in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1997, it was the fifth and final national terrestrial analogue network to launch. The station was branded as Five between 2002 and 2010...
on 23 May 2005. The documentary showed him meeting Kim Peek
Kim Peek
Laurence Kim Peek was an American savant. Known as a "megasavant", he had a photographic or eidetic memory, but also social difficulties, possibly resulting from a developmental disability related to congenital brain abnormalities. He was the inspiration for the character of Raymond Babbitt,...
, a world famous savant
Savant syndrome
Savant syndrome , sometimes referred to as savantism, is a rare condition in which people with developmental disorders have one or more areas of expertise, ability, or brilliance that are in contrast with the individual's overall limitations...
. Peek was shown hugging Tammet telling him that "Some day you will be as great as I am," to which Tammet replied, "That was a wonderful compliment; what an aspiration to have!".
Career
Born On A Blue Day, Tammet's memoir of a life with Asperger's syndrome, received international media attention and critical praise. Booklist's Ray Olson stated that Tammet's autobiography was "as fascinating as Benjamin Franklin's and John Stuart Mill's" and that Tammet wrote "some of the clearest prose this side of Hemingway". Kirkus stated that the book "transcends the disability memoir genre". Other reviewers praised Tammet for his "elegant," "eloquent," and "engaging" style.For his U.S. book tour, he appeared on several television and radio talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
s and specials, including 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
and Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...
.
In February 2007 Born on a Blue Day was serialised as BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's Book of the Week in the United Kingdom.
Tammet's second book, Embracing the Wide Sky, was published in 2009. Professor Allan Snyder, director of Sydney University's Centre for the Mind, called the work 'an extraordinary and monumental achievement'. Tammet argues that savant abilities should not be seen as "supernatural" or computer-like but as "an outgrowth" of normal brain functioning and "natural, instinctive ways of thinking about numbers and words", which suggests that affected brains might be at least partially retrained and that normal brains might be taught to develop or retain some savant abilities.
In other people blue is connected with sadness for example, but when you think about it sadness is an abstract concept so why is it blue, why not green or yellow? It makes no more logical sense for sadness to be blue than for four to be blue. So there are certain connections, certain concepts in everyone's brain that are connected that way and mine just takes it to a whole other level.
Tammet was among the invited speakers at the TED2011 'Rediscovery of Wonder' conference in Long Beach, California.
Scientific study
Tammet's abilities have been examined in several scientific investigations.After the World Memory Championships, Tammet participated in a group study of several superior memorisers later published in the New Year 2003 edition of Nature Neuroscience
Nature Neuroscience
Nature Neuroscience is a monthly scientific journal published by Nature Publishing Group. Its focus is original research papers relating specifically to neuroscience and was established in May 1998. According to the Journal Citation Reports, Nature Neuroscience has a 2009 impact factor of 14.345,...
. The researchers investigated the reasons for the memorisers' superior performance. They reported that the superior memorisers used "strategies for encoding information with the sole purpose of making it more memorable", and concluded that superior memory was not driven by exceptional intellectual ability or differences in brain structure.
In another study, Simon Baron-Cohen
Simon Baron-Cohen
Simon Baron-Cohen FBA is professor of Developmental Psychopathology in the Departments of Psychiatry and Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. He is the Director of the University's Autism Research Centre, and a Fellow of Trinity College...
and others at the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge tested Tammet's abilities in around 2005. He was found to have synaesthesia according to the "Test of Genuineness-Revised" which tests the subjects' consistency in reporting descriptions of their synaesthesia. He performed well on tests of short term memory (with a digit span of 11.5, where 6.5 is typical). Conversely, test results showed his memory for faces appeared to be impaired, and he scored at the level expected of a 6-8 year old child in this task. The authors speculated that Tammet's savant memory could be a result of synaesthesia combined with Asperger syndrome
Asperger syndrome
Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
, while noting that mnemonic strategies (such as the method of loci
Method of loci
The method of loci , also called the memory palace, is a mnemonic device introduced in ancient Roman rhetorical treatises . It relies on memorized spatial relationships to establish, order and recollect memorial content...
) could also explain savant memory abilities.
Baron-Cohen, Bor and Billington investigated whether his synaesthesia and Aspergers syndrome explained his savant memory abilities in a further study published in Neurocase in 2008. The authors state that the memory training used by other experts does not explain his abilities, as he had not had explicit training. They concluded that his abilities might be explained by hyperactivity in one brain region (the left prefrontal cortex
Prefrontal cortex
The prefrontal cortex is the anterior part of the frontal lobes of the brain, lying in front of the motor and premotor areas.This brain region has been implicated in planning complex cognitive behaviors, personality expression, decision making and moderating correct social behavior...
), which results from his Aspergers syndrome and synaesthesia. On the Navon task, relative to non-autistic controls, Tammet was found to be faster at finding a target at the local level and to be less distracted by interference from the global level. In an fMRI scan, Tammet did not activate extra-striate regions of the brain "normally associated with synaesthesia", suggesting that he has an "unusual and more abstract and conceptual form of synaesthesia". Published in Cerebral Cortex (2011), another fmRI study by Professor Jean-Michel Hupé and others at the Centre de Recherche Cerveau and Cognition at the University of Toulouse observed no activation of color areas in ten synaesthetes. Hupé suggests that synaesthetic color experience lies not in the brain's color system, but instead results from "a complex construction of meaning in the brain, involving not only perception, but language, memory and emotion".
In his book Moonwalking with Einstein, former US Memory Champion Joshua Foer
Joshua Foer
Joshua Foer is a freelance journalist living in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, with a primary focus on science. He was the 2006 U.S.A...
speculates that study of conventional mnemonic approaches has played a role in Tammet's feats of memory, while accepting that Tammet meets the standard definition of a prodigious savant. In a review of his book for The New York Times, psychologist Alexandra Horowitz described Foer's speculation as among the book's few "missteps" and his decision to devote space to the case of a "renowned savant" such as Tammet "inexplicable," questioning whether it would matter if he had used such strategies or not.
Personal life
Tammet met his first partner, software engineer Neil Mitchell, in 2000. Tammet lived with him in Kent, where they had a quiet regimented life at home with their cats, preparing meals from their garden. Tammet and Mitchell operated the online e-learningE-learning
E-learning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. The information and communication systems, whether networked learning or not, serve as specific media to implement the learning process...
company Optimnem, where they created and published language courses.
Tammet now lives with a new partner, Jérôme Tabet, a French photographer whom he met while promoting his autobiography. Although he has said that he did not think he would be here if it were not for the love and support of Mitchell, more recently he noted that he used to live a rigid existence aimed at calming his many anxieties — "I was very happy, but it was a small happiness" — whereas now, as the subtitle of Embracing the Wide Sky: A tour across the horizons of the mind asserts, he believes that we ought to seek to liberate our brains — a belief reflected in his new life:
My life used to be very simple and regimented but since then I have travelled constantly and given lots of lectures and it just changed me... It made me much more open, much more interested in, I guess, the full potential of what my mind could do... Because of that change I grew and in a sense I grew apart from my long-term partner, so we parted amicably in 2007, and a short while later I met my current partner, who is from France so I decided to go and live with him in Avignon.
Mänti
Mänti is a constructed languageConstructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
that Tammet has created. The word 'Mänti' comes from the Finnish word for 'pine tree' (mänty). Mänti uses vocabulary and grammar from the Finnic languages. Some sample words include:
| Mänti | English | Estonian | Finnish | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| buss | bus | buss | bussi | |
| kuppi | cup | kruus,kapp | kuppi | |
| kellokült | lateness, tardiness | viitsimatus, hilinemine | myöhästyneisyys | Literally "clock-debt". In Finnish kello = a clock / a bell |
| puhukello | telephone | telefon | puhelin | Literally "speak-bell". In Finnish puhua = to speak |
| tontöö | music | muusika | musiikki | Literally "tone-art". In Estonian töö = work |
| nööt | night | öö | yö | |
| koet saapat | footwear | jalanõud | jalkineet | In Finnish saappaat = boots. In Estonian saapad = boots. |
| hamma | tooth | hammas | hammas | |
| rât | wire | traat | johto | |
| râatio | radio | raadio | radio |
Non-fiction, Other
- What It Feels Like To Be A Savant, in "Esquire", August 2005
- Open Letter to Barack Obama, in "The Advocate", December 2008
- Islands of Genius (2010), foreword to book by Dr. Darold A. Treffert
Awards
- American Library Association's Best Book for Young Adults
- BooklistBooklistBooklist is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. It is geared toward libraries and booksellers and is available in print or online...
Editors Choice - Sunday Times Top Choice
- Amazon.co.uk's Best Books of 2006
- Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads 2012 Selection
External links
- A Look at an Autistic Savant's Brilliant Mind from NPR's Talk of the NationTalk of the NationTalk of the Nation is a talk radio program based in the United States, produced by National Public Radio, and is broadcast nationally from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time. Its focus is current events and controversial issues....
- Brainman program from The Science ChannelThe Science ChannelScience is a United States cable, satellite and IPTV Television Network produced by Discovery Communications. Science features programming in the fields of space, technology, prehistory and animals.-History:...
- Optimnem, Tammet's e-learningE-learningE-learning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. The information and communication systems, whether networked learning or not, serve as specific media to implement the learning process...
company - Video excerpt from Daniel Tammet, the Brainman documentary
- Daniel, the Incredible Brain
- 60 Minutes report on Daniel Tammet
- 60 Minutes report on Savants 2008