Born on a Blue Day

Just finished this autobiography/memoir by Daniel Tammet, the English savant. The guy who memorized pi to 22,514 places as a publicity stunt for a charity event. Who learned conversational Icelandic in one week for a TV show. The self-described high-functioning autism case, Asperger's syndrome, who experiences numbers as having distinct personalities, textures, colors.

Born on a Blue Day is a fascinating tour of a strange life, constrained by crippling anxieties, unusual enthusiasms, and awkward cluelessness in social situations. It is only as an adult that Daniel is able to appreciate his parents and siblings, to understand how much they loved him as a difficult child, how much they were willing to put up with to help him achieve a measure of success as an independent adult.

Daniel's testimony to his Christianity in the last chapter is especially intriguing. G. K. Chesterton, another savant who experienced life in a strange and vivid way, opened the doors to faith for Daniel. If your empathy faculties are nearly nil, you treat people with kindness and respect because you know, on an intellectual level, that they are made in God's image.

I do have one reservation about this book. Daniel lives with his boyfriend, and that is a cognitive disconnect. Still, this is a fast read, and a fascinating one. As I told my grandmother, "You should read this. It is interesting."