Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Mind

Daniel Tammet

Jan 2009 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this eBook

Owner of "the most remarkable mind on the planet," (according to Entertainment Weekly) Daniel Tammet captivated readers and won worldwide critical acclaim with the 2007 New York Times bestselling memoir, Born On A Blue Day, and its vivid depiction of a life with autistic savant syndrome. In his fascinating new book, he writes with characteristic clarity and personal awareness as he sheds light on the mysteries of savants' incredible mental abilities, and our own.

Tammet explains that the differences between savant and non-savant minds have been exaggerated; his astonishing capacities in memory, math and language are neither due to a cerebral supercomputer nor any genetic quirk, but are rather the results of a highly rich and complex associative form of thinking and imagination. Autistic thought, he argues, is an extreme variation of a kind that we all do, from daydreaming to the use of puns and metaphors.

Embracing the Wide Sky combines meticulous scientific research with Tammet's detailed descriptions of how his mind works to demonstrate the immense potential within us all. He explains how our natural intuitions can help us to learn a foreign language, why his memories are like symphonies, and what numbers and giraffes have in common. We also discover why there is more to intelligence than IQ, how optical illusions fool our brains, and why too much information can make you dumb.

Many readers will be particularly intrigued by Tammet's original ideas concerning the genesis of genius and exceptional creativity. He illustrates his arguments with examples as diverse as the private languages of twins, the compositions of poets with autism, and the breakthroughs, and breakdowns, of some of history's greatest minds.
Embracing the Wide Sky is a unique and brilliantly imaginative portrait of how we think, learn, remember and create, brimming with personal insights and anecdotes, and explanations of the most up-to-date, mind-bending discoveries from fields ranging from neuroscience to psychology and linguistics. This is a profound and provocative book that will transform our understanding and respect for every kind of mind.

Ratings and reviews

The author, a “prodigious savant” extraordinary by normal standards, unwraps the gifted curse of disorders such as autism for all to appreciate. Since “it takes one to know one”, this cognitive confession offers a wealth of subtleties not usually found in the medical, educational or computer literature. For example, his quick calculations use types of grammar and syntax usually reserved for words. Many intricacies of mental talents are detailed from deeper perspectives including math, memory, languages, learning and arts. Biological and neurological conditions are reviewed for their roles in intelligence of new or notable cases. IQ is criticized for inadequate metrics. Better visualization of anatomical functioning is effective, e.g. early 80/20 ratio of frontal/parietal cortices usage discovered in chess grandmasters. The limitations of using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to replicate astonishing effects are described. Other trends are outlined in mental health treatment, gestural intelligence, cyborgs, and performance drugs, for example. If nothing else, expectations will likely change on the part of savants and society. Thanks.

About the author

Daniel Tammet is a writer, linguist, and educator. A 2007 poll of 4,000 Britons named him as one of the world's "100 living geniuses." His last book, the New York Times bestseller Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant, has been translated into 18 languages. He lives in Avignon, France.