Born On a Blue Day

Daniel Tammet

8 Reviews

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Biography, Biography: general, Autobiography: science, technology & medicine, Prose: non-fiction, Learning, Memory

Imprint

Hodder Paperbacks
- Paperback Sep 1, 2007 | 9780340899755 | RRP $24.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Jan 28, 2011 | 9781444717310 | RRP $11.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Mar 22, 2007 | 9781844564804 | RRP $13.99 Buy Now
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Imprint

Hodder & Stoughton
- Paperback Sep 1, 2007 | 9780340899755 | RRP $24.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Jan 28, 2011 | 9781444717310 | RRP $11.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Mar 22, 2007 | 9781844564804 | RRP $13.99 Buy Now
Play Sample
0:00
Imprint

Hodder & Stoughton
- Paperback Sep 1, 2007 | 9780340899755 | RRP $24.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Jan 28, 2011 | 9781444717310 | RRP $11.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Mar 22, 2007 | 9781844564804 | RRP $13.99 Buy Now
Play Sample
0:00

A fascinating and touching memoir from real-life Rain Man, Daniel Tammet, who has the extremely rare condition Savant Syndrome.

'I was born on 31 January 1979 - a Wednesday. I know it was a Wednesday, becasue the date is blue in my mind and Wednesdays are always blue, like the number nine or the sound of loud voices arguing.'

Like the character Hoffman portrayed, he can perform extraordinary maths in his head, sees numbers as shapes, colours, textures and motions, and can learn to speak a language fluently from scratch in three days. He also has a compulsive need for order and routine. He eats exactly 45 grams of porridge for breakfast and cannot leave the house without counting the number of items of clothing he's wearing. If he gets stressed or unhappy he closes his eyes and counts.

But in some ways Daniel is not all like the Rain Man. He is virtually unique amongst people who have severe autistic disorders in being capable of living a fully-functioning, independent life. It is this incredible self-awareness and ability to communicate what it feels like to live in a totally extraordinary way that makes BORN ON A BLUE DAY so powerful.

Praise for Born On a Blue Day

A memoir of outstanding lucidity and charm - The Sunday Times
You close BORN ON A BLUE DAY with a sense of profound admiration - The Daily Mail
A charmingly precise, tenderly honest account - The Daily Express
Remarkable - Independent on Sunday
Admirably modest but affecting autobiography by a man blessed with incredible mental gifts but struggling with Asperger's - The Sunday Times - top choice of books 'you really must read'
So elegantly written... he tells his story dead straight - Daily Telegraph
In BORN ON A BLUE DAY, both his difficulties and his awakening consciousness of himself and others are charted. The miracle is that he wrote it himself. It has a strange, quiet beauty - Scotland on Sunday
Tammet's writing is eloquent and moving but always uncomplicated. And he succeeds in stripping away much of the misunderstanding and confusion that surrounds the unusual way autistic savants view the world - Radio Times

Daniel Tammet

Formerly an autistic child whose mother tongue was numbers, Daniel Tammet is the author of a rich and widely acclaimed body of work, including memoirs, essays, literary reportage, poetry and fiction. Born on a Blue Day (2006) and Every Word is a Bird We Teach to Sing (2017) were named by Booklist magazine among the editors' annual selections. Thinking in Numbers (2012) was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. Tammet's books have been translated into thirty languages. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.