Daniel Tammet "autistic savant"

[robw]

Did anyone see the BBC Breakfast interview with Daniel Tammet today?
He made a couple of very interesting comments regarding his differences or difficulties with learning how to negotiate the social interaction minefield.

Once (If) the interview goes live in i-Player I will post the link here.

from the BBC Breakfast website:
DANIEL TAMMET
Daniel is one of only a handful of autistic savants in the world. He has an extraordinary ability with language and numbers able to recited the number Pi to 22,514 digits and learnt Icelandic in just 7 days. Daniel has just published his second book "Embracing The Wide Sky"

Daniels books can be found here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=DANIEL+TAMMET&x=0&y=0

Rob

[forumAdmin]

I was thinking of listening to his other book

Born on a Blue Day: A Memoir of Asperger's and an Extraordinary Mind

on audible as I spend a lot of time in the car
audible link
http://www.audible.co.uk/aduk/site/product.jsp?productID=BK_HODD_000101UK&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

it is abridged unfortunately but is narrated by Daniel

blurb

"I was born on 31 January 1979: a Wednesday. I know it was a Wednesday, because 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 Dustin Hoffman portrayed in Rain Man, Daniel Tammet 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 among 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.

[desc]

I saw that documentary where he did the icelandic language in a matter of days and was tested on a chat show in iceland

very cool documentary

[robw]

The BBC have not published the "Breakfast interview". However these are other BBC presentations that include Daniel.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/starttheweek_20090119.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/midweek_20060719.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/goodmorningsun/ontheshow.shtml

and this is from the "Times Online"

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5575661.ece