The Man Who Tasted Shapes

(Paperback, revised edition)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

The ten people in one million who are synesthetes are born into a world where one sensation (such as sound) conjures up one or more others (such as taste or colour). Although scientists have known about synesthesia for 200 years, until now the condition has remained a mystery. Experiments with more than 40 synesthetes led Richard Cytowic to an explanation of synesthesia - and to conception of the organization of the mind, one that emphasized the primacy of emotion over reason. Through his research Cytowic came to explore a deeper reality that he believes exists in all individuals, but usually below the surface of awareness. The author argues that the brain is an active explorer, not just a passive receiver, and offers a view of what it means to be human - a view contrary to conventional ideas about reason, emotion, and who we are.

Reviews

Cytowic brings all the imagination of a novelist to bear on his exploration of synesthesia.

With broad sweeps, [Cytowic] outlines a new landscape... read this book.

...written on a personal level that allows the reader to explore the psychic phenomenon of synesthesia with the author.

Author Bio

Richard E. Cytowic, M.D., MFA, a pioneering researcher in synesthesia, is Professor of Neurology at George Washington University. He is the author of Synesthesia- A Union of the Senses, The Man Who Tasted Shapes, The Neurological Side of Neuropsychology and (with David M. Eagleman) the Montaigne Medal-winner Wednesday Is Indigo Blue- Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia, all published by the MIT Press. Jonathan Cole, D.M., F.R.C.P., is Consultant in Clinical Neurophysiology, Poole Hospital, and at Salisbury Hospital (with its Spinal Centre), a Professor at Bournemouth University and a visiting Senior Lecturer, Southampton University.