Saturday, May 23, 2009

Did you know that synesthesia experts Richard Cytowic and David Eagleman have co-written a new book about synaesthesia?

It's title is Wednesday Is Indigo Blue: Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia. I haven't read it yet. Our state library service is so hopeless that they might never stock the book, or at least take many months to provide a copy, so I might have to buy it.

And I'd like to point out that Wednesday is certainly not indigo blue coloured, at least not in my universe!

Link to interview with Richard Cytowic in the April 2009 edition of Scientific American Mind:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=when-senses-intersect

Link to a review of the book (by a synaesthete) at New Scientist:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227101.600-review-wednesday-is-indigo-blue.html

Link to book at Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Wednesday-Indigo-Blue-Discovering-Synesthesia/dp/0262012790


Stanley Kubrick's Boxes

Did you see the documentary Stanley Kubrick's Boxes on the TV recently?

I believe this doco is going to be repeated this afternoon on ABC1. I found it fascinating for two reasons - it gives an insight into the mind of this great movie director by looking at the details of his life and the stories that his possessions tell, (Kubrick evidently loved to look at things at the level of detail as much as I do), and I also enjoyed counting the many eccentricities that Kubrick had in common with some people who I know. We found this most amusing (we actually do have a sense of humour).

Stanley Kubrick is one of the famous people included in my list of famous people who have been identified as autistic or possibly autistic. Professor Michael Fitzgerald has written about Kubrick more than once, identifying Kubrick as an example of Asperger syndrome and creativity, and Fitzgerald also asserted that Kubrick showed features of ADHD as a school student. While I don't agree with everything that Professor Fitzgerald has written about Kubrick or AS, I think there must be no room for doubt that Kubrick had AS.

In case you don't know, Kubrick was an American Academy Award winning film director and producer who was highly influential and innovative. He was considered one of the greatest movie directors of the 20th century. His works include Dr Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining, which the kids and I regard as one of the best ever horror movies. Kubrick was a truly unusual, but not completely unique individual. He was known to collect obsolete personal computers and carry on telephone conversations lasting a number of hours. Sounds like some people who I know!


Link to ABC TV guide:

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/netw/200905/programs/ZY9870A001D24052009T150000.htm


Links about the documentary:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Kubrick's_Boxes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JwAnMUavzA

http://www.channel4.com/more4/documentaries/doc-feature.jsp?id=215

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1263704/


Published documents that discuss Kubrick and the autistic spectrum:

Fitzgerald, Michael (2006) Autism, Asperger’s syndrome and creativity. Autism2006: AWARES Conference Centre. October 4th 2006.
http://212.74.184.44:8083/BM_DIRECTORY/E/BM000001662/7679/FIT1.PDF

http://awares.nemisys.uk.com/conferences/show_paper.asp?section=000100010001&conferenceCode=000200020002&id=42

Lyons, Viktoria and Fitzgerald, Michael (2005) Asperger Syndrome - A Gift or a Curse? Nova Science Publishers Inc.


A referenced list of 138 famous or important people diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition or subject of published speculation about whether they are or were on the autistic spectrum
http://incorrectpleasures.blogspot.com/2006/09/referenced-list-of-famous-or-important.html


Friday, May 15, 2009

Did you hear the ABC Radio National show All in the Mind today?

Today's story was "Autism: genetics, early detection and the ethics of screening newborns". It will be repeated on Monday at 1.00pm and a transcript will be available on Wednesday, and you can listen and download audio over the internet.

One of the guests on the show is researcher Dr Hakon Hakonarson, who's recently published genetic study of autism was at the centre of an international media hype shitstorm a few weeks ago. I wrote about it here: http://incorrectpleasures.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html in the post titled "Autism beatup du jour". New Scientist magazine reported the Hakonarson study here:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17041-gene-variant-found-in-65-of-autism-cases.html

Link to the story transcript at All in the Mind:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2009/2567806.htm#transcript

Link to the All in the Mind Blog:
http://blogs.abc.net.au/allinthemind/

Link to the Hakonarson study at Nature:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nature07999.html







Monday, May 11, 2009

Professor Baron-Cohen and ethical concerns about prenatal testing for autism - some fairly old articles from January 2009



Baron-Cohen, Simon (2009) Professor Simon Baron-Cohen: Autism is not cancer. Communitycare.co.uk January 14th 2009.http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/01/14/110412/professor-simon-baron-cohen-autism-is-not-cancer.html


Baron-Cohen, Simon (2009) Autism test 'could hit maths skills'. BBC News. January 7th 2009.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7736196.stm
[with link to audio of interview of Prof. Baron-Cohen on BBC radio show Today, and also a link to many thoughtful readers' comments on the article]

Randerson, James (2009) A prenatal test for autism would deprive the world of future geniuses. Science Blog. Guardian.co.uk January 7th 2009.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2009/jan/07/autism-test-genius-dirac
[About the probable autism of genius physicist Paul Dirac and the ethical concerns re an autism prenatal test, has many readers' comments]

Rudy, Lisa Jo (2009) Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen on autism and prenatal testing. About.com January 17th 2009.
http://autism.about.com/b/2009/01/17/dr-simon-baron-cohen-on-autism-and-prenatal-testing.htm
[has some readers' comments]


Friday, May 08, 2009


Better late than never

I'm feeling rather ignorant and out of touch because I have only recently had a good look at an excellent web site about Asperger syndrome titled Inside perspectives of Asperger syndrome & the neuro-diversity spectrum. It is full of quotes from people who have AS from all over the world, and it also contains personal observations and good, sensible advice from the author, "a Swedish female diagnosed AS/HFA" named Inger Loreli. She also has synaesthesia. I will admit I have not read every word at this web site, but what I have read is very thoughtful and worthwhile. Good on you, Inger!

Inside perspectives of Asperger syndrome & the neuro-diversity spectrum

http://www.creative-minds.info/index.htm