Saturday, August 06, 2011

Tasting the Universe - a fascinating book about synaesthesia and famous synaesthetes

I've recently been reading a book about synaesthesia from the US by Maureen Seaberg titled Tasting the Universe. The author is an American synaesthete journalist who has an interest in spirituality. At first I was quite put off by the new-agey feel of the book, because I'm not a new-agey type of person and I also don't like unnecessary mystification of synaesthesia, which I fear can make some synaesthetes feel like freaks or flakes, or look like freaks or flakes, but I've got to admit that there is a lot of very interesting stuff in this book. Seaberg has gotten around and interviewed many famous and interesting synesthetes and synaesthesia researchers, so if you have been drawn to my website due to an interest in the subject of famous synaesthetes, this is a book that I can certainly recommend to you. Famous people discussed and/or interviewed include the author Douglas Coupland, Billy Joel, Marilyn Monroe, Australian philosopher Prof. David Chalmers, Marian McPartland, Itzhak Perlman, Pharrell Williams, Sir Robert Cailliau, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Olivier Messiaen, Vincent van Gogh, Daniel Tammet, Bob Dylan, Ida Maria, Beethoven, Manu Katche and many others.

Seaberg, Maureen (2011) Tasting the universe: people who see colors in words and rainbows in symphonies: a spiritual and scientific exploration of synesthesia. New Page Books, 2011.
http://www.tastingtheuniverse.com/

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