These days the Wikpedia is not only out of date, neglected and riddled with important omissions, in some ways it downright bizarre. Anyone who has a fair knowledge of neuropsychology or synaesthesia or the science of memory will know about the famous book The mind of a mnemonist: a little book about a vast memory by the Russian neuropsychologist Alexander Luria (a name which can be spelt in many different ways). This book is famous as a detailed decription of Luria's investigation of "S", who was a case of a very extraordinary memory and was studied by Luria over a span of many years. Solomon Shereshevskii was the real name of "S". His name is also spelt in many different ways, but the most contemporary spelling seems to be the one I use here. Shereshevskii was amazing because he arguably had the greatest memory ever described by science. Luria gave up trying to find the limits of the type of memory skill that Shereshevskii excelled at. Shereshevskii was also notable as one of the first synaesthetes to have their synesthesia described in detail by a researcher. It goes without saying that it is interesting that such an amazing memory was a property of a brain that was also a synaesthete brain. So it follows that this book that described it all is a pretty big deal. Guess what? It appears that this book no longer had any Wikipedia page. Just not important enough I guess. But a book that does still have a Wikipedia page is a fictional book (Funes the memorious by Borges) that was thought to have been inspired by Luria's book The mind of a mnemonist which isn't important enough to have a Wikipedia page. So at the Wikipedia you can find out about the fictional secondary version, but not about the actual factual original account. How mad is that?
I guess I should be grateful that poor old Sol still has a Wikipedia page, but weird things appear to have happened there too. His surname is given in his article title spelt in away that I wouldn't choose, but is spelt differently throughout the article. Strangely, the book that made Shereshevskii famous, The mind of a mnemonist, is not mentioned anywhere in Shereshevskii's Wikipedia article or in the references, it is only mentioned in the notes. The references list a Russian version of the book and "An amateur English translation" of the book. It looks as though someone is trying to hide the fact that this important book exists at all, or to hinder access to it. Very strange. It would be the easiest thing in the world to link to the book where it can be read at Scribd, but they don't. Bizarre.
The mind of a mnemonist by A. R. Luria
http://www.scribd.com/doc/12983496/Alexander-Luria-The-Mind-of-a-Mnemonist
A referenced list of 175 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
56 famous synaesthetes or possible synesthetes: a list with references.
http://incorrectpleasures.blogspot.com/2009/01/famous-synaesthetes-or-possible.html
Track them down and kill them. We have to fight the Stupid. It's infectious and will take over us all.
ReplyDeleteAlso a must read:
Michael Stipe.
Stipe gives the impression of existing entirely inside his own self-contained universe
"I've realised that to try and slot myself into that world is to diminish what I have to offer. And I do have something to offer but it's just in a different dialect, a different language"
"I still hadn't learned how to talk or how to look someone in the eye and finish a thought.
"people who would have sooner kicked me on the street than let me walk by unperturbed"
" I'm making these replicas of things that have a personal fascination for me in order, I guess, to somehow explore that fascination"
Does he consider himself an obsessive? "Oh God, yes, no question," he says
Nice to hear from you again, Socrates. Yes, I've been wondering about Stipe for a while now. He was once a close friend of Morrissey I believe, which makes him strange by association, at least.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was busily being ex-Socrates when a small but distinct wave of stupidity washed over me -- It definitely didn't originate from here nor Mrs Kim Wombles' blog. All I can say at this point is that it definitely had an origin on teh intawebs.
ReplyDeleteIt is my bounden duty to deal with it in much the same way as a red-neck deals with a Cane toad. (What do you call Ozzie red-necks?)
Also, blogging seems to be dying a death while the inane twitter of Twitter and Facebook takes over our minds and lives.
We must fight back.