THIS ARTICLE IS NOW A BOOK!!!!
Daniel Tammet: the Boy with the Incredible Story
by
Lili Marlene
Published by Smashwords
find it here:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/288635
The old edition of this book had over 45,000 words. The NEW AND IMPROVED edition has over 67,000 words! If you have already bought this book you should be able to download the latest version. Thank you for your support and interest.
PLEASE NOTE: the comments below are about the original post that was published here. I thought I'd leave them in place just for the record.
The old edition of this book had over 45,000 words. The NEW AND IMPROVED edition has over 67,000 words! If you have already bought this book you should be able to download the latest version. Thank you for your support and interest.
PLEASE NOTE: the comments below are about the original post that was published here. I thought I'd leave them in place just for the record.
9 comments:
Well done for joining so many dots!
Mr Anon
Thanks Mr Anon. I'm sure you'll let me know if you spot any more dots!
"My name is Dr. Daniel Andersson and I am a qualified medical practitioner with more than thirty years’ clinical experience."
This was apparently written in at some obscure general internet forum 2001 by a bloke who had a big interest in the pop band The Carpenters and also takes time from his medical practice to promote some other obscure website. If there was a country given where he was supposed to have had a practice, I would think his name could be checked for genuiness, but clearly this is a pile of crap anyway. At the "Ciao" forum it says this doctor "danielius" is trusted by a grand total of 2 (two) members.
In Tammet's first autobiography he wrote that the Carpenters were his fave band in his youth, an unusual enthusiasm for a young working-class man. His first name is also Daniel, just like the doc, and he also lacks credibility. Such a coincidence!
Don't get me started on Wikipedia! (spits on ground)
In the past have noticed a lot of anonymous edits to the Wikipedia article, saying nice things about Mr Tammet, that have come from an IP address registered in the south of France. Edits include removing references to his previous name (Corney), and adding lots of stuff about awards that his book has won. The person in question has an excellent command of English for a Frenchman.
Example edit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Daniel_Tammet&diff=prev&oldid=335879605
Details of the IP address in question, showing it's from the south of France:
http://toolserver.org/~chm/whois.php?ip=86.200.253.214
I also note that Daniel Tammet currently lives in the south of France.
Mr Anon
PS
I like the Tammet quote:
"We’d all like to make some ‘easy’ money, wouldn’t we?"
http://www.epinions.com/content_2269552772
PPS
For the avoidance of doubt, I'm a different anonymous person to the anonymous person who posted the links above. Maybe I should get a name.
Mucking about with the Wikipedia from the South of France - it sounds like a hard life!
For a person who has made a fortune writing autobiographies that are presented as open, honest accounts of his past, he would have no right at all to try to hide his original surname, in my opinion. I support the right of authors to write under a nom de plume, as I do myself, or to write an autobiography that is not presented as a complete and objective account of one's life, but this is not what Tammet has done. He has presented his books as plain and complete autobiographies. If you are going to make a fortune out of your past, the reader has every right to know the full name under which you were born and raised and educated. You can't have it both ways!
Tammet has been my special interest for some three years, so the controversy surrounding his authenticity is particularily curious to me. As I recall, he has made mention of wanting to keep his birth surname private before it was revealed in Joshua Foer's recent book. Since the publication of said book last spring, however, Tammet has neglected to address skeptical claims such as those of yourself and Mr. Foer.
I suspect that if Tammet was faking his savantism/synesthesia, he would be quickly defending himself against these claims to discourage future skepticism. Yet so far, he has not done so.
Additionally, I have found two other resources discussing Tammet. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-minds/201001/conversations-creativity-daniel-tammet and http://www.asutriplehelix.org/node/77 (the latter also discusses the late Kim Peek).
Thanks for the links, Laura. I found it a bit sad to see the essay by a physics student, which is so well written and is clearly the work of an intelligent person, but is based on highly doubtful information. This is the thing that really bothers me about the Tammet affair - the way this pretender and his story has almost become an accepted part of the landscape of the world of science. So many people who call themselves scientists and who should know better have hailed Tammet as a wonder. It makes a joke of science, and that is a very sorry sight to behold.
Your argument that if Tammet had something to hide he would be raising objections seems very weak to me. It is a common practice for politicians who are under criticism from not-very-famous or powerful individuals to say stuff like "I won't honour that statement with a reply". Simply ignoring criticism can at times be the best way to deal with the situation, if the critic has limited publicity. If Tammet did publicly address any of the many criticisms of him from over the years, that would serve to publicise the critics, which he wouldn't want. I'm sure that most of his fans are blissfully unaware that many people regard Tammet as deceptive, because they are only exposed to the pap in the mainstream media.
Recognize anyone in this video?
And here.
It's a long video I've linked to the exact segments.
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