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Title: The Man Who Tasted Shapes by Richard E. Cytowic ISBN: 0-262-53152-6 Publisher: Bradford Book Pub. Date: 10 April, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.82 (11 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Interesting But
Comment: An entertaining and easy read on an interesting subject by a neurologist who is an expert on it. If you are interested in synesthesia primarily as a "bizarre" or sensationalistic manifestation of human talents, Luria's amazing The Mind of a Mnemonist is your best bet; if you want a light account of how a modern scientist goes about understanding this phenomenon and locating it in the emotional brain, read this book too. The author discusses synesthesia in a wider contect of the centrality of emotions (for an excellent recent book on this topic, see Why We Feel by Victor S. Johnson), but he seems to go overboard: the divigations and essays thereon that make up at least a third of the book, concerning subjects like the anthropic principle, altered states of consciousness, and spirituality, strike me as largely sophomoric verging on too painful to read. If you can stomach arguments like the one that "all life forms, but particularly brains, play a large role in slowing down the rate of entropy increase and the degradation of energy in the universe. Such profound possibilities suggest that we should direct our efforts not toward controlling our emotions but toward gaining better insight into them..." you will have no problem. Perhaps we should applaud the author for being willing to expose himself by taking such risks; he does, after all, modestly label his formal essays as mere "trials" or "attempts." Cytowic likewise very openly includes a lot of biographical material, reconstructed conversations, randomn personal observations and opinions, etc., and narrator who emerges may or may not appeal to you. It's hard not to like a guy who criticizes the dehumanizing aspects of the typical medical education and the kind of doctors who emerge from it.
Rating: 1
Summary: Not recommended
Comment: Originally published in 1993, this book is a popularization of Dr. Cytowic's more detailed 1989 book Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses. At the time it was published, it was of some value in bringing the topic of synesthesia to greater attention among both scholars and the general public. Dr. Cytowic thus gets an A for public education efforts, but a failing grade for accomplishment.
The book suffers from an unwarrantedly grandiose and revelatory style, and an amateurish presentation of the psychological side of the topic. Now, ten years later, many articles and books on synesthesia have come out. None of them corroborate the limbic theory of synesthesia Dr. Cytowic presents, nor do they echo his interpretation of synesthesia as an example of emotion taking precedence over reason. For the most part, this new literature offers a much better place to start understanding synesthesia than this book.
In the revised (2002) edition of Cytowic's other book Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses, he goes some way towards taking account of these new developments; this new edition is worthwhile, but should definitely be balanced with other books on synesthesia. The Man Who Tasted Shapes, however, is no longer worth much attention.
Rating: 5
Summary: A wonderful read
Comment: This is a truly great book. I enjoyed ever word on the page. Not only is it a story of a life but it teaches you about a very interesting abnormality. It goes into depth and describes at a simple enough level what is going on to cause it. It is funny and informative all in one. Not only that but it criticizes the medical community who tried to hold him back. It puts some insight into the dependents of technology in todays society.
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Title: Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens: How Synesthetes Color Their Worlds by Patricia Lynne Duffy ISBN: 0805071873 Publisher: Owl Books (NY) Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses - Second Edition by Richard E., Md. Cytowic ISBN: 0262032961 Publisher: Bradford Book Pub. Date: 01 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $55.00 |
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Title: Synaesthesia: The Strangest Thing by John Harrison ISBN: 0192632450 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $34.50 |
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Title: The Mind of a Mnemonist: A Little Book About a Vast Memory by Aleksandr R. Luria, Lynn Solotaroff, Jerome Bruner ISBN: 0674576225 Publisher: Harvard University Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 1987 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Synaesthesia: Classic and Contemporary Readings by John E. Harrison, Simon Baron-Cohen ISBN: 0631197648 Publisher: Blackwell Publishers Pub. Date: 01 December, 1996 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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