|
|
BLUE CATS
b
and
CHARTREUSE KITTENS
How Synesthetes Color Their Worlds
By Patricia Lynne Duffy
Foreword by Dr. Peter Grossenbacher,
National Institute of Mental Health
|
|
"This book is a
delight. Synesthesia is usually called a medical (specifically a neurological)
condition, but Duffy's account persuades me that we should regard it...as...the
gift of enriched perception...She is fortunate enough to be both a journalist
and a synesthete, with the gift for communicating clearly about her other
gift...Her account is not only moving and evocative, but historical and
scientific."
--Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen,
Cambridge University,
Department
of Experimental Psychology and Psychiatry
"...true
synesthetes are rare. So are books about them.
This one, by synesthete Patricia Duffy...provides a rich
panoply of sensory experiences that we can share
vicariously."
--Psychology Today
"Duffy's book is a thought-provoking glimpse at how much
is lurking in other people's minds - and how little we know
about it." [see
whole review]
--Detroit Free Press
"...the book is a fun and worthwhile read. Whether
you're a nonsynesthete amused by colored words and shapely
smells or a synesthete annoyed with the notion of a
"cat" being a blue word (when it's clearly brown),
either way, you'll shake your head and marvel."
--Salon.com
"Duffy, herself a synesthete, shares with readers what
it's like to have such perceptions. She also relates
stories of other synesthetes, including physicist Richard
Feynman and artist David Hockney."
--Science News
"It took technology like PET scans to confirm the unusual
brain patterns of synesthesia, but some artists of the past -
Lizst, Rimbaud, and Nabokov, for example - seem to have
experienced it. Duffy describes her own personal
experiences and that ofseveral contemporary artists in
examining the phenomenon as a special case of "personal
coding" scientists now recognize as a vital aspect of
brian development."
--Booklist
"As a synesthete myself, I know this book's description
of synesthesia is accurate and true. It tells the real
story."
--The Ottawa Citizen
|
|
|
|
