Passing away a lazy Sunday evening watching TV, CZF and I came across and episode of 60 minutes and heard an incredible story about a English Man not much older than us by the name of Daniel Tammet. Tammet is a Savant--one of only about 50 known living in the world today-- but he differs in that he is also able to manage social interaction, something that has never been seen in before in a Savant. Some are describing him as the Rosetta Stone of brain's. Well, maybe you aren't impressed yet, but give me a second here to tell you some unbelievable facts about him that just might make your mouth drop: He used his incredible memory to learn the first 22,514 decimal places of pi. He recited the numbers at Oxford (on Pi day of course) it took him over five hours, and he didn't make a single mistake. He is also fluent in English, German, French, Spanish, Finnish, Lithuanian, Estonian, Icelandic, and Esperanto. There was a documentary made about him, called Brain Man (U.S.) or The Boy with the Incredible Brain (U.K), in which he took on the task of learning Icelandic (known for being one of the most difficult languages to learn) in 7 days, and then went on a national Icelandic television show to be interview in the language, and is said to have spoken rather eloquently, although I can't confirm that with my Icelandic being so limited and all. If that weren't enough he has created three new languages called Mänti, Uusisuom, and Lapsi. And for the enjoyment of us all a memoir he wrote was released here in the states on January 7th, called Born on a Blue Day. You can buy an autographed copy of it on his webpage if you feel so inclined. As if I didn't already have enough books on my "to read" list...
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Holy Crap...
Passing away a lazy Sunday evening watching TV, CZF and I came across and episode of 60 minutes and heard an incredible story about a English Man not much older than us by the name of Daniel Tammet. Tammet is a Savant--one of only about 50 known living in the world today-- but he differs in that he is also able to manage social interaction, something that has never been seen in before in a Savant. Some are describing him as the Rosetta Stone of brain's. Well, maybe you aren't impressed yet, but give me a second here to tell you some unbelievable facts about him that just might make your mouth drop: He used his incredible memory to learn the first 22,514 decimal places of pi. He recited the numbers at Oxford (on Pi day of course) it took him over five hours, and he didn't make a single mistake. He is also fluent in English, German, French, Spanish, Finnish, Lithuanian, Estonian, Icelandic, and Esperanto. There was a documentary made about him, called Brain Man (U.S.) or The Boy with the Incredible Brain (U.K), in which he took on the task of learning Icelandic (known for being one of the most difficult languages to learn) in 7 days, and then went on a national Icelandic television show to be interview in the language, and is said to have spoken rather eloquently, although I can't confirm that with my Icelandic being so limited and all. If that weren't enough he has created three new languages called Mänti, Uusisuom, and Lapsi. And for the enjoyment of us all a memoir he wrote was released here in the states on January 7th, called Born on a Blue Day. You can buy an autographed copy of it on his webpage if you feel so inclined. As if I didn't already have enough books on my "to read" list...
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Funes, His Memory
page 131
And of course Shakespeare's Memory
page 508
Thanks for the tips...Borges. I have to say, I read Library of Babel and was a bit confused by what you were saying...or weren't saying. I'm guessing that was the point, being about Babel and all...but maybe not. How about enlightening me?
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