March 26, 2013
Book Review: Born on a Blue Day–Insight into Learning
Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What an extraordinary book! I read it to understand how those who don’t think within the modern world’s boxes might integrate facts and come to conclusions and found a story I had to keep on my desk so his thoughts were close.
Daniel Tammet is a high-functioning autism and savant syndrome, but his ability to explain what is going on in his amazing brain makes for a fascinating tale. He shares his childhood, the epileptic fit that started it all, the upbringing as one of nine children that allowed him to be himself, despite the dramatic difference between his learning/living style and everyone else around him. His need to turn numbers into pictures and landscapes makes the argument for diversity and tolerance for those who think and act differently. The patience his teachers showed for his unique approach to problem solving should remind all of us, especially those in the trenches, that there are many ways to an end.
His story of recounting Pi to the 22,000+ place, learning the Icelandic language in one week, is a must-read for all the world’s teachers and leaders.
Here’s a TED talk he gave:
Thank you, Daniel!
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, she is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
