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"Sometimes described as
a blending of perceptions, synesthesia occurs when one of
the five senses is aroused, yet two respond."
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
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"Nature,
so endlessly creative, has managed things so that each of
us, hosts of synesthesia or not, perceives a slightly
different world... a world colored by our one-of-a-kind
pattern of neurons and experiences" -- Patricia
Lynne Duffy |
"Synesthesia, the phenomenon whereby
one sense is stimulated and another also responds i.e.,
when words have colors or tastes have shapes is not
newly discovered (Rimbaud, Liszt and Nabokov were
famously synesthetic), but the condition has hardly been
discussed, much less systematically researched." That's
why I put a link to
Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens:
How Synesthetes Color Their Worlds above. Buy
the book! It's weird stuff."
-- Biz Stone, founder of Twitter
"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
"...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'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
"...Duffy opens the [synesthesia] story wider to
take in the rest of humanity, among whom, William James observed,
no two people perceive the world exactly alike. Synesthesia
is closely connected to creativity, having affected Vladimir
Nabokov, David Hockney, Arthur Rimbaud and Richard Feynman, to
name a few."
--New York Daily News
"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 of several contemporary artists
in examining the phenomenon as a special case of "personal coding"
scientists now recognize as a vital aspect of brain
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
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For www.bluecats.info,
author Pat Duffy has chosen a webmaster with an
appropriately blue name:
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