Monday Morning Quote – Daniel Tammet on Dancing with Numbers

In honor of National Autism Awareness Month, today’s Monday Morning Quote comes from British author and savant, Daniel Tammet:

In my mind, numbers and words are far more than squiggles of ink on a page. They have form, color, texture and so on. They come alive to me…I do not crunch numbers (like a computer). Rather, I dance with them. - Daniel Tammet

Tammet was born on January 31, 1979 in East London, England. At four years old, Tammet suffered from a massive epileptic seizure. It is speculated whether or not this episode was the source of Tammet’s diagnosis with Asperger’s syndrome shortly after.

Asperger’s syndrome is a type of mild autism, a developmental disorder that affects an individual’s ability to communicate and relate to others. Additionally, 10% of autistic individuals are also identified as autistic savants; that is, having one or more areas of specialized knowledge or ability. Tammet is identified as a mathematical and linguistic savant.

What does that mean exactly? Well, in 2004, Tammet stood before Einstein’s blackboard at Oxford, England’s Museum of the History of Science, and for the next five hours and nine minutes rattled off 22,514 numbers of Pi in the correct order. As Daniel explains it, “I see numbers in my head as colors and shapes and textures. So when I see a long sequence, the sequence forms landscapes in my mind… Every number up to 10,000, I can visualize in this way, has its own color, has its own shape, has its own texture.” Identified as synesthesia, some examples of how Tammet views numbers can be found here.

Tammet’s talents don’t just stop with numbers, either. Recognized as a hyperpolyglot, Tammet speaks ten languages (French, Spanish, Finnish, German, Lithuanian, Romanian, Estonian, Welsh, Esperanto, and mother tongue English); he is also the creator of Mänti, a fabricated language, which combines Finnish and his favorite language Estonian.

For more information on Daniel Tammet and autism, be sure to check out two books that he has penned: Born on a Blue Day, a memoir, and Embracing the Wide Sky, which combines research and prose in attempt to unravel the mysteries of the human brain. If you’ve read these books, don’t forget to let us know your thoughts down below!

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