RELEASED July 13, 2006
FORMAT(S) Hardcover / paperback / audio / Kindle
PUBLISHER Hodder
Booklist Editors’ Choice (Biography), 2007
American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, 2008
Although Tammet is only 27, his autobiography is as fascinating as Benjamin Franklin’s and John Stuart Mill’s, both of which are, like his, about the growth of a mind. Not that Tammet is a scientist-statesman or philosopher. He is an autistic savant who can perform hefty arithmetical calculations at lightning speed and acquire speaking competency in a previously unknown language in mere days. More socially competent and independent than the autistic savant famously played by Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, Tammet shares his peers’ strong preferences for routine, peace and quiet, private space, and literalness, as well as aversion to chance occurrences, aural and informational noise… He learned fellowship very gradually and says he couldn’t really acknowledge his eight siblings until he grew up. He also writes some of the clearest prose this side of Hemingway; he tells his story with such concentration, precision, and simplicity that his familial poverty, schooling as a « mainstreamed » student, self-realization as gay, and embracing of Christianity prove as enthralling as they are, ultimately, normal. – Ray Olson, Booklist starred review.
