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The Man Who Tasted Shapes
Richard E. Cytowic
 Table of Contents
Richard Cytowic's dinner host apologized, "There aren't enough points on the chicken!" He felt flavor also as a physical shape in his hands, and the chicken had come out "too round." This offbeat comment in 1980 launched Cytowic's exploration into the oddity called synesthesia. He is one of the few world authorities on the subject.
Sharing a root with anesthesia ("no sensation"), synesthesia means "joined sensation," whereby a voice, for example, is not only heard but also seen, felt, or tasted. The trait is involuntary, hereditary, and fairly common. It stayed a scientific mystery for two centuries until Cytowic's original experiments led to a neurological explanation—and to a new concept of brain organization that accentuates emotion over reason.
That chicken dinner two decades ago led Cytowic to explore a deeper reality that, he argues, exists in everyone but is often just below the surface of awareness (which is why finding meaning in our lives can be elusive). In this medical detective adventure, Cytowic shows how synesthesia, far from being a mere curiosity, illuminates a wide swath of mental life and leads to a new view of what is means to be human—a view that turns upside down conventional ideas about reason, emotional knowledge, and self-understanding.
This 2003 edition features a new afterword.
About the Author
Richard E. Cytowic, M.D., founded Capitol Neurology, a private clinic in Washington, D.C., and teaches at George Washington University Medical Center. He is the author of Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses and The Man Who Tasted Shapes, both published by the MIT Press.
| "...written on a personal level that allows the reader to explore the psychic phenomenon of synesthesia with the author."
—Anthony L. Vaccarino, Contemporary Psychology "With broad sweeps, [Cytowic] outlines a new landscape. . . read this book."
—Jennifer Altman, New Scientist "Cytowic brings all the imagination of a novelist to bear on his exploration of synesthesia."
—Glyn Maxwell, Vogue (European edition) |
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| "Phenomena that are robust and repeatable but don't fit the 'big picture' of accepted Science are often regarded as anomalies and unfairly ignored by the establishment. Synesthesia—the mingling of senses—is one such topic. In this reprint of his classic work, Dr. Cytowic has once again revived interest in this fascinating topic."
—V .S. Ramachandran, Director, Center for Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego
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