Born on a Blue Day

The author describes numbers in many unconventional ways. What descriptors do you find the most interesting or unfamiliar? How do numbers function in your own life, and how do they function in the author’s life?

At one point in the book, Tammet explains that “we all rely on synesthesia to a greater or lesser degree” (164). He talks about the possible development of languages and words that somehow intrinsically or emotionally related to what they described. Are there certain words, phrases, or letter sounds that illicit strong mental images in your mind? What are some words or letter sequences that you like the sound of? What are some that you don’t? Do you think it is valuable to think about our emotional reactions to language? Why or why not?

The author ruminates on various types of relationships in the book. He has different relationships with numbers, his family members, and his peers, for example. What do you think was the most valuable relationship he had during his childhood? What was the easiest relationship to forge? What was the hardest? How did his relationships change most fundamentally from his childhood to his adulthood?