Born on a Blue Day

Author Daniel Tammet was born in 1979 in England and raised in East London. Tammet lives with savant syndrome and synesthesia. Unlike many other individuals with savant syndrome or who register on the autistic spectrum, Tammet is fully independent in his adulthood and is articulate about the patterns and details of his cognition and perception. Many other people with savant syndrome have related disabilities that inhibit independence and communication. Tammet therefore provides an uncommon account of life with these conditions.

Tammet possesses rare abilities to memorize numbers, calculate, learn languages, and perform other similar feats of learning and recitation. He set a world record in 2004 for reciting the most digits of the number pi. Born on a Blue Day, his memoir, was a New York Times Bestseller and named a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association. He has since written other self-reflective books, essays, and poems, as well as a novel.

Tammet appeared in the documentary Brainman/ Extraordinary People: The Boy with the Incredible Brain in 2005. He has given TedTalks and interviews with many international organizations and programs and speaks over 10 languages.