I am writing this to tell you about an extraordinary book Born on a Blue Day that is a memoir about Daniel Tammet. This book is about a young self absorbed autistic savant boy who grows up and becomes an independent adult. Throughout this book we see how a young autistic savant discovers his ability for memorization and calculation. As he gets older he uses that ability that he was holding in as a child to become something great, something that he never thought he would become. Daniel can learn a new language in a week by studying the vocabulary and by conversing in that language with other people. He takes his great ability of being able to memorize numbers and puts it to use when he beats the world record for memorizing 22,514 digits of pi in 2004 on Pi Day.
Daniel is a boy that detached himself from the rest of the world. As he grows up throughout the book he becomes more open to the people around him and the rest of the world. This book tells a story of a boy who never felt like he fit in with the rest of the world and how he overcomes that. It shows how his family was always there for him and supported him. No matter what kind of struggle he went through in his life they were right by his side. It is something that anyone can enjoy. It is an emotional roller coaster as Daniel struggles to fit in from day to day and deal with his family issues. After struggling to find friendship, Daniel made up an imaginary friend. To him it was the perfect friend. However, he later realizes that in order to overcome his struggles in life he has to let go of his friend.

Daniel has a rare ability to see numbers as shapes and colors. This is his visual numerical vocabulary. The shapes and colors that he sees help him with memorization and associating numbers as feelings. It is believed that the epilepsy that Daniel suffered as a child had a result of him becoming a savant. Daniel, being a savant, has an extraordinary mind for memorizing numbers and learning new languages. While being filmed for a documentary, Daniel was put up to the challenge to learn a new language in a week. The producers decided on the language and they picked Icelandic. Icelandic is considered to be a very complex language to learn. Daniel being a brilliant mind, as he is learned the language in just a week. It is rare and sometimes thought to be impossible to learn a new language in such a brief time period especially such a difficult language.

One thing that is difficult for many autistic people is to be in a relationship. However, Daniel finds someone special to him. Their relationship is like any other couple’s relationship. In fact they live together. For an autistic person to do something like this is very rare. For Daniel to have this kind of relationship with someone else shows how unique he is. This book has a life changing message that no matter what your struggle or how difficult it is you can overcome it and find your place in life. 

As you now know Daniel’s life as an autistic savant had its ups and downs. He went from being a self absorbed kid to an independent adult. Not only that, he commits to a successful relationship. This doesn’t happen for many autistic savants. For these reasons and many more that you will see when you read the book I think Born on a Blue Day is an extraordinary book.  It is heartwarming story. I hope that you seize this opportunity and consider reading the book.