Synesthesia, the phenomenon whereby one sense is stimulated and another also responds--i.e., when words have colors or tastes have shapes--is not newly discovered (Rimbaud, Liszt and Nabokov were famously synesthetic), but the condition has hardly been discussed, much less systematically researched. Scientists think it may occur when language centers in the brain mingle among some of the visual processing sites in the cerebral cortex. Duffy, a synesthete herself, endeavors to bring attention to this fascinating type of perception and raises some questions. Is it, for instance, genetically transmitted? The Nabokov family would make it seem so. Why do many children (one half to one third of whom are synesthetic) lose the facility once abstract language takes over? Will knowing more about synesthesia improve the human condition? Instead of attempting to answer these questions through scientific knowledge, Duffy is intent on describing the experiences of famous synesthetes: chapters on lesser-known composers and artists whose creativity is fueled by synesthesia are less compelling than, say, the passage on David Hockney's peculiarly striking relationship to color. Feel-good spiels are kept to a minimum, although Duffy occasionally lapses into reverence for her subjects' profundity, creativity or spirituality.
-- Gold, Rotella, Andriani and Zaleski; Publishers Weekly, 10/1/2001 Vol. 248 Issue 40 p47
Other reviews
What's a "synesthete"? It's a person in whom more than one sense responds when a single sense is stimulated. Research suggests that one in 2,000 people experience synesthesia; for Duffy, letters (and the words they combine to produce) have color (hence, Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens ). It took technology like PET scans to confirm the unusual brain patterns of synesthesia, but some artists of the past--Liszt, Rimbaud, and Nabokov, for example--seem to have experienced it. Duffy describes her own experience and that of several contemporary artists in examining this phenomenon as a special case of the "personal coding" scientists now recognize as a vital aspect of brain development.
--Mary Carroll; Booklist
"A thought-provoking glimpse at how much is lurking in other people's minds-and how little we know about it." -Detroit Free Press
Imagine a world in which words have colors and sounds have tastes. In his autobiography, Vladimir Nabokov described this neurological phenomenon, which helped inspire David Hockney's sets for the Metropolitan Opera. Richard Feynman experienced it while formulating the quantum theory that won him a Nobel Prize.
Sometimes described as a blending of perceptions, synesthesia occurs when only one of the fives senses is aroused but two respond. Journalist Patricia Lynne Duffy draws from her own struggles and breakthroughs with synesthesia to help us better understand the condition, while describing some of the major theories surrounding it.
An illuminating examination of the world of synesthetes, Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens is a must-read for science and health buffs, as well as for artists, writers, and creative thinkers-or anyone generally intrigued by the brain, the senses, and perception.
-- Amazon.com