From the publisher
Traditionally pictures of saints have auras, but you don't have to be a saint to have an aura. Or read one. Rosetree explores 11 gifts you may have for aura reading. Ironically, any spiritual gift can cause problems until you learn how to handle it--e.g., emotional empaths often don't realize they take on feelings that really belong to other people. As long as you have a gift, why not make it work for you?
Empaths and others, you'll love the do-it-yourself techiques--over 100 of them--to save money, improve health, and more. No doubt this is the most practical book on aura reading ever written. And you'll find a salty sense of humor mixed in with Rosetree's tips using aura reading at the supermarket, during and after sex, for kissing babies, gardening, even a couple of lie detector tests.
Customer Reviews:
Useful book .......2007-06-27
This book is very interesting and helpful for the person who wants to know more about the world we belong to. I would recommend to read this book.
If you're an empath..........2007-05-14
I have almost a hundred books on spirituality and this one and empowered by empathy are my all time favorites... with so many books I had to ask myself why. The first reason is that the author of the book is an empath and I am an empath as well (emotional), it was with great relief that I learned this fact through the books, much more usefull (to me) than being taught how to awaken the kundalini. Furthermore many spiritual masters around the world are not empaths at all and are unable to read other peoples emotions and their real needs...
Secondly the book teaches that you can read auras in so many different ways, with the senses that you are stronger, etc... as opposed to teaching reading auras in a formatted uniform way, like for example through sight alone.
Thirdly I like the playful, funny kind of writing and speaking of the author.
Overall mark: 5 stars
The jury is still out..........2006-09-12
A close friend of mine had attended a live training with Rose Rosetree and talked highly of her. I then bought her book on Aura Reading and also on Empathy.
My friend tells me that Rose is much better in person than she comes across on the written page.
I tend to take books such as this with a grain of salt, while trying to keep an open mind. At this point I'm very skeptical, but I do not want to "close the book" just yet. I have read the book and reread certain sections, including the exercises.
The book has a section on identifying "your special talent" for reading auras: visual, kinetically, olfactory, "knowing," etc. By the end of the chapter I think that everyone would have identified with one of the things Rose said. This means that we ALL have a special talent. However, if we all have it, what makes it so special?
The book is about "reading" auras, not "seeing" auras. Basically, she talks about gathering information about someone or something through "subtle perceptions."
She has several exercises for developing your ability to read auras. I really want to see colors, but I don't. She relies on the ability to see colors when describing some of the uses of aura reading. At other times, she seems to put everything under the umbrella of aura reading. Want to "hear" the music on a CD before you buy it? Read the aura! Use aura reading to smell perfumes without opening the bottles. (I kid you not, this is in the book).
The preparation for some of the exercises is simplistic and the book doesn't explain how or why certain things do the things she says they will. For example, she reported that you can raise your vibrational rate, by taking three deep breaths, which she calls "High vibration breaths." I've done a lot of deep breathing and a lot of meditation, but I don't believe I've really "seen" an aura.
On the other hand, I've "seen" things and felt things. I'm not sure what these things are. I don't know if it's just me fooling myself or if this is genuinely aura reading. I've always had the ability to look at someone or a picture of someone and size them up fairly accurately (based on reports by others). This is what I mean by the jury still being out. I continue to try the exercises, because I really would like to do the things she describes.
Please note: I'm writing this from my office and don't have the book with me, so some of the terminology may be off, but the concepts are not.
The bottom line is that the book doesn't cost that much and if you are interested, buy the book and try the exercises. Maybe you'll have more luck than I did.
Aura Reading Through All Your Senses.......2006-04-12
This book is well worth your time! If you are looking to expand and enhance your personal Divine abilities, here is the best example of guidance I've had the pleasure of reading in a while. The techniques and guidance have enhanced my own personal experience so much, I simply have this "knowing" that it will benefit other's as well. Rose Rosetree, the author, has a knack of helping one see beyond the walls of the box we tend to compartmentalize our learning. She is encouraging and knows that each of us has our own special abilities, how to indentify those abilities, and then how to enhance and use them. You may find that it "qualifies" things you have done your whole life and didn't realize till you read "Aura Reading Through All Your Senses". Enjoy!
Develop your Reading, Develop Spiritually.......2005-10-26
This book is one of a kind. Most book on aura reading are very limited in the way they teach to develop your abilities. This book cannot fail to help you unravel your gifts because it pinpoints your strengths. It doesn't promise instantaneous and magical aura viewing in "30 seconds!" or in "30 minutes!" Psychic reading is a skill to develop and this book helps you develop it.
One of the most interesting idea she discusses is that of synesthesia, the merging of the psychic senses (clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, etc) that happens eventually as you develop one or two of your talents. She also develops the three basic psychic senses into eleven.
The other strength of the book is that the author links psychic abilities development and spiritual development. She offers recommendations and a resource section to that end. In short, that book is completely worth it to the spiritual student, healer, psychic or else.
Book Description
The influence of music on the development of abstract and mixed-media visual art forms from the early twentieth century to the present day.
This ground-breaking new book and the exhibition it accompanies trace the history of a revolutionary idea: that fine art should attain the abstract purity of music. Over the past one hundred years some of the most adventurous modern and contemporary artists have explored unorthodox means to invent a kinetic, non-representational art modeled upon pure instrumental music.
Music has inspired some of the most progressive art of our time—from the abstract painting of Wassily Kandinsky and Frantisek Kupka to the mid-century experimental films of Oskar Fischinger and Harry Smith to contemporary installations by Jennifer Steinkamp and Jim Hodges. While early abstract paintings tended to approach music metonymically, the color organs, films, light shows, and installations from the mid-twentieth century to the present day engage a range of perceptual faculties simultaneously to create a plethora of sensations in the viewer.
The most complete examination of this phenomenon to date, Visual Music features ninety major works of art plus related documentation, focusing on abstract and mixed-media art and the connections to musical forms as varied as classical, jazz, and electronic. The book includes three scholarly essays, each discussing a distinct art historical period in depth, and an additional essay by Olivia Mattis that approaches the subject from a musicologist's perspective, as well as a chronology, artist biographies, and a selected bibliography. 250 illustrations, 200 in color.
With contributions by: Kerry Brougher, Hirshhorn; Jeremy Strick, MOCA; Ari Wiseman, MOCA; Judith Zilczer, Hirshhorn.
Customer Reviews:
Comprehensive, Novel Approach to a History of Abstract Art.......2005-05-24
VISUAL MUSIC is first and foremost a traveling exhibition currently ensconced in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and as an exhibition it is informative, enlightening, well curated, and a unique way to study the history of Abstract Art from 1900 to 2004. One enters the large multi-room experience with a stop in a darkened theater where films dating back to the early part of the 20th century explore pulsating, rhythmic, liquid and explosive images, some in black and white, some in color, some 'illustrating' music from Brahms to Dizzy Gillespie and some in complete silence. The works are by such experimental artists as Oscar Fischinger, Len Lye and Harvey Smith and the films have been restored admirably.
The remainder of the walk through this marriage or courtship of visual images and music includes copious works by Kandinsky, Picabia, Klee, Ciurlionis, Kupka and many others, artists who sought to visualize the effect music has on the intellect and visual/aural 'synaesthesia' as the exhibition repeatedly explains. Some rooms are for framed works, other rooms for video forms of digitalized art in motion, some are simply walls of lines and abstractions and others the idiosyncratic color organs - the true synthesis of visual art and musical performance. The works representing today are from Jennifer Steinkamp in an elegant installation, Cindy Bernard, and Jim Hodges.
Though this is not meant to be a survey of an exhibition, knowing the presentation of this VISUAL MUSIC concept heightens the appreciation of the stunning catalogue that accompanies this show. From the sumptuous design elements to the splendid color reproductions to the scholarly essays, this is a book that is not an easy read but an important one. From Jeremy Strick's cogent introduction to the book through essays on the history of abstraction and the concept of what stimulated artists to relate to music and why, to the significant 'in defense of pure music' essay by Olivia Mattis, this is a magnum opus on abstract art that is unique in every phase. Kudos to the curators from the Hirschhorn (Kerry Brougher, Ari Wiseman) and MOCA's own Jeremy Strick. Grady Harp, May 05.
Average customer rating:
- Not just for kids!!!!!!!
- Good book on a fascinating subject
- Awesome!
- Colors, colors, colors.
- ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!
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A Mango-Shaped Space
Wendy Mass
Manufacturer: Little, Brown Young Readers
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ASIN: 0316058254 |
Book Description
Mia Winchell seems to be a typical teenager, but shes keeping a huge secret from everyone who knows her: sounds, numbers, and words appear in color for her. Mia has synesthesia, the mingling of perceptions whereby a person can see sounds, smell colors, or taste shapes. When trouble in school forces Mia to reveal her condition, her friends and family cant relate to her, and she must look to herself to develop an understanding and appreciation for her gift. Spiced with wit and humor, A Mango-Shaped Space is a poignant coming-of-age novel that will intrigue readers long after theyve turned the last page. Praised by reviewers and award-winning authors alike, A Mango-Shaped Space has brought renewed attention to the fascinating world of synesthesia, which includes famous artists such as Vincent Van Gogh and Serge Rachmaninoff.
Customer Reviews:
Not just for kids!!!!!!!.......2007-09-24
This book is an amazing story from start to finish. I just couldn't put it down. And I'm far from a being a kid, at age 49!
Good book on a fascinating subject.......2007-09-03
Here's what I like about A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass: The plot is extremely interesting and really, for lack of a better word, new. Mass talks about a condition that most people have never even heard of and she just runs with it.
Here's what I don't like: Mass is at pains throughout the novel to make sure everyone knows her narrator is young. I also have mixed feelings about it winning an award (the Kaplan award I believe) for artistically representing life with a disability.
Here's some information so you can actually understand what I'm going on about: Okay, so the book follows thirteen-year-old Mia. Mia has synesthesia, a neurological condition that allows her to see letters and numbers in color. As the blurb on the back of the book states, Mia named her cat Mango because that is the color of his breathing. That is, you will agree, pretty cool. The action of the story starts when Mia realizes she can no longer keep her condition a secret from her friends and family because it's starting to interfere with her schoolwork. So Mia starts going to doctors and she finally meets people just like her.
So, on one level, this story is about dealing with synesthesia. But it also has a lot more going on. Mia's grandfather has recently died and, as readers will learn, Mango's place in the story is intricately tied to that of Mia's grandfather. At the end of the day, more than being about dealing with a disability (I'm not even sure I like calling synesthesia a disability) A Mango-Shaped Space is about accepting who you are and coping with the harder parts of life.
I read this book back-to-back with Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian so comparisons are inevitable. What I found really interesting is that Alexie's narrator is only a year older than Mia, but the story is clearly appropriate for teens--I'd never give it to a ten year old for instance. Mass' novel, on the other hand, could just as easily be cataloged as a Children's book rather than Young Adult (left to my own devices I think I would do just that). Why? Well, like I said, Mass makes sure we know how young Mia is. Revelations like Mia never previously sitting with a boy at lunch or attending a boy-girl party abound in the narrative--sometimes unnecessarily.
At the same time, the material is just less heavy. The tone is lighter and the characters are a little less developed so that their hurts never quite hit home. I'm not sure if this is a bad thing though--it just makes it clear, while reading, that the book could be appropriate for a younger audience.
I'd definitely give this book a look though. The prose is easy to digest and the story is really interesting. And, surprisingly, the story features a lot of characters who are just as interesting to meet as Mia (with her synesthesia)--Mia's little brother Zach is a particular favorite for this reviewer.
Awesome!.......2007-08-09
I decided to read this book when my brother talked about a friend who has this condition. It was also recommended by a good friend. I'm so glad I read it because it was awesome! It's sad and happy all at the same time. It makes me wish I could experience what she does just for one day. I highly reccommend you read it because you definately won't regret it!
Colors, colors, colors........2007-07-31
Mia has recently lost her grandfather. On the day of his funeral, she received a gift at the cemetery - an adorable "stray" kitten named Mango. No, he didn't have Mango colored fur, he exuded the color "Mango" from his little feline being. Mia, you see, has synesthesia, an unusual brain "abnormality" where she sees color in letters, in numbers, in names.
When we first meet Mia, she has kept her synesthesia hidden due to an unfortunate embarrassment in elementary school. Thankfully, she finally gets a name for what it is that makes her "different" and a new world begins to unfold for her.
Readers walk alongside Mia through stumbles with her closest friends, changes in her siblings, experimentation with what she learns about synesthesia. We are with Mia when she experiences yet another huge life loss... and survives.
What I gleaned, most of all, is how "normal" we all are, even in our "uniqueness". Wendy Mass writes cleanly and crisply and steers away from melodrama. She doesn't overwrite a word. I enjoyed reading this book possibly as much as my teen daughter, the owner of the book.
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!.......2007-05-31
If I were to rate this book, then I would certainly rate it more than it gives me. This book has touched me in so many ways, and the fact that Mia finds herself within sacrifice is simply touching. This book has inspired me to look at the world in a whole new perspective, and I will surly recommend this book to my friends; not only is it a book for kids and teens, but I think that anyone who reads it will surly enjoy it the way that I did. I have finally said that this is probably my most favored book of all time, and I'm sure that readers will feel the same way about it as well.
Book Description
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.
Customer Reviews:
Not recommended.......2004-04-18
Originally published in 1993, this book is a popularization of Dr. Cytowic's more detailed 1989 book Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses. At the time it was published, it was of some value in bringing the topic of synesthesia to greater attention among both scholars and the general public. Dr. Cytowic thus gets an A for public education efforts, but a failing grade for accomplishment.
The book suffers from an unwarrantedly grandiose and revelatory style, and an amateurish presentation of the psychological side of the topic. Now, ten years later, many articles and books on synesthesia have come out. None of them corroborate the limbic theory of synesthesia Dr. Cytowic presents, nor do they echo his interpretation of synesthesia as an example of emotion taking precedence over reason. For the most part, this new literature offers a much better place to start understanding synesthesia than this book.
In the revised (2002) edition of Cytowic's other book Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses, he goes some way towards taking account of these new developments; this new edition is worthwhile, but should definitely be balanced with other books on synesthesia. The Man Who Tasted Shapes, however, is no longer worth much attention.
A wonderful read.......2002-06-18
This is a truly great book. I enjoyed ever word on the page. Not only is it a story of a life but it teaches you about a very interesting abnormality. It goes into depth and describes at a simple enough level what is going on to cause it. It is funny and informative all in one. Not only that but it criticizes the medical community who tried to hold him back. It puts some insight into the dependents of technology in todays society.
Great tale, Good theory, Stilted prose.......2001-09-23
One thing is clear upon reading this book: Richard Cytowic, M.D., is no Oliver Sacks. Though, as will be seen, there is much in here to recommend itself, his stilted reproduction of conversations which or may not have taken place and his `Creative Fiction 100' characterizations (i.e., Dr. Wood's continual inhalation of smoke or food) strike the experienced reader as painfully contrived, as though Cytowic were doing his level best to imitate Sacks and reach that always-elusive `wider audience'.
On the other hand, as Cytowic describes his quest to make sense of his friend's synesthesia (the man for whom gustatory sensations were experienced as the contours, edges, textures, and surface temperatures of external objects), the reader is also drawn into the mystery. One sense experienced as another simply does not compute in our Newtonian each-thing-in-its-place universe. Along with Cytowic, the reader is made to wonder, `How can this be?' Cytowic picks up clues along the way until he is led to `seeing the primacy of emotion over reason; the impossibility of a purely "objective" point of view; the force of intuitive knowledge; and why affirming personal experience yields a more satisfying understanding than analyzing what something "means" ' (7).
Cytowic moves through the years inexorably but somewhat leisurely after these answers. At last, with the help of a thick caseload of personal testimonies and controlled tests, he narrows down the subjective nature of the experience enough to declare his conclusion that `synesthesia is actually a normal brain function in every one of us, but that its workings reach conscious awareness in only a handful' (166, italics in original text). Cytowic `sees' (and perhaps smells, tastes, and hears!) synesthetes as `cognitive fossils' (167) who still experience the senses united as did our mammalian forebears. For the rest of us, this continuing brain process has become unconscious. The key, for Cytowic is emotion which `seems to reside at the interface between that part of our self which is accessible to awareness and that part which is not' (167).
It is when he examines the neurological evidence that his hypotheses are borne out. The climax of the detective work is reached when he gets his friend inside a regional cerebral blood flow scanner (CBF) where, with the help of a technical expert and doses of amyl nitrate (to accentuate his friend's synesthesia), he is shocked to discover that as his friend experienced the deep pleasure of synesthesia in the machine his cerebral cortex appeared to shut down almost entirely. Simultaneously, his limbic system and hippocampal areas became riotously active. Against the linear `standard view' of the brain, Cytowic announces that the limbic system has evolved in humans alongside the cortical system and has integrated itself into every area of the nervous system. In short, `the limbic system forms an emotional core of the human nervous system' (157). Thus, emotion `was no longer localized in a discrete control center but was spread out over pathways' (158). With this evidence, Cytowic concludes that even the nature of perceptions is largely determined by emotional valences and that such emotional elision of value is precisely what occurs in synesthesia. The emotional mind (as opposed to the logical, cognitive one) is the basis of human action and experience, according to Cytowic.
This is an important conclusion, if not all that original. What this means to consciousness studies and to the understanding of human life in general, Cytowic is not the slightest bit hesitant to tell us. In fact, such speculation appears to be the raison d'être of this user-friendly text and is the content of Part Two, `Essays on the Primacy of Emotion'. Unlike another, more `scientific', review of this book which I previously encountered, I quite disagree that these essays are `irrelevant' to his research. Anyone who has worked so prodigiously in one area of study and comes to such startling conclusions has earned the right to ruminate on what it all implies. Cytowic reveals himself as a stimulating essayist, but, in the end, he proves to be not much better a philosopher than a literary artist.
Cytowic usually seems to consider our `emotional mind' as non-conscious and this is a pivotal, if controversial, point. This implies our emotions are not subject to conscious volition and may explain why he feels the source of emotions to be somewhat mystical. He indicates that emotional valuation is necessary for any sort of mental consciousness to develop. He also shows that as learned adaptations become habit, both emotional charge and self-awareness decline or even disappear so behavior continues mechanically along. Cytowic calls upon the experimental literature on divided brains, the `readiness potential', and neurological conditions such prosopagnosia (wherein patients cannot recognize familiar faces but their galvanic skin resistance reveals definite physiological responses to those same faces) to demonstrate the primacy of the emotional mind - usually the right cerebral hemisphere. These examples clearly reveal a mode of experiencing which is not conscious, if we are to trust the first-person reports of the subjects. `Our conscious self is the tip of an iceberg' (170), Cytowic asserts. He adds that `recognition can be dissociated from conscious awareness of it' (212). The basis of our knowing is `unconscious knowledge' and the basis of our perception is `subception' (214). Here, Cytowic's case for the primacy of emotions sounds more like it supports the Freudian, the Jungian, or even the Darwinian unconscious rather than indicating any sort of transcendent spirituality.
The major problem of his essays is this: He makes an unwarranted leap from the primacy of the emotions into the strong anthropic principle and panpsychism, clearly revealing his bias for `spiritual' explanations of human existence. He claims that terms like `faith', `God', and `spirituality' are non-concepts which refer to ineffable experience. How emotional primacy indicates anything more than our ongoing connection with evolutionary processes escapes me entirely, as does the suggestion of concepts which are non-concepts. The terms he uses clearly are concepts, as rife with assumption and allusion as ever. Apparently by revealing the inefficaciousness of conscious intentionality, he feels he has simultaneously revealed our intuitive spiritual connection with all that is. This spiritual source is not self-evident.
Still, one may quibble too much. Cytowic goes to bat for emotions most effectively and his conclusions ring true that `consciousness, language, and higher mental functions [are] the consequences of our ability to express emotion. Emotion is fundamental to mind and what we call consciousness' (196). Our emotional core is understood by most of us to be basically part of our organic heritage which can be altered by continued conscious experience. His `faith', however, seems to pre-empt his seeing that our `consciousness, language, and higher mental functions' almost certainly return the favour and affect our emotions in their turn. The brain works in cycles of mutual effect and affect. Indeed, many persons as they age and learn may well succeed in uniting the two `minds' and creating conscious emotionality, i.e., they `get in touch with their feelings'. This understanding of the potential of higher mental functions to change emotions (as well as being changed by them) may well help to explain why non-rational believers like Cytowic feel their emotions indicate a doorway to the infinite and eternal. It is worth considering that their cultural belief-system has predisposed them to values which generate, in turn, appropriate emotional resonance.
Buy This Book.......2000-12-16
The Man Who Tasted Shapes is an extraordinary work of research into the human mind that was, to me, only superficially about synesthesia. The information and perspective shared are much bigger than the title would imply. I believe that you'll find it to be fabulously interesting, even if you have zero interest in synesthesia.
Most doctors are afraid to write what they truly believe in their hearts lest it be challenged and scorned by their peers. Rarely do scientists allow you to "see the man behind the curtain," preferring to hide instead behind that mysterious veil we called "objective data." In this, Dr. Cytowic is far braver than most, and certainly more honest.
Here is just such an example from the book: "My innate analytic personality had been reinforced by twenty years of training in science and medicine. I reflexively analyzed whatever passed my way and firmly believed that the intellect could conquer everything through reason. 'You need an antidote to your incessant intellectualizing,' Clark suggested, 'something to put you in touch with the irrational side of your mind.'... I had never considered that there might be more to the human mind than the rational part that I was familiar with. It had never once occurred to me that a force to balance rationality existed, let alone that it might be a normal part of the human psyche."
In another chapter, Cytowic asserts, "Not everything we are capable of knowing and doing is accessible to or expressible in language. This means that some of our personal knowledge is off limits even to our own inner thoughts. Perhaps this is why humans are so often at odds with themselves, because there is more going on in our minds than we can ever consciously know."
If you read a lot of medical texts, as I do, you will find Dr. Cytowic to be far more broadminded and much less linear in his thinking than his peers. This makes Cytowic interesting, instead of boring like the others.
One final quote: "Neuroscientists have just lately come to realize how important emotion is. Placing reason and the (intellectual) cortex first and foremost is like the Wizard of Oz shouting, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." Reason, and an accomplice called self-awareness have deluded us into believing that they have been pulling the strings, but emotion and mentation not normally accessible to self-awareness have been in charge all along."
The Man Who Tasted Shapes is a delightful bridge between the hard science of neurology and the mystery that is man.
Buy the book. You won't regret it.
Not for the "Close-minded"!.......2000-02-02
While Dr. Cytowic's book mainly deals with his investigation of the rare neurological phenomena called "synesthesia", his resulting insights on emotions, reasoning and consciousness are really what make this book worth reading. He presents "The New View of How the Brain Works". A view that helps us understand the critical interaction of emotions and reasoning. If you are open-minded and ready to give an alternate point of view a chance, you will find this book to be truly enlightening, absorbing, thought provoking and enjoyable. If you are close-minded and think that science already has all the right answers - don't waste your time - try science fiction instead!
Book Description
For decades, scientists who heard about synesthesia hearing colors, tasting words, seeing colored pain just shrugged their shoulders or rolled their eyes. Now, as irrefutable evidence mounts that some healthy brains really do this, we are forced to ask how this squares with some cherished conceptions of neuroscience. These include binding, modularity, functionalism, blindsight, and consciousness. The good news is that when old theoretical structures fall, new light may flood in. Far from a mere curiosity, synesthesia illuminates a wide swath of mental life.
In this classic text, Richard Cytowic quickly disposes of earlier criticisms that the phenomenon cannot be "real," demonstrating that it is indeed brain-based. Following a historical introduction, he lays out the phenomenology of synesthesia in detail and gives criteria for clinical diagnosis and an objective "test of genuineness." He reviews theories and experimental procedures to localize the plausible level of the neuraxis at which synesthesia operates. In a discussion of brain development and neural plasticity, he addresses the possible ubiquity of neonatal synesthesia, the construction of metaphor, and whether everyone is unconsciously synesthetic. In the closing chapters, Cytowic considers synesthetes’ personalities, the apparent frequency of the trait among artists, and the subjective and illusory nature of what we take to be objective reality, particularly in the visual realm.
The second edition has been extensively revised, reflecting the recent flood of interest in synesthesia and new knowledge of human brain function and development. More than two-thirds of the material is new.
Customer Reviews:
Professional Quality.......2007-08-08
This book is very good reading which can reach even a a wide-scale public. The topics are interesting and convincing. The author comes over as a very communicative person. The product itself arrived within a very short period of time(within one week, shipment to Europe), surprisingly, and is well presented, good quality. In other words,good professional quality and well worth every penny.
Plenty of Depth.......2007-03-26
I read the first edition of this book almost 20 years ago and I was blown away. Dr. Cytowic is a master of depth; I learned so much from that book that has served me well for many years. I can't wait to read this second edition. It's not just about the phenomenon of synaesthesia, it's about the brain and how it works. At bottom I would call it an outstanding text on Neurophilosophy.
A fascinating overview.......2006-05-17
Back in the sixties and seventies this reviewer used to hear various individuals describe their ability to "see" musical notes while under the influence of LSD. This claim seemed outlandish at the time, but thanks to the efforts of a few researchers, the author of this book being one of them, it is now established that there are individuals who do have this ability, along with others who experience "cross-modality" in the senses. This is now called `synesthesia' and offers enormous challenges to those who seek a neuroscientific explanation of its occurrences. For those, such as this reviewer, who are curious about synesthesia, but are not experts in neuroscience or cognitive psychology, this book offers a comprehensive but yet understandable overview. It will no doubt also satisfy the needs of students and professional researchers.
Synesthesia ("joined sensation") is fascinating to contemplate, especially when reading the many anecdotal reports of people, called `synesthetes', that are included throughout the book. Some synesthetes are able to sense the color of someone's voice, while others are able to see music. The author does not want to label synesthetes as being abnormal however. Recognizing that it is rare statistically, he wants to view it as normal brain process that arises in a small number of individuals. Apparently, synesthetes are predominantly female, non-right-handed, have good memories, have in general difficulty with mathematics, but yet are highly intelligent. The author does refer to synesthetes as `cognitive fossils', which he says encapsulates best the notion that synesthesia involves the attaching of `meaning' to perceptions. It does not imply that synesthesia is "primitive" in the sense that one might be tempted to ascribe to those words.
The author describes the history of research in synesthesia early on in the book. An entire chapter is devoted to the experiences as synesthetes try to describe them. One patient, designated as patient S in the book, had, amazingly, a "pentamodal" synesthesia, wherein the stimulation of one sense causes synesthesia in the remaining four. The author lists, by percentage of individuals, the different types of synesthesia, and when viewing this table, it is readily apparent that `chromesthesia', or "colored hearing" is the most prevalent type. Several questions arise when reading about the different types of synesthesia. For example, for those synesthetes who see colored shapes when listen to music, do the shapes correspond to distinct musical notes or to musical groupings of some sort? And are the shapes the same whenever the same music is listened to? The author points to the constancy of synesthesias over the lifetime of the synesthetes. In addition, their intensity and occurrence is not subject to volition. Apparently the memory of synesthetes is enhanced via the use of the parallel sense as a mnemonic device. There are therefore advantages in having some form of synesthesia.
As synesthesia is an established fact it is of course natural to ask as to why it occurs and to study in detail its causes. Most of the book is devoted to these questions, both from a clinical standpoint and a neuroscientific one. As far as the region of the brain that supports synesthesia, the author argues that it is primarily in the left hemisphere and engages the temporal lobe and limbic structures. He discusses extensively the evidence for this. Readers who are not familiar with contemporary concepts in neuroscience may find the reading somewhat difficult, but the author includes some fairly detailed explanations of the anatomical features of the brain that are relevant for synesthesia. For this reviewer, the most important fact to be remembered from this discussion is that of the `module concept' of cerebral cortex architecture. A module consists of a well-defined group of approximately ten thousand cells with mutual connections that inhibit the cells of nearby modules. The modules are thus "localized" and the author believes that it is this property that explains synesthesia, rather than postulating a "cross-wiring" that occurs at the boundary between sensory entities. Central to the author's neuronal explanation of synesthesia is what he calls the `transmodal binding model', the latter in reference to the `transmodal areas'. These areas, which include the midtemporal cortex and the posterior parietal cortex, are responsible for giving meaning to words and transforming events into experiences, among other things.
Clearly synesthesia is a fascinating subject, and the author is the first to admit much more research needs to be done. A perusal of the literature on neuroscience or cognitive neuroscience reveals that there is not overwhelming interest in the subject at the present time. This will no doubt change, as there is more appreciation now in scientific circles of the subjective elements of human experience, such as human consciousness. A greater understanding of the brain is needed to decide just what lies behind synesthesia as well as human consciousness. Certainly there are more surprises ahead.
Absolutely Phenominal!!.......2003-08-26
I don't know where to begin. Cytowic is a master and genius of the world of research into synesthesia. This book contains studies and patient test results that show that synesthesia is real, and could become a breakthrough field of research and technology. I'm not even studying to be a neurologist or a medical doctor, but the factual evidences, graphs, and theories within this book captured the mind of this electrical engineering and music student. The book is absolutely thourough, as Cytowic's research must be. I especially like the quotes and stories he uses from his patients, as they attempt to explain the sensory phenomina which synesthetics see. Synesthesia, a phenominon where sound is seen with colors, taste is felt as shapes, etc. has recently been the focus of scientists alike, and has been featured in the Scientific American Magazine. The groundbreaking ideas and knowledge within this book is a must have for any intellectual, especially those with synesthesia. The technologies and discoveries that await the world of science hidden within the human mind, especially in synesthesia, are hard to fathom, but will be extremely important. That is what makes this book stand out against so many others. The ease at which Cytowic presents the data and theories is absolutely worth a five star rating. The book is absolutely worth buying, to understand the real phenomina in those around us, and within us. This book contains the roots of understanding to an infant world of research within the topic, which is bound for medical history!
Book Description
Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens is a unique look at the quirky neurological phenomenon known as synesthesia. Sometimes described as a blending of perceptions, synesthesia occurs when one of the five senses is stimulated, yet two respond. This collision of sights, smells, sounds and tastes make for an odd, yet extremely colorful way of thinking!Patricia Duffy draws from her own struggles and breakthroughs with synesthesia to help the reader better understand the condition. Along the way she introduces us to among other things, the different variations of synesthesia, brilliant synesthetes from the past, the likelihood of inheriting synesthesia, and the ongoing research devoted to it and its frequent connections to the creative process. In addition, the book describes some of the major theories as to why synesthesia occurs and offers accessible explanations. This is a must read for artists, writers, creative thinkers, as well as science and health buffs, or anyone generally intrigued by perception.An illuminating exploration into the mind of synesthete, Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens offers a rare glimpse at the thought process that mystifies so many.
Customer Reviews:
Great read about synesthesia!.......2007-05-19
If you are interested in all things synesthisia I can only recommend this book. This book appealed to me personally (being a synesthete myself) as the author is a synesthete as well. When I read this book I said to myself "finally!". I gulped this book down eagerly!
Destined to be a classic!.......2006-02-12
"Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens" is destined to be a classic. It is the first full-length, contemporary book by a synesthete about the phenomenon of synesthesia. Duffy describes her own experience as a synesthete as well as those of prominent artists, writers, scholars. She also tells of the pioneering neuroscientists who re-opened the field of synesthesia for academic study--and the promises this study holds for unlocking the mysteries of the brain.
The Colors of Emotions and Thoughts.......2005-01-10
This book is an original, off-beat and moving account of the world as viewed through an unusual lens. It shows the unique vision of the world of synesthetes--people who perceive words as having colors and music as having shapes. But in addition, the book tells of a very personal and touching relationship between a daughter who feels 'different' and a father who appreciates that difference. Recommended for those interested in science, psychology and things literary.
An Interesting Book..........2004-03-07
I first happed upon this book by first hearing about it through a slew of synastesia web sites I had come across in my search to understand what was going on in my own head.
I as a synasthete really loved reading her personal stories and reflections and some of the research that she's found along the way. And especially loved listening to people talk about their colored letters and how they differed from mine and the shapes people saw and how they were a brigher reflection of the shapes I dimly see listening to music.
The reason that this book got only four stars is because of the fact that she acts like there isn't really that much information on synesthesia so she starts repeating the things she's said before.
If you're willing to step into the world of synesthesia and seeing for yourself the things that we see then this is a good book to start from.
Informative and fun!.......2003-03-23
I first learned about the phenomenon of synesthesia in a review of Blue Cats in the journal Cerebrum, where Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen, a world authority on synesthesia says, "This book is a delight. As far as I know, this is the first time a synesthete has written about what it is like to live with this neurological condition - one in which the senses are intermingled, so that the spoken word, "cat", for example, may consistently be experienced as blue." The review prompted me to get the book, which opened my eyes to the very different ways that people can perceive the world. I recommend `Blue Cats'
Average customer rating:
- Decent, though seemingly embittered
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Bright Colors Falsely Seen: Synaesthesia and the Search for Transcendental Knowledge
Kevin T. Dann
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The Man Who Tasted Shapes (Bradford Books)
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Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses - Second Edition
ASIN: 0300066198 |
Book Description
Synaesthesia, a phenomenon known to science for over a century, is a rare form of perception in which one sense may respond to stimuli received by other senses--as in "color hearing." This book provides the first history of synaesthesia and of the controversies about its significance. Kevin Dann offers new perspectives on this unusual mode of perception and its relation to the evolution of human consciousness. .
Customer Reviews:
Decent, though seemingly embittered.......2003-06-04
Speaking as a polymodal synesthete with eidetic memory, I found this work interesting (in terms of tracing synesthesia in art and literature from Baudelaire and the Romantics to Nabokov and the present day), but with an infused tonality of bitterness (lacking in empathic/human quality). After a certain point, it becomes clear that the author is biased toward a focus on the meaninglessness of these modes of perception, discounting them as relevant thought processes. Another view from the "outside", providing yet more separation between the synesthete and the non-synesthete... but I'm certain my opinion could be deconstructed by the views presented in this book. Recommended for historical content, and very basic information. Ignore the sweeping generalizations.
Average customer rating:
- I Tasted a Hint of Soap Box...
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Man Who Tasted Shapes: A Bizarre Med. Mystery Offers Rev. Insight Into Emotions &
Richard Cytowic
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
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Book Description
The world's scientific expert on cross-sensory perception givesa layman's account of an incredible neurological situation--hearingcolors, tasting shapes, and seeing sounds. Welcome to the world ofsynesthesia.
Customer Reviews:
I Tasted a Hint of Soap Box..........1997-04-09
I eagerly snatched this book off the shelf when I learned of it -- synesthesia is a fascinating subject with too few works devoted to it -- but Dr. Cytowic's tendency to climb onto his soap box took much of the potential pleasure out of "The Man Who Tasted Shapes". We are given details about only two people with the condition, and one of those only glancingly. The rest of the book is either written in coy dialogue form (taking scores of pages to relate an incident easily expressed in a paragraph -- padding, anyone?) or else denouncing other scientists' viewpoints. This is no "Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" [by Oliver Sacks], as the title seems to imply. I was left hungering to know more about the actual subject: synesthesia. I did not necessarily disagree with Dr. Cytowic's views, but they seemed to have pre-empted another book already in progress.
Janet Coleman Sides
Average customer rating:
- Excellent Description of Experiments
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Synesthesia: Perspectives from Cognitive Neuroscience
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses - Second Edition
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Synaesthesia: Classic and Contemporary Readings
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Synaesthesia: The Strangest Thing
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A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness: From Impostor Poodles to Purple Numbers
ASIN: 019516623X |
Book Description
Owing to its bizarre nature and its implications for understanding how brains work, synesthesia has recently received a lot of attention in the popular press and motivated a great deal of research and discussion among scientists. The questions generated by these two communities are intriguing: Does the synesthetic phenomenon require awareness and attention? How does a feature that is not present become bound to one that is? Does synesthesia develop or is it hard wired? Should it change our way of thinking about perceptual experience in general? What is its value in understanding perceptual systems as a whole? This volume brings together a distinguished group of investigators from diverse backgrounds--among them neuroscientists, novelists, and synesthetes themselves--who provide fascinating answers to these questions. Although each approaches synesthesia from a very different perspective, and each was curious about and investigated synesthesia for very different reasons, the similarities between their work cannot be ignored. The research presented in this volume demonstrates that it is no longer reasonable to ask whether or not synesthesia is real--we must now ask how we can account for it from cognitive, neurobiological, developmental, and evolutionary perspectives. This book will be important reading for any scientist interested in brain and mind, not to mention synesthetes themselves, and others who might be wondering what all the fuss is about.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Description of Experiments.......2006-05-03
If you are looking for a general overview of the concept of synesthesia, I would not recommend this book. This book is instead for the serious student or professional who is interested in the field of synesthesia and what research is being done to define and document it. The book primarily consists of highly detailed descriptions the various experiments done on synesthetes (people who experience synesthesia) and the outcomes of those experiments.
Further, the book almost entirely dicsusses grapheme-color synesthesia, or synesthesia experienced by associating numbers and letters with specific colors. Other forms of synesthesia are mentioned, but all of the experiments appear to be related to the above-mentioned version of the experience. Finally, the book is appropriately deadpan, offering only that this and that experiment suggests this and that. There is no emphasis whatsoever on spiritual issues or anything "New Age."
The book is well-organized and articulate, but highly technical while being only mildly conceptual. Most of the experiments mentioned define what synesthesia is *not* rather than what it is. Its most important contribution is the emphasis on describing the machines used to do experiments as well as the non-mechanical experiments (having synesthetes read combinations of numbers on black-and-white or color surfaces, for example) used to define the condition.
The fact that the book does not ultimately define the properties of synesthesia is perfectly understandable considering the limitations of how we can study it at this time. The explanations of how the human brain and mind are defined by scientists are concise and certainly useful for both scientists and philosophers as well as more technically-minded artists. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the study of human perception.
Book Description
Synaesthesia is a condition in which a stimulus in one sensory modality automatically triggers a perceptual experience in another. For example, on hearing a sound, the person immediately sees a color. How does this happen? Is it a real phenomenon? Why do some people develop this condition and not others? And might synaesthesia unlock important clues about the organization of the normal brain? This volume brings together what is known about this fascinating neurological condition. The above questions, and new issues arising from the recent wave of cognitive neuroscientific research into synaesthesia, are debated in a series of chapters by leading authorities in the field. The book will be of great interest to researchers and students in the cognitive neurosciences, and is intended to spark further investigation into this relatively neglected, extraordinary phenomenon.
Customer Reviews:
An interesting and very diverse book on synaesthesia.......1999-10-15
Just like most books of collected readings, Classic and Contemp. Readings presents many conflicting view points that can either confuse the reader or stimulate the reader (hopefully both). Some of the readings are relatively old so the language and ideas are a little archaic. All in all however the diverse readings represent a good majority of the ideas behind synaesthesia. This book is for serious exploration into synaesthesia.
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