Daniel Tammet draws out the inner worlds of nine extraordinary, neurodivergent lives from around the globe. A nonverbal man from Boston explores body language, gesture by eloquent gesture, in his mother's yoga classes. A Japanese researcher in psychology sets out to measure loneliness while drawing on her own experience of autism. From a Fields Medal-winning mathematician to a murder detective, a pioneering surgeon to a bestselling novelist, each is remarkable in their field, and each is changing how the world sees those on the spectrum.
Lyrically drawn portraits ... The ensemble of nine represents a dedicated effort by Mr. Tammet to bring nuance and sympathetic insight to his subjects’ experiences of being cognitively different and misunderstood ... A skilled writer, Mr. Tammet frequently drops the stance of detached narrator to adopt the perspective of his subjects.
Startling and often beautiful ... I found each story in Nine Minds so moving that they became, in my mind, a series of Joseph Campbell-like Hero’s Journeys, where each character traveled through a series of adventures, trials and temptations and emerged from the narrative somehow changed.
The strength of Tammet’s Nine Minds: Inner lives on the spectrum lies not only in his personal perspective, but also in his simple strategy of asking people who live with autism, or people who know them, to tell him frankly what it’s like ... Matter-of-fact.
