Struck by Genius: How a Brain Injury Made Me a Mathematical Marvel
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To our editor, the brilliant Courtney Young: You not only chose this story but elevated it with your high professional standards, elegant ideas, and sharp vision and focus. Thank you for such clarity and inspiration.
To everyone at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, especially Naomi Gibbs and Beth Burleigh Fuller: We are so grateful for the help and investment from the start. To our copyeditor, the amazing and congenial Tracy Roe: You made everything more beautiful. We thank you for teaching us so much.
To Amanda and Dr. Paolo Padoan, Lynn Goode, Deborah Peterson, Dr. William C. Bushell, Dr. Neil Theise, Dr. William Lee, and Siobhan O’Leary—many thanks for reading and friendship and wisdom along the way.
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Index
acquired savant syndrome
artificially induced, [>]–[>]
body language awareness and, [>]–[>]
Brogaard’s theory on, [>]
discovery of, [>]–[>]
examples of, [>]–[>]
as halfway savants, [>], [>]
innate skills and, [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]
from TBIs, [>]–[>], [>]
technology, [>]–[>]
Treffer’s theory on, [>], [>]–[>], [>], [>], [>]
adrenaline, [>]
aesthetics, [>]–[>]
agoraphobia, [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]
Alaska oil fields, [>]–[>]
Amato, Derek, [>]
American Synesthesia Association (ASA), [>]
anatomy
geometry of, [>]–[>], [>], [>]
quantum level optics and, [>]–[>]
anesthetization, [>]
Angela (friend)
at assault, [>]–[>]
new friendship of, [>]–[>]
old friendship of, [>]–[>]
antidepressants, [>]–[>]
anxiety, [>]–[>], [>]. See also stress
Archimedes, [>], [>]
Arizona, University of, Center for Consciousness Studies, [>]–[>]
art shows, [>]–[>]
artists. See also drawings
savant, [>]–[>], [>]
synesthete, [>]
ASA. See American Synesthesia Association
Australia, University of Sydney, Centre for the Mind, [>]
autistic savantism, [>], [>]–[>]
Ayotte, Greg, [>]
back injuries, [>], [>]–[>]
Barnsley, Michael Fielding, [>]
Baron-Cohen, Simon, [>]
Barrio, Jorge, [>]–[>]
Baylor, Denis, [>]
beauty, [>]–[>]
Beckmann, Petr, [>]–[>]
Berners-Lee, Timothy, [>]
Bialek, William, [>]
bipolar disorder, [>]–[>], [>]
body language awareness, [>]–[>]
boredom, [>], [>]
Born on a Blue Day (Tammet), [>]
BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) Initiative, [>]–[>]
brain injury. See neuroscience; traumatic brain injuries
Brame, David, [>]
Brogaard, Berit
meeting, [>]–[>], [>]
synesthesia testing by, [>]–[>]
theories of, [>], [>]
Bushell, William C., [>]–[>]
Cailliau, Robert, [>]
calculus, [>], [>]
California, University of, Irvine, [>]
celebrities, synesthete, [>]
cerebral palsy, [>]–[>]
Charlie Daniels Band, [>]
children, synesthesia in, [>], [>]
Cicoria, Tony, [>]–[>]
circles, [>]–[>]. See also pi
Clarke, Arthur C., [>]–[>]
Clemons, Alonzo, [>]–[>], [>]
colors
music as, [>], [>]–[>]
numbers as, [>]–[>], [>]
pain as, [>], [>]
The Colours of Infinity, [>]–[>]
communication
body language, [>]–[>]
cerebral palsy, [>]–[>]
improvement in, [>]
math conversations, [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
after TBIs, [>]
concussions, [>]–[>], [>]. See also traumatic brain injuries
conference. See Stockholm consciousness conference
consciousness
conference, [>], [>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
enlightenment, [>]–[>]
quantum foam and, [>]
synesthesia and, [>]
Consciousness Chronicles, [>]
Cordova, Rick, [>]
cosine waves, [>]
cosmology, [>]–[>]. See also universe
creation, [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>]
creativity cap, [>]–[>]
Crichton, John (fictional), [>]
Cytowic, Richard, [>]–[>], [>]
Day, Nick, [>]–[>], [>]
decision making, [>], [>]
depression, [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>]
“The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” [>]
Dilaudid, [>]
distraction, pain management by, [>], [>]
documentaries, [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
Dōgen (Zen master), [>]
Doppler effect, [>]
dorsal stream, [>]
Down, John Langdon, [>]–[>]
drawings
complexity of, [>]
inability to make, [>], [>]
innate skills for, [>]
in international art shows, [>]–[>]
meditation-induced, [>]–[>]
to music, [>]
nautilus, [>]–[>]
neurologist’s view of, [>]–[>]
pentagon, [>]–[>]
pi, [>]–[>]
prime numbers, [>]–[>]
of religious concepts, [>]
sharing, [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
Stockholm conference presentation of, [>]–[>]
of supernovas, [>]–[>]
synesthesia testing with, [>]–[>]
theory of relativity, [>]
video capture of, [>]–[>]
wave-particle duality, [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
drugs
antidepressant, [>]–[>]
pain management by, [>], [>]
synesthesia induced by, [>]–[>]
Duffy, Patricia Lynne, [>]–[>]
Eagleman, David, [>]–[>]
Eiffel, Gustave, [>]
Einstein, Albert, [>], [>], [>]
emotion
body language awareness and, [>]
boredom, [>], [>]
mirror-touch synesthesia of, [>]
pain management, [>]–[>]
enlightenment, [>]–[>]
epinephrine, [>]
exercise
adrenaline from, [>]
for pain management, [>]–[>]
Farscape, [>]
fasciculation syndrome, [>], [>]–[>]
females, savant, [>]
Feynman, Richard, [>]
fight-or-flight response, [>], [>]
Finland, synesthesia testing in, [>]–[>]
Firman, Carrie C., [>], [>]
fMRIs (functional magnetic resonance imaging), [>], [>], [>]–[>]
The Fractal Geometry of Nature (Mandelbrot), [>]
fractals
applications of, [>], [>]
discovery of, [>]–[>]
importance of,
[>]–[>], [>]
mathematics of, [>]
nautilus, [>], [>]–[>], [>]–[>]
of particle fusion, [>]–[>]
quantum foam and, [>]–[>]
of space-time, [>]–[>]
universe as, [>]–[>], [>]
free will, [>]
functional magnetic resonance imaging. See fMRIs
fusion, particle, [>]–[>]
Futon Gallery, [>]. See also Planet Futon
Gage, Phineas, [>]–[>]
Galilei, Galileo, [>]
genetic memory, [>], [>]–[>], [>]
geometry. See also fractals
of anatomy, [>]–[>], [>], [>]
beauty of, [>]–[>]
of circles, [>]–[>]
computer-assisted, [>]–[>], [>], [>]
dreams of, [>]
drug-induced visions of, [>]–[>]
mathematics versus, [>]
of music, [>]
of numbers, [>]–[>], [>], [>]–[>], [>]
of particle fusion, [>]–[>]
of pentagons, [>]–[>]
of pi, [>], [>]–[>]
of pixels, [>]–[>]
of Planck length, [>]–[>], [>], [>]