I’m currently reading The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni. The premise of the book is fascinating: as a young man, Mike Brooks suffered a brain injury which resulted in acquired savant syndrome. “He had a photographic memory that allowed him to reproduce structures and images with perfect recall and an ability to do instant numerical calculations, including calendar counting, reciting pi places into the thousands, and calling up numerical solutions to complex equations in seconds.”
I’ll talk more about the book when I’ve finished it (I have some reservations about the plot line right now) but the fascinating thing is- acquired savant syndrome is a real thing. It’s incredibly rare, but regular, ordinary people have been known to acquire extraordinary skills in math, music, and art after a head injury alters their brain.
Does this mean that my brain is actually capable of incredible mathematical feats? Is mathematical genius hidden in my brain, just waiting for a sharp knock to unlock it? I don’t mean to make light of brain injuries- I know that’s a serious subject. But this particular type of brain injury is intriguing.
In the book I read before this, Death’s End by Cixin Liu, there’s a part of the story where the characters experience life in four dimensional space. Unlike acquired savant syndrome, this is obviously entirely fictional. No one in real life has entered four dimensional space (or- at least that I know of) but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. ‘The world exists in three dimensions”; “I’m terrible at math”; are these “truths” really true?
Did you know that some insects and birds can see patterns on leaves and plants that we can’t see? We think a leaf is green- but that’s only what our minds are perceiving. Other eyes see something else.
Sometimes I like to challenge my own beliefs- am I sure this is true? Could something else be true if I looked at it in a different way? Are the way things seem the way they really are? Is my brain actually capable of reciting pi into the thousands (ummm… on that last one I’m going to have to say no way, Jose.)
Thanks for indulging my Deep Thoughts!
Have you read anything lately that really fascinated you?
Top photo by Sachin Khadka on Unsplash
