Nine Minds: Inner Lives On The Spectrum

A Waterstones Best Popular Science Book of 2024 Pick - from the bestselling author of BORN ON A BLUE DAY and THINKING IN NUMBERS A Japanese researcher in psychology sets out to measure loneliness while drawing on her own experience of autism. A quirky boy growing up in 1950s Ottawa sows the seeds of his future Hollywood stardom. In the US, a non-verbal man explores body language, gesture by eloquent gesture, in his mother's yoga classes. Nine Minds delves into the extraordinary lives of nine neurodivergent men and women from around the globe. 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. Exploding the tired stereotypes of autism, Daniel Tammet - acclaimed author and an autistic savant himself - reaches across the divides of age, gender, sexuality and nationality to draw out the inner worlds of his subjects. Telling stories as richly diverse as the spectrum itself, this illuminating, life-affirming work of narrative nonfiction celebrates the power and beauty of the neurodivergent mind, and the daring freedom with which these individuals have built their lives. Review: Tammet's books about words and numbers are bursting with feeling and possibility ... in telling the fictionalised tales of nine real, well-known autistic people, he demolishes the autism myths that originated with medics around 90 years ago and [have since] migrated to the public imagination -- Helen Brown * Sunday Telegraph * Over two decades Daniel Tammet has narrated the neurodivergent experience and in his deeply researched Nine Minds he breaks new ground, turning a novelistic eye to autistic lives as compelling as any in fiction. The result is a book as beautiful as the minds it portrays -- Amy Tan, author of THE JOY LUCK CLUB Tammet is able to live in a "thought-world of numbers", and yet he is also a writer whose qualities contradict the oft-made assumption that autism and empathy cannot coexist within the same mind. Like a novelist, he enters his characters' heads ; he reconstructs dialogue and shifts time and place ... he celebrates the gifts and talents of autistic people, while exploring the richness of their desires and dreams -- Edward Posnett * Guardian * Profiling nine different [neurodivergent] individuals, from the young Irish award-winning novelist Naoise Dolan to the psychologist Dr Kana Grace, Nine Minds concentrates on what these different individuals have achieved and their passions, rather than their diagnosis ... the research is clearly painstaking, and Nine Minds is eye opening in showing that those with neurodivergence have excelled far beyond the fields we usually think of -- Glenda Cooper * Mail on Sunday * Nine Minds is a celebration of autistic talent and depth, but Tammet also writes of 'defying outdated prejudices'. It is a sad illustration of their potency that in 2024 this book should feel so fresh -- Kathleen Taylor * TLS * It's so interesting to hear Daniel's story ... he's an undoubtable pioneer and has done so much to forward our understanding of people on the spectrum. He takes a look at some very brilliant people around the world, also on the spectrum. The award-winning writer ... is pretty famous, even Kate Bush wrote a song about him! -- Becky Want * The Late Show, BBC 2 * Beautifully rendered, painstakingly researched, and completely absorbing, Nine Minds offers something that autistic people urgently need: it humanises us -- Katherine May, author of WINTERING and ENCHANTMENT Lyrically drawn portraits, detailed and vivid in depicting the circumstances of each life. A skilled writer, Tammet adopts the perspective of his subjects, looking out at their worlds from inside, imagining their thoughts and embodying their joy, their fear, their moments of relief -- John Donvan * Wall Street Journal * Tammet, who has written nine other books, including his memoir Born on a Blue Day, skilfully gives each portrait colour and personality so they zip along, with loves, joys and challenges effortlessly woven together in an engaging but sensitive style -- Eleanor Parsons * New Scientist * It is possible that because Tammet experiences the world so differently, he conveys difference so powerfully in others. Here, he has taken the lives of nine extraordinary autistic men and women and given us the kind of insight into neurodivergence that I haven't read since Oliver Sacks's An Anthropologist on Mars' -- Judith Newman * Washington Post * A study of remarkable people on the spectrum and their dazzling accomplishments. Written with insight, generosity, compassion and narrative energy, Tammet's exquisite portraits remind us that the variety of brains is every bit as essential as any other form of diversity that sustains the planet -- Andrew Solomon, author of FAR FROM THE TREE [Tammet] is challenging the stereotypes of autism and it's fascinating -- Tina Daheley * Jeremy Vine Show, BBC 2 * In Nine Minds, Daniel Tammet, an autistic savant and author of Born on a Blue Day, reports on the unique lives and cognitive differences of nine neurodivergent people. This fascinating book engages by imaginatively entering its subjects' inner worlds. Each profile is based on hours of interviews. Readers will discover a spectrum filled with valuable different kinds of minds -- Temple Grandin, author of THE AUTISTIC BRAIN From a pioneering surgeon to a bestselling novelist, the nine minds explored in Tammet's revelatory study of the complexity and benefits of autism cast a life on the spectrum in an entirely new light -- Waterstones Best Popular Science Books of the Year 2024 Tammet is a writer with the gumption and wit to extend a transformative experience of autism ... through playful [and] rhythmically impactful prose. Nine Minds gets under the skin ... by keying into difference from the perspective of interviewees who find themselves on the spectrum -- Matthew Hawkins * Morning Star * Beautiful and intimate and mind-expanding. We generally presume that everyone's inner life is like our own; only rarely do we get to dive deeply into the mind of another, much less nine of them. Tammet gives us this opportunity with his characteristic eloquence, insight, and grace -- David Eagleman, neurologist and author of INCOGNITO and LIVEWIRED Daniel Tammet's wonderful portraits of autistic people's inner lives illustrate the range of neurodivergent talents and experiences, and celebrate human cognitive diversity -- Simon Baron-Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University, author of THE PATTERN SEEKERS Beautifully written and fascinating, Nine Minds takes us deep into the inner lives of nine extraordinary people. With eloquence and sensitivity, Daniel Tammet transcends stereotypes and shows us different facets of neurodivergence. I loved this book -- Angie Kim, author of HAPPINESS FALLS There are more than nine minds in this book, there are ten: Daniel Tammet's own mind is there on every page, in the narrative flow, the wordplay and the empathy for his subjects. Nine Minds reminds us of the diversity within neurodiversity, and of the common challenges that the neurodivergent face. A fine contribution to the growing body of work by and about people who think differently. -- Graeme Simsion, author of THE ROSIE PROJECT This book is a meeting of minds, in all their vast capacity, passionate commitments, and varied flavours - a profound act of appreciation of the many unexpected gifts of neurodivergence -- Emma Donoghue, author of ROOM, THE WONDER and THE PULL OF THE STARS With the release of Born on a Blue Day, Daniel Tammet showed readers the extraordinary power of his autistic mind. Today, with Nine Minds, he explores the challenges, cognitive processes, and life goals of other neurodivergent thinkers. He reveals the exceptionality they bring to the world by finding their ways in life. There are costs for being "born different" but society's benefit from the existence of neurodivergent people is incalculable and incredibly diverse. These stories offer glimpses into parts of the human experience most people never see, yet we are all touched by neurodiversity every day, and we are better for it. -- John Elder Robison, author of BE DIFFERENT As Daniel Tammet's short sentences morph and lengthen into a kind of literary portraiture, you may find unique insights into autism and new aspects of our shared humanity. -- Jory Fleming, author of HOW TO BE HUMAN Praise for Daniel Tammet * : * Remarkable * Independent on Sunday * Tammet's writing is eloquent and moving but always uncomplicated * Radio Times * A memoir of outstanding lucidity and charm * Sunday Times * A charmingly precise, tenderly honest account * Daily Express * So elegantly written * Daily Telegraph * Author Biography: Daniel Tammet is the subject of the award-winning television documentary, The Boy with the Incredible Brain, as well as a BBC Radio 4 documentary, Two Poets (with Les Murray) and the Kate Bush song, Pi. He is the author of nine books, including the memoir Born on a Blue Day. His writing has appeared in Esquire, The Times Literary Supplement, The Guardian, Aeon and Quadrant, and his books have been translated into thirty languages. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2012, and awarded an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, The Open University, in 2023. Daniel Tammet lives in Paris.