Gravy's Reading of The Toaster Oven Mocks Me by Steve Margolis

[Bigwig1973]

Finished!

It contained some things that I was unaware of (types of synesthesia; some of the author's synesthesia actually disappearing for a time, which I've never heard of before), but was overall more just a general recounting of the author's life, who just happens to be a synesthete. I do not like the author at all. To use the old joke; 'if you looked up toxic masculinity in the dictionary, you'd see a picture of this author.'
He literally lied to his wife for at least ten years. I can't even.

Anyway, there are much better memoirs that center synesthesia much more, and with much more information about it. This one was worth reading only because it was short and easy to read. I still only gave it a 1 (and kind of wished I could give it a zero). I'm glad I'm done.

On to the next!

Now I want to know what he lied to his wife about - the synesthesia? There's an episode of "House" called "The Right Stuff" that deals with synesthesia. I always wondered if people who are really good artists are more prone to things like synesthesia. When I draw, unless it's something I've drawn a lot, I prefer to look at pictures and draw from that. Some people can remember things and duplicate them very well, simply from memory. Also, diabetics will sometimes have issues with seeing things. So, artistic diabetics are more prone to synesthesia? It seems like a bit of a leap, but possibly! Thanks for sharing information about the book - I almost want to read it because he seems like such a jerk - almost...

Yes, it was about his synesthesia, but he also didn't tell her when he fell into a debilitating bout of depression, and when his synesthesia actually disappeared (his theory was it was due to the depression, but could've been a number of things, all of which I think he should've been open about. (Maybe that's just me, but I get the feeling he would expect to be told if the roles were reversed, so...)

I believe there's a theory that Van Gogh was a synesthete. A good number of musicians have said they have synesthesia. It does indeed seem to be a pattern.

I'm fascinated by the sheer diversity in how all of our brains work. Like the difference between those who can and those who can't 'see' in their minds, and things like time blindness, etc. We all walk around under the assumption that everybody's brains work in a fairly similar way to our own, but it's just not the case, and I love learning about all the variation.

I had never heard of time blindness, but I did work with someone who marked each day off on the calendar when the shift started. I thought it a bit final - like this day can never exist again, but that was not the reason they did it (I asked ), it helped them keep track of the date. I've also heard of people who can wake themselves up at a certain time each day and people who can sleep for a certain amount of time and then wake up. I imagine this quality would be useful in military or other more normal situations. Synesthesia in artists seems to make more sense than synesthesia in musicians. People watching is fun!

[Gravy]

Yes! I totally agree.


The whole thing is just so interesting!

[Stephanie Runyon]

My son is autistic, PDD-NOS and has synesthesia. I think the synesthesia helps him learn because using ticking clock he picks up whatever his work he is doing. If he can't hear anything he loses track of time. At 24 years old, his sense of time is last week. He also integrates people into his memories. For example: Last week he believes I went with him to a theme park when it was his dad that took him 4 years ago.