We watched the show Brainman on the Science Channel when it was first broadcast a couple of years ago. Daniel Tammet is a high-functioning autistic person; technically, he's got Asperger's Syndrome. This is a fascinating book about how his brain works. He's actually quite clear about how he makes connections between different things in his mind. His main difference from the 'norm' is that he perceives numbers as having shapes, and almost personalities. He is able to picture mathematical formulae in a way that involves shapes and texture rather than number strings.
He details his childhood and early adulthood, and then traces his trip to the U.S. to meet Kim Peek, the man on whom Dustin Hoffman based his Rainman character. The trip was organized by the people taping what eventually became the show we saw. Fascinating, both his extraordinary abilities, and the generally simple things he has difficulty accomplishing.
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