September 25: Best Storyteller, "Struck by Genius," My Book Bag

"Charlotte is the best storyteller I ever heard," said Fern, poking her dish towel into a cereal bowl.

Yes, the little spider does spin a good yarn (pun intended).  Charlotte tells stories about the Brooklyn Bridge and flying spiders and fish trapped in spiderwebs.  Her little narratives keep all residents of the Zuckerman barn in rapt attention.


This evening, my book club met to discuss the memoir Struck by Genius by Jason Padgett and Maureen Seaberg.  The book chronicles Padgett's traumatic brain injury and its aftermath.  Padgett suffers from PTSD, OCD, and depression as a result.  He also develops acquired savant syndrome and mathematical synesthesia.  He is the only person in the world to have both of these gifts.

What this means is that, when Padgett steps into the bathroom in the morning and turns on the faucet, he sees the geometry of the water falling into the sink, swirling down the drain.  His interaction with the world is seen through this incredible geometric lens.  Where we see leaves in trees, Padgett sees fractals and versions of the irrational number pi.

He is also able to understand complex mathematical concepts and ideas intuitively it seems.  Padgett is transformed from a guy who hated math in high school into a mathematical savant able to discuss the number pi and its importance to the very structure of the universe.  He can make pi sound like the lost Ark of the Covenant.

His tale is incredible, and Padgett and Seaberg tell it with great beauty.  While the discussions of theoretical math may turn some readers off, they are tempered with the human elements of narrative:  Padgett's self-imposed exile; his love affair with his wife, Elena; his conversations with ex-cons and cerebral palsy sufferers about the importance of pi.  The authors link the two sides of Padgett's life together, showing how one (synesthesia, acquired savant syndrome) influences the other (being a husband, father, and victim of a traumatic brain injury) and vice versa.

It's a hard sell, but Seaberg and Padgett are great salespeople.

And that's what is in Saint Marty's book bag tonight.

How Jason Padgett sees the world