Struck by Genius, Jason Padgett
Struck by Genius, Jason Padgett
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Struck by Genius
How a Brain Injury Made Me a Mathematical Marvel

Author: Jason Padgett, Maureen Ann Seaberg

Narrator: Jason Padgett

Unabridged: 7 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/22/2014


Synopsis

The remarkable story of an ordinary man who was transformed when a traumatic injury left him with an extraordinary giftNo one sees the world as Jason Padgett does. Water pours from the faucet in crystalline patterns, numbers call to mind distinct geometric shapes, and intricate fractal patterns emerge from the movement of tree branches, revealing the intrinsic mathematical designs hidden in the objects around us.Yet Padgett wasn’t born this way. Twelve years ago, he had never made it past pre-algebra. But a violent mugging forever altered the way his brain works, giving him unique gifts. His ability to understand math and physics skyrocketed, and he developed the astonishing ability to draw the complex geometric shapes he saw everywhere. His stunning, mathematically precise artwork illustrates his intuitive understanding of complex mathematics.The first documented case of acquired savant syndrome with mathematical synesthesia, Padgett is a medical marvel. Struck by Genius recounts how he overcame huge setbacks and embraced his new mind. Along the way he fell in love, found joy in numbers, and spent plenty of time having his head examined. Like Born on a Blue Day and My Stroke of Insight, his singular story reveals the wondrous potential of the human brain.

About Jason Padgett

Jason Padgett is an aspiring number theorist and mathematician with acquired savant syndrome and synesthesia. He is currently the manager of three futon stores in Tacoma, Washington. His art, drawings of the grids and fractals he sees synesthetically, won Best International Newcomer at the Artoconecto A-B(o)MB show at the Bakehouse Art Complex in 2008. Struck by Genius is his first book.

About Maureen Ann Seaberg

Maureen Seaberg is an author with several forms of synesthesia and is an expert synesthesia blogger for Psychology Today. She has written for numerous publications, including the New York Times; the Daily Beast; the Huffington Post; O, the Oprah Magazine; and ESPN: The Magazine. She has appeared on MSNBC, PBS, and The Lisa Oz Show on Oprah Radio. A native New Yorker, she currently resides in the city.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Nancy on May 19, 2014

On a September night in 2002, Jason Padgett was brutally beaten outside a bar. He suffered a traumatic brain injury that literally turned him into a different person. Before the crime, he was a happy-go-lucky, 31-year-old bar-hopping player. Afterward, he became a "mathematical marvel," as the subti......more

Goodreads review by Walt on February 08, 2017

Interesting, and the author runs a store in Tacoma.......more

Goodreads review by Ann on August 08, 2014

This book is the story of a series of remarkable transformations. We meet Jason Bladgett as a bar-hopping gym rat with a rather messy family life. During one of those bar expeditions, he is violently mugged, suffering a traumatic brain injury. When he recovers, he is suddenly able to see beautiful a......more

Goodreads review by Allison on March 27, 2016

I love books about the workings of the human mind, and the true story of a party boy who becomes a mathematical genius after surviving a mugging seemed like it was right up my alley. Unfortunately his newly-discovered genius did not extend to writing, and even with a co-author, the writing was labor......more

Goodreads review by Alison on May 04, 2015

Jason Padgett is a very ordinary guy - he gets mugged outside a bar one night, and his head injuries result savant syndrome, coupled with synasthesia. Plenty of info about synesthesia, the workings of the brain, and so on. Interesting.......more