The ten people in one million who are synaesthetes are born into a world where one sensation (e.g. sound) conjures up one or more others (e.g. taste or colour). Although scientists have known about synaesthesia for two hundred years, until recently the condition has remained a mystery. Extensive experiments with more than forty synaesthetes led Richard Cytowic to an explanation of synaesthesia that emphasized the primacy of emotion over reason. In this medical detective adventure he reveals the brain to be an active explorer and offers a new view of what it means to be human that turns upside...

The approach in this book is direct and simple. The author deals only with nerve block for the most common pain syndromes that the average practitioner will encounter frequently. This option is highly effective, but often not used simply because oral analgesics and anti-inflammatories are more familiar methods. The clear writing style leads step-by-step to the appropriate nerve block procedure. The author also discusses succinctly practical psychological issues of pain, placebos, etc.

Synesthesia comes from the Greek syn (meaning union) and aisthesis (sensation), literally interpreted as a joining of the senses. Synesthesia is an involuntary joining in which the real information from one sense is joined or accompanies a perception in another. Dr. Cytowic reports extensive research into the physical, psychological, neural, and familial background of a group of synesthets. His findings form the first complete picture of the brain mechanisms that underlie this remarkable perceptual experience. His research demonstrates that this rare condition is brain-based and...

An accessible, concise primer on the neurological trait of synesthesia--vividly felt sensory couplings--by a founder of the field.