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The Man Who Tasted Shapes

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Originally published in 1993, this book is a popularization of Dr. Cytowic's more detailed 1989 book Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses. At the time it was published, it was of some value in bringing the topic of synesthesia to greater attention among both scholars and the general public. Dr. Cytowic thus gets an A for public education efforts, but a failing grade for accomplishment.

The book suffers from an unwarrantedly grandiose and revelatory style, and an amateurish presentation of the psychological side of the topic. Now, ten years later, many articles and books on synesthesia have come out. None of them corroborate the limbic theory of synesthesia Dr. Cytowic presents, nor do they echo his interpretation of synesthesia as an example of emotion taking precedence over reason. For the most part, this new literature offers a much better place to start understanding synesthesia than this book.

In the revised (2002) edition of Cytowic's other book Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses, he goes some way towards taking account of these new developments; this new edition is worthwhile, but should definitely be balanced with other books on synesthesia. The Man Who Tasted Shapes, however, is no longer worth much attention.

This is a truly great book. I enjoyed ever word on the page. Not only is it a story of a life but it teaches you about a very interesting abnormality. It goes into depth and describes at a simple enough level what is going on to cause it. It is funny and informative all in one. Not only that but it criticizes the medical community who tried to hold him back. It puts some insight into the dependents of technology in todays society.

One thing is clear upon reading this book: Richard Cytowic, M.D., is no Oliver Sacks. Though, as will be seen, there is much in here to recommend itself, his stilted reproduction of conversations which or may not have taken place and his 'Creative Fiction 100' characterizations (i.e., Dr. Wood's continual inhalation of smoke or food) strike the experienced reader as painfully contrived, as though Cytowic were doing his level best to imitate Sacks and reach that always-elusive 'wider audience'.

On the other hand, as Cytowic describes his quest to make sense of his friend's synesthesia (the man for whom gustatory sensations were experienced as the contours, edges, textures, and surface temperatures of external objects), the reader is also drawn into the mystery. One sense experienced as another simply does not compute in our Newtonian each-thing-in-its-place universe. Along with Cytowic, the reader is made to wonder, 'How can this be?' Cytowic picks up clues along the way until he is led to 'seeing the primacy of emotion over reason; the impossibility of a purely "objective" point of view; the force of intuitive knowledge; and why affirming personal experience yields a more satisfying understanding than analyzing what something "means" ' (7).

Cytowic moves through the years inexorably but somewhat leisurely after these answers. At last, with the help of a thick caseload of personal testimonies and controlled tests, he narrows down the subjective nature of the experience enough to declare his conclusion that 'synesthesia is actually a normal brain function in every one of us, but that its workings reach conscious awareness in only a handful' (166, italics in original text). Cytowic 'sees' (and perhaps smells, tastes, and hears!) synesthetes as 'cognitive fossils' (167) who still experience the senses united as did our mammalian forebears. For the rest of us, this continuing brain process has become unconscious. The key, for Cytowic is emotion which 'seems to reside at the interface between that part of our self which is accessible to awareness and that part which is not' (167).

It is when he examines the neurological evidence that his hypotheses are borne out. The climax of the detective work is reached when he gets his friend inside a regional cerebral blood flow scanner (CBF) where, with the help of a technical expert and doses of amyl nitrate (to accentuate his friend's synesthesia), he is shocked to discover that as his friend experienced the deep pleasure of synesthesia in the machine his cerebral cortex appeared to shut down almost entirely. Simultaneously, his limbic system and hippocampal areas became riotously active. Against the linear 'standard view' of the brain, Cytowic announces that the limbic system has evolved in humans alongside the cortical system and has integrated itself into every area of the nervous system. In short, 'the limbic system forms an emotional core of the human nervous system' (157). Thus, emotion 'was no longer localized in a discrete control center but was spread out over pathways' (158). With this evidence, Cytowic concludes that even the nature of perceptions is largely determined by emotional valences and that such emotional elision of value is precisely what occurs in synesthesia. The emotional mind (as opposed to the logical, cognitive one) is the basis of human action and experience, according to Cytowic.

This is an important conclusion, if not all that original. What this means to consciousness studies and to the understanding of human life in general, Cytowic is not the slightest bit hesitant to tell us. In fact, such speculation appears to be the raison d'être of this user-friendly text and is the content of Part Two, 'Essays on the Primacy of Emotion'. Unlike another, more 'scientific', review of this book which I previously encountered, I quite disagree that these essays are 'irrelevant' to his research. Anyone who has worked so prodigiously in one area of study and comes to such startling conclusions has earned the right to ruminate on what it all implies. Cytowic reveals himself as a stimulating essayist, but, in the end, he proves to be not much better a philosopher than a literary artist.

Cytowic usually seems to consider our 'emotional mind' as non-conscious and this is a pivotal, if controversial, point. This implies our emotions are not subject to conscious volition and may explain why he feels the source of emotions to be somewhat mystical. He indicates that emotional valuation is necessary for any sort of mental consciousness to develop. He also shows that as learned adaptations become habit, both emotional charge and self-awareness decline or even disappear so behavior continues mechanically along. Cytowic calls upon the experimental literature on divided brains, the 'readiness potential', and neurological conditions such prosopagnosia (wherein patients cannot recognize familiar faces but their galvanic skin resistance reveals definite physiological responses to those same faces) to demonstrate the primacy of the emotional mind - usually the right cerebral hemisphere. These examples clearly reveal a mode of experiencing which is not conscious, if we are to trust the first-person reports of the subjects. 'Our conscious self is the tip of an iceberg' (170), Cytowic asserts. He adds that 'recognition can be dissociated from conscious awareness of it' (212). The basis of our knowing is 'unconscious knowledge' and the basis of our perception is 'subception' (214). Here, Cytowic's case for the primacy of emotions sounds more like it supports the Freudian, the Jungian, or even the Darwinian unconscious rather than indicating any sort of transcendent spirituality.

The major problem of his essays is this: He makes an unwarranted leap from the primacy of the emotions into the strong anthropic principle and panpsychism, clearly revealing his bias for 'spiritual' explanations of human existence. He claims that terms like 'faith', 'God', and 'spirituality' are non-concepts which refer to ineffable experience. How emotional primacy indicates anything more than our ongoing connection with evolutionary processes escapes me entirely, as does the suggestion of concepts which are non-concepts. The terms he uses clearly are concepts, as rife with assumption and allusion as ever. Apparently by revealing the inefficaciousness of conscious intentionality, he feels he has simultaneously revealed our intuitive spiritual connection with all that is. This spiritual source is not self-evident.

Still, one may quibble too much. Cytowic goes to bat for emotions most effectively and his conclusions ring true that 'consciousness, language, and higher mental functions [are] the consequences of our ability to express emotion. Emotion is fundamental to mind and what we call consciousness' (196). Our emotional core is understood by most of us to be basically part of our organic heritage which can be altered by continued conscious experience. His 'faith', however, seems to pre-empt his seeing that our 'consciousness, language, and higher mental functions' almost certainly return the favour and affect our emotions in their turn. The brain works in cycles of mutual effect and affect. Indeed, many persons as they age and learn may well succeed in uniting the two 'minds' and creating conscious emotionality, i.e., they 'get in touch with their feelings'. This understanding of the potential of higher mental functions to change emotions (as well as being changed by them) may well help to explain why non-rational believers like Cytowic feel their emotions indicate a doorway to the infinite and eternal. It is worth considering that their cultural belief-system has predisposed them to values which generate, in turn, appropriate emotional resonance.

The Man Who Tasted Shapes is an extraordinary work of research into the human mind that was, to me, only superficially about synesthesia. The information and perspective shared are much bigger than the title would imply. I believe that you'll find it to be fabulously interesting, even if you have zero interest in synesthesia.

Most doctors are afraid to write what they truly believe in their hearts lest it be challenged and scorned by their peers. Rarely do scientists allow you to "see the man behind the curtain," preferring to hide instead behind that mysterious veil we called "objective data." In this, Dr. Cytowic is far braver than most, and certainly more honest.

Here is just such an example from the book: "My innate analytic personality had been reinforced by twenty years of training in science and medicine. I reflexively analyzed whatever passed my way and firmly believed that the intellect could conquer everything through reason. 'You need an antidote to your incessant intellectualizing,' Clark suggested, 'something to put you in touch with the irrational side of your mind.'... I had never considered that there might be more to the human mind than the rational part that I was familiar with. It had never once occurred to me that a force to balance rationality existed, let alone that it might be a normal part of the human psyche."

In another chapter, Cytowic asserts, "Not everything we are capable of knowing and doing is accessible to or expressible in language. This means that some of our personal knowledge is off limits even to our own inner thoughts. Perhaps this is why humans are so often at odds with themselves, because there is more going on in our minds than we can ever consciously know."

If you read a lot of medical texts, as I do, you will find Dr. Cytowic to be far more broadminded and much less linear in his thinking than his peers. This makes Cytowic interesting, instead of boring like the others.

One final quote: "Neuroscientists have just lately come to realize how important emotion is. Placing reason and the (intellectual) cortex first and foremost is like the Wizard of Oz shouting, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." Reason, and an accomplice called self-awareness have deluded us into believing that they have been pulling the strings, but emotion and mentation not normally accessible to self-awareness have been in charge all along."

The Man Who Tasted Shapes is a delightful bridge between the hard science of neurology and the mystery that is man.

Buy the book. You won't regret it.

While Dr. Cytowic's book mainly deals with his investigation of the rare neurological phenomena called "synesthesia", his resulting insights on emotions, reasoning and consciousness are really what make this book worth reading. He presents "The New View of How the Brain Works". A view that helps us understand the critical interaction of emotions and reasoning. If you are open-minded and ready to give an alternate point of view a chance, you will find this book to be truly enlightening, absorbing, thought provoking and enjoyable. If you are close-minded and think that science already has all the right answers - don't waste your time - try science fiction instead!

An entertaining and easy read on an interesting subject by a neurologist who is an expert on it. If you are interested in synesthesia primarily as a "bizarre" or sensationalistic manifestation of human talents, Luria's amazing The Mind of a Mnemonist is your best bet; if you want a light account of how a modern scientist goes about understanding this phenomenon and locating it in the emotional brain, read this book too. The author discusses synesthesia in a wider contect of the centrality of emotions (for an excellent recent book on this topic, see Why We Feel by Victor S. Johnson), but he seems to go overboard: the divigations and essays thereon that make up at least a third of the book, concerning subjects like the anthropic principle, altered states of consciousness, and spirituality, strike me as largely sophomoric verging on too painful to read. If you can stomach arguments like the one that "all life forms, but particularly brains, play a large role in slowing down the rate of entropy increase and the degradation of energy in the universe. Such profound possibilities suggest that we should direct our efforts not toward controlling our emotions but toward gaining better insight into them..." you will have no problem. Perhaps we should applaud the author for being willing to expose himself by taking such risks; he does, after all, modestly label his formal essays as mere "trials" or "attempts." Cytowic likewise very openly includes a lot of biographical material, reconstructed conversations, randomn personal observations and opinions, etc., and narrator who emerges may or may not appeal to you. It's hard not to like a guy who criticizes the dehumanizing aspects of the typical medical education and the kind of doctors who emerge from it.

This is an entertaining and easy read on an interesting subject by a neurologist who is an expert on it. If you are interested in synesthesia primarily as a "bizarre" or sensationalistic manifestation of human talents, Luria's amazing The Mind of a Mnemonist is your best bet; but if you want a light account of how a modern scientist goes about understanding this phenomenon and locating it in the emotional brain, read this book too. The author goes on to discuss the limbic system as the most important part of the brain (for an excellent recent discussion of the centrality of emotion, see Why We Feel by Victor S. Johnson), but he seems to become a bit unhinged in pursuing the consequences of this idea: the divigations and essays thereon that make up at least a third of the book, concerning subjects like the anthropic principle, altered states of consciousness, and spirituality, strike me as largely sophomoric verging on too painful to read. If you can stomach arguments like the one that "all life forms, but particularly brains, play a large role in slowing down the rate of entropy increase and the degradation of energy in the universe. Such profound possibilities suggest that we should direct our efforts not toward controlling our emotions but toward gaining better insight into them..." then you will have no problem. Perhaps we should applaud the author for being willing to expose himself by taking such risks; he does, after all, modestly label his formal essays as mere "trials" or "attempts." Cytowic likewise very openly includes a lot of biographical material, reconstructed conversations, randomn personal observations and opinions, etc., and you may or may not like the narrator who emerges; I myself have mixed feelings. It's hard not to like a guy who criticizes the dehumanizing aspects of the typical medical education and the kind of doctors who emerge from it. Finally, I have to say that I was occasionally annoyed by solecisms and infelicities of expression, at least in the original hardbound version.

This book helped clear up alot of things I've been wondering about, AND help me prove to those who doubted me that Synesthesia is a real thing. I've given up trying to explain what my Synesthesia's like, so I've opted to let them borrow the book. It explaines so many things, and has examples to help 'flesh' out the story. My psychology kids absolutely loved it!

While the book is supposed to focus on synaesthesia, it seems more to focus on Cytowic's views on the medical profession. In addition to the ridiculus interactions between people, he cuts down most people and finds a way to make himself seem intelligent and profound. When Cytowic did actually talk about synaesthesia it was clearly written and very interesting. Perhaps there wasn't enough to write about synaesthesia. Who knows...

I had wanted to read this since I first heard about it on Public radio nearly 2 years ago. I finaly got around to getting it recently and was dissapointed. Dr Cytowic beats his oppinions into the ground while the reader is left hoping he will get back to discussing Synestasia, which is supposedly what the book is about. There is very little information about the condition written into the book. Also the Authors insistance on writing overly simplified dialoges drags the book nearly into the realm of the unreadable. Read this only if you have an overwhelming desire to learn a VERY LITTLE about Synestasia.