"Imagine a world in which words have colors and sounds have taste. Vladimir Nabokov described this neurological phenomenon in his autobiography. It helped inspire David Hockney's sets for the Metropolitan Opera. Arthur Rimbaud wrote a sonnet about it. Richard Feynman experienced it while formulating the quantum theory that won him a Nobel Prize." "Sometimes described as a blending of perceptions, synesthesia occurs when one of the five senses is aroused, yet two respond. Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens is a fascinating exploration of this collision of sights, smells, sounds, and tastes and how it makes for an odd, yet extremely colorful, way of thinking." "Journalist Patricia Duff draws from her own struggles and breakthroughs with synesthesia to help the reader better understand the condition. Along the way she introduces us to, among other topics, brilliant synesthetes from the past, the different varieties of synesthesia, the ongoing research devoted to it, and its frequent connections to the creative process. In addition, the book describes some of the major theories regarding synesthesia. This is a must-read for artists, writers, and creative thinkers, as well as science and health buffs, or anyone generally intrigued by the brain, the senses, and perception."--BOOK JACKET.

"A W.H. Freeman Book."

Colors hide within everything, including the night -- A black, E white, I red, U green, o blue, some day I'll crack your nascent origins -- --Perfumes, colors, sounds answer each other -- In life, so much depends on the question, 'do you see what I see?' -- It will be seen in the end how greatly metaphysicians and psychologists err-- -- If man is a being afloat in an ocean of vibrations, then-- -- For lack of attention, a thousand forms of loveliness elude us-- -- To teach the unfamiliar, set it in the world of the familiar -- The scraps of memory that stay with us after a dream-- -- Time is space -- The internet was made for synesthetes.