Richard Cytowic's The Man Who Tasted Shapes

With the casual concern from the host of “‘there aren’t enough points on the chicken’” while having dinner at a friend’s house, Richard Cytowic's obsession and work with the condition known as synesthesia began. Although scientists have known about the condition for hundreds of years, the condition has remained a medical mystery. Extensive experiments with more than forty synesthetes, although the novel is focused around two of his close friends, led Cytowic to an understanding of synesthesia as well as a new conception of the organization of the mind, in which he highlights the forgotten importance of emotion over reason in science. Cytowic's persistence in unveiling synesthesia’s true nature also uncovers the indifference and hostility those in the science …show more content…
The novel approaches synesthesia through the cognitive and biological perspective, imperative for anyone trying to understand the condition. Without both of these views on synesthesia, the condition would not be fully understood as it combines both perceptions based on patient explanation as well as the need to test the biological roots of the condition. This novel has the ability to affect the understanding of human behavior through its divergent approach to a psychological study. Human behavior is not something that can be defined or neatly explained as Cytowic so clearly illustrates. There are many layers to people, especially people who experience unique variants on life, such as those with synesthesia. Many of the people with synesthesia suffered because of their condition, although not physically. These people, who are beautifully unique, were labeled as strange when they divulged their strange way of seeing things. These rejections caused many of them to hide this part of their life, something that should not be promoted. Synesthesia deserves to be appreciated and studied, just as Cytowic respectfully