Book Review: “Synesthesia” by Richard E. Cytowic
I have never heard of synesthesia before prior to my college education. Reading “Synesthesia” by field founder and neurologist, Richard E. Cytowic, was an interesting and meaningful journey filled with enormous information on the science focused on the “neurological trait of coupled perceptions” (Richard E. Cytowic). In addition, synesthesia’s history, relationship with scientific convention, plus where it is headed for the future intrigued me personally. Through this book, I have realized how people all over the world can perceive — and quite literally view — the world differently, even if all beings on the planet were to view one object instantaneously. Not everything is black and white…or even crystal clear. Here is a mini deep dive into the book:
One in twenty-three people have the genes for synesthesia. The existence of synesthesia and how synesthetes — those who have synesthesia — interpret or relate to smell reinforced how impactful our senses create relations and perceptions within the human mind and the surrounding world. In the book, Cytowic touches on how studying a polymodal individual — one who reacts to varied forms of sensory stimulations — had incredible memorization capabilities. This was due to her coupled sense of smell evoking her other senses of touch and color, to name a few. “I remember most accurately scents...I remember my father was on a ladder painting the left side of the wall. I remember to this day thinking why the paint was white, when it smelled blue” (Cytowic, 113). This story shared by the polymodal individual touches on her experience of colored sense of smell, relating back to how not everyone perceives surroundings or everyday facets in the same fashion. Further, the story sheds light on how unique and possibly, quirky, for a non-synesthete to learn someone discuss something in a way — like white paint smelling blue — that is so outlandish than the societal “norm”. I enjoyed this story of Muriel Nolan shared by Cytowic as it reminded me of how much power our senses can hold with human understanding and conception of society. Often, I feel many — including myself here — take for granted our senses as they so naturally become one with our body and mind. I have of course, experienced sense of smell transporting me back to certain memories or moods, even to people. But not in a way such as Nolan’s individualistic combined perceptual ability of her coupled smell to color synesthesia. “Synesthesia illustrates how memory, embodied perception, and metaphoric thinking support one another” (Cytowic, 102). As shared, I have always believed that the sense of smell can trigger memories, yet, remained curious during my read of how synesthetes relate to their sense of smell as it can trigger and be triggered by a different sense than of mine. I, a non-synesthete, am slightly jealous of a synesthetes point of view of the world because their pov seems — although sometimes confusing to understand — highly intriguing. For instance, another example mentioned were findings of participants in study comparing numbers to color, and how participants have always seen the number 9 as “red”, or 13 as “green”.
Cytowic also shares stories of smell being highly individualistic while regarding the standardized smell identification test, created by the University of Pennsylvania. The test requires participants to pair forty different scents to numerous shapes. One synesthete whom participated assessed the smell of grass as a, “flat, wide smelling shape”, and the scent of lilac as a, “shape alike a drill bit” (Cytowic, 114). The scent of onions for the same individual was described as the shape of a “collection of grids”. These findings explains further how synesthesia is a conscious and automatic response in synesthetes, mirroring how non-synesthetes have similar automatic connections, just in a different manner.
I enjoyed this book as the whole existence of synesthesia truly blows my mind, and the book was followable enough to learn from and enjoy. The book shares bountiful examples of synesthetes and their unique senses, beyond the few I have mentioned. The book fortified how one person may see, feel, taste, smell, or even think does not possess the same meaning to another, which I know sounds ingenious. However, prior to reading this book, I never have thought, “hmm, does someone else see the number 3 as yellow?”, or, “The smell of water smells like large, flat ovals”. The color of blue may be a symbol of calmness, sadness, blueberries, the ocean, coldness, even denim to some in society. But for others, it may be the scent that hits their nose when they look at white paint alike Nolan — proving each sense has their own associations. Considering the reality of synesthesia, who truly deems what associations are the final say in the world?
Details below on where to buy Cytowic’s, “Synesthesia”, below.
WORKS CITED:
Richard E. Cytowic, M.D. Synesthesia. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. Print. April 2023.