Book Review
Tasting the Universe: People Who See Colors in Words and Rainbows in Symphonies, by Maureen Seaberg. What happens when a journalist turns her lens on a mystery happening in her own life? Maureen Seaberg did just that and lived for a year exploring her synesthesia. The wondrous brain trait is often described as blended senses, but in Maureen's quest, becomes much more: a window to creativity and the divine.Join her as she visits top neuroscientists, rock stars, violinists, other synesthetes, philosophers, savants, quantum physicists and even Tibetan lamas in her journey toward the truth.
"When I spoke of my impressions as a child, I quickly learned that my perceptions were not common; in fact, they were strange. Like many synesthetes around the world, I learned to keep them to myself. Thus I'm grateful for the present day climate of inquiry into and wonder about this nearly forgotten gift. And while traditional medicine has always fascinated me, and research on this topic is currently burgeoning around the world, I knew I must also call on consciousness, spiritual and even quantum experts. As someone who lived inside the experience, I knew that anatomy alone did not, could not, hold all the answers. The beauty of the individual testimonies in this book is that they are the subjects' truths as only someone who knows the gift intimately can speak about it; many of them are speaking at length about it for the first time. Their words about this ineffable experience helped me find my own."--Maureen Seaberg in Tasting the Universe
A violinist sees a scarlet form when he plays a certain note; a rock star sees waves of blue and green as he composes a ballad; an actress tastes cake when she utters the word "table." Synesthetes are often found in the arts and famous examples include Itzhak Perlman, Lady Gaga, Pharrell Williams and Tilda Swinton.
Step into Maureen's shimmering alternate universe as she explores this fascinating subject, combining clear explanations of groundbreaking scientific research with an exploration of deeper spiritual truths.
For Maureen, synesthesia is not an idle "brain tick" that can be explained away by science (although it does offer some important clues), but a unique ability to tap into and reveal a greater creative universe and even the divine.
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Maureen Seaberg has lectured on synesthesia and spirituality at the Towards a Science of Consciousness Conference at the University of Arizona-Tucson. She herself has higher and lower synesthesia, both concepts and forms appear to her in color (her k's are teal and her 8's are aubergine). A journalist for 20 years, Maureen has had articles featured in the New York Times, the Daily Beast, Irish America, ESPN the Magazine, and other publications. She has also covered breaking news for MSNBC and appeared on NBC, CNN, and PBS. Maureen earned a BA in journalism with a minor in Spanish from Penn State University, and a certificate of superior-level Spanish from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
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