Here’s a list of books on synesthesia that I’ve read and can recommend. All can be bought online and some are available for download from pdfdrive.com.
IN ENGLISH (in chronological order of publication):
The Man who
Tasted Shapes (Richard E. Cytowic). The MIT Press. 1993
Bright Colors Falsely Seen. Synaesthesia and the Search for Transcendental Knowledge (Kevin T. Dann). Yale University Press. 1998
Blue Cats
and Chartreuse Kittens. How Synesthetes Colour their Worlds (Patricia Lynne
Duffy). Times Books. 2001
A
Mango-shaped Space (Wendy Mass). Little, Brown and Company. 2003. (Fiction for
young readers: ideal for teens but any age will enjoy it)
The Hidden Sense. Synesthesia in Art and Science (Cretien Von Campen). The MIT Press. 2007
Born on a Blue Day (Daniel Tammet). Hodder Paperback. 2007
The Frog
Who Croaked Blue. Synesthesia and the mixing of the senses (Jamie Ward).
Routledge. 2008
Wednesday
is Indigo Blue. Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia (Richard E. Cytowic and David
M. Eagleman) The MIT Press. 2009
Mirror Touch. A Memoir of Synesthesia and the Secret Life of the Brain (Joel Salinas). Harper One. 2017
Synesthesia (Richard E. Cytowic). The MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series. 2018
Synaesthesia: A Very Short Introduction (Julia Simner). Oxford University Press. 2019
Audio Book: Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens. How Synesthetes Colour their Worlds (Patricia Lynne Duffy, narrated by Appelusa). With research updates and synesthetic music. Available from Audible (in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Australia and Japan). 2021
Synesthetes: A Handbook (Sean Day). Second edition. 2021. Available in PDF format, here.
Synesthesia and Synesthetes is Sean Day's latest book. 2022. Now available on Amazon.
(For very young children) Sereya's Superpower (Christy Gurley). 2022. Available from Starshine Designs.
Painting
Music (Ninghui
Xiong). Artecittà Fundación Internacional. 2023. Available in ebook format here or here.
FINDING MORE FICTION (in English)
Pat Duffy has a list of plenty of fictional works with synesthete characters on her Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens website:
And here's a website that lists and provides a resume of some fictional books with synesthete characters that might appeal to teenage readers:
Booklist: Synesthesia in Middle Grade and YA
And an article by Pat Duffy on the Journey Through the Senses website with 8 book reviews: "Novels with Neurospicy Characters" (2003 - 2024). These recent works naturally include several characters with synesthesia.
IN
SPANISH:
Sinestesia. El color
de las palabras, el sabor de la música, el lugar del tiempo… (Alicia Callejas and Juan Lupiáñez). Alianza Editorial, 2012
IN
FRENCH:
Des phénomènes de synopsie (Théodore Flournoy). Elibron Classics. Facsimile edition. 1893.
This page last updated: 23 March 2025
Books about synaesthesia; Books on synaesthesia; Books on synesthesia
Book about synesthesia in Dutch: "Tussen Zinnen" by Cretien van Campen.
ReplyDeleteThank you Linda! I'd read a few things by him online, about synesthesia and hallucinogens, which I found very interesting, and I'd also heard of his book The Hidden Sense, although I haven't read it (yet!). It would be good to extend this page and include more books and also books in more languages... so I'll do that soon and include it.
DeleteNext time you post something like this could you maybe put what it's about (specifically- they are obviously all about synesthesia) and maybe the age level? I'm trying to research and need at least 2 book sources (school project) but this was a pretty helpful list otherwise. Thanks! ;)
ReplyDeleteUltraviolet and Quicksilver by R.J. Anderson :)
ReplyDeleteI have a book that I read when I was younger that I really liked, and I just remembered it. The main character, a farmer boy named Luke who used to live in Ohio wandered off (He had a habit of doing that) and he got struck by lightning. I think his father sent him to Florida to live with his grandpa, Doc Ford as a way of disciplining him, since he always wandered off. when he woke up in Florida after the traumatic accident, he discovered that he physically saw people's emotions as colors. I read this book a while ago, and my memory of it is not great, but I think the book was called Fins by Randy Wayne White. It never outright says that Luke is a synesthete, but it is VERY heavily implied.
ReplyDeleteI've read "A Mango Shaped Space," about three times. I highly recommend it to people who want to learn about synesthesia, but don't like non-fiction.
ReplyDelete