The Frog Who Croaked Blue: Synesthesia and the Mixing of the Senses

by Jamie Ward

As little Edgar Curtis lay on his porch, he remarked to his mother how the noise of the rifle range was black, the chirp of the cricket was red, and the croak of the frog was bluish. Edgar, like many other people, has synesthesia - a fascinating condition in which music can have color, words can have taste, and time and numbers float through space. Everyone will be closely acquainted with at least 6 or 7 people who have synesthesia but you may not yet know who they are because, until very recently, synesthesia was largely hidden and unknown. Now science is uncovering its secrets and the findings are leading to a radical rethink about how our senses are organized. In this timely and thought-provoking book, Jamie Ward argues that sensory mixing is the norm even though only a few of us cross the barrier into the realms of synesthesia. How is it possible to experience color when no color is there? Why do some people experience touch when they see someone else being touched? Can blind people be made to see again by using their other senses? Why do scientists no longer believe that there are five senses? How does the food industry exploit the links that exist between our senses? Does synesthesia have a function? The Frog Who Croaked Blue explores all these questions in a lucid and entertaining way, making it fascinating reading for anyone with an interest in the intriguing workings of the mind.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Science, Neuroscience, Popular Science, Biology

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2008

About the author

Dr Jamie Ward is one of the world's leading experts on synesthesia. He has contributed to the understanding of science through numerous talks and media coverage in newspapers, radio and television including documentaries produced by the Discovery Channel and BBC Horizon"

Reviews

[LeAnn L Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Jamie Ward is one of the world’s leading experts on synesthesia. His in-depth passion and research on the topic clearly shows through in this book. Being a synesthete myself, I found the information to be especially interesting.
Here is an excerpt in the book by a synesthete: ‘Family members are baffled by my synesthesia and I am equally baffled as to how their inner mental world works. Are their thought processes monochrome? Do they not even have a mental picture of words and sentences spelt out as they talk or listen to speech?’ Sound odd? Certainly not to a synesthete.
In the final sentence I wrote years ago in a published article, I simply stated, ‘synesthesia isn’t particularly a good thing or bad, it just is.’

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Want to read something that blows about 2000 years of western epistemology and ontology apart? Do you want it to be written by a scientist? Did you need it to be easy to follow? Then read this book!

Synesthesia is not just the mixing of senses so that one, for example, sees music or tastes letters. It can also involve the ways in which people conceptualize time, space, and numeracy. My partner has synesthesia so reading this gave me a better insight into how she perceives the world. She also said that reading the book revealed to her aspects of her synesthesia that she hadn't realized were there. Pretty cool stuff all around then.

[Almeta · Rating 3 out of 5]

In T. Jefferson Parker's The Fallen, the detective sees the emotion in people’s speech as shapes and colors, which comes in handy when interviewing liars!. You may recall that Death also saw emotional states as color in The Book Thief. So when I had a Challenge Task of "Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction", I was interested enough to investigate further, by reading The Frog Who Croaked Blue: Synesthesia and the Mixing of the Senses by Ward Jamie.

Although the book's intent is to explain Synesthesia, it can't be done without explaining the perception of senses of all humans. This means that if you are a Synesthete (and lots of people are), you might be interested to find out how that is so. AND if you are not, you will be fascinated by both those who are and by your own innards.

[Grumpus · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was OK. It is everything you've ever wanted to know about synesthesia and probably more. Very detailed but not written in a compelling style, for me anyway. I like science and can deal with fact-based writing styles but this one I found a little dry for my tastes. However, if you are looking to learn about synesthesia in detail, then this is the book for you.

[Amy Allred · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's obvious that much research went into this book regarding synesthesia in general. It reports historical citings, interesting studies and anecdotes covering many forms of synesthesia.
I had hopes that it would cover synesthesia as I personally experience it, but it didn't. It is not a comprehensive list of the different types of synesthesia, nor does it claim to be.
Written by a scientist and reads as such.

[Dona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Πρόκειται για ένα βιβλίο που αναφέρεται στο φαινόμενο της συναισθησίας.
Βοηθάει πράγματι πολύ στην μελέτη του εν λόγω φαινομένου, ενώ ταυτόχρονα είναι γραμμένο με τέτοιο τρόπο που ελκύει οποιονδήποτε αναγνώστη, ακόμη και χωρίς ειδικό ενδιαφέρον επί του φαινομένου.
Προσωπικά, και έχοντας διαβάσει αρκετά βιβλία για τη συναισθησία, κατατάσσω το συγκεκριμένο μεταξύ των πλέον αγαπημένων μου!

[Eva · Rating 2 out of 5]

Be aware of the fact that this is a project-research-book.. it's highly scientific oriented, thus unfamiliar and unpleasant for those who don't have a clue about neurology.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just what I was expecting. Very informative and detailed.

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Synesthesia is such a fascinating topic. Unfortunately this book was very dry and academic for my taste. I read this for a book club, and learning about the many types of synesthesia was so interesting, but I found the writing kind of dry.

[Jukka Häkkinen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kiinnostavaati kirjoitettu ja vaikeita tieteellisiä kysymyksiä pelkäämätön moderni katsaus synestesiasta

[Sula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this fascinating read. I was worried it might be heavy, technical reading after seeing some of the reviews, but it was fine. This doesn't list and describe all the various types of synethesia, but the common types are mentioned as well as looking at acquired synethesia. Some of the things it looks at include: how we all mix our senses to some extent, the history of research on synesthesia and the effects of synethesia on creativity, memory and language.

[Dimitris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introductory book to synesthesia, I learned a lot. It is easy and fun to read, does not feel like a textbook at all even though it can be used as one in introductory classes

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating how our brains can be different and allow us to experience life in so many different ways.

[Dan Domanski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a good introduction into synesthesia and its many different varieties. I found it very invigorating reading for non-fiction, although some think it's too dry. I think there are enough anecdotes to balance the research parts of the book. And the research itself is quite interesting! A good book to read and discuss with your friends--you may find yourself debating how many senses humans have!

[Julian Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written more in the style of an educational paper, despite its attention grabbing title, this is an interesting look at the subject of synesthesia.

As a recently discovered synesthete I would have liked more on my area of colourful taste.

[Stefanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not well written but SYNESTHESIA IS SO COOL.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

fascinating topic, uninspiring writing

[Bowdoin]

Jonas Calderon–This book is an account about a fascinating condition, synesthesia, in which music can have color, words can have taste, and time and numbers float through space. Ward takes the most recent research and uses it to develop theories of why it is certain people's experiences with the world is extremely different from the normal experience. Many people who have this condition don't realize that they are experiencing the world differently from anyone else and it isn't until they say something that someone finds odd that they become aware of the uniqueness of their reality. An example of something a synesthete would say is "I don't like my name because it is gray and olive green, although the red-orange 'e' at the end makes it a little better" or "What is that little white noise?"