Oliver Sacks' book An Anthropologist on Mars has a chapter entitled The
Landscape of His Dreams which talks about an eidetic artist. I think he has
also written about another patient with a similar condition, but this patient
heard music instead of seeing images.
- Joe
Xochi Zen (x at apocalypse.org) wrote:
: I'm looking for books and articles on people who have 'eidetic' imaginations...
: (sorry if I've butchered the terminology here). Namely, those who can imagine
: things so vividly that they're unable (in the right mood) to distinguish
: 'reality'/the External World/etc. from what they're conjuring up in their
: heads. I've heard that 1 to 6% of the population has this ability.
: I'm particularly interested in people who have this ability, but can still
: function quite well in the world.
: I'm of the suspicion that a good many people who actively practice magic,
: witchcraft, etc. have eidetic imaginations... the presence of eidetic
: imagery in these people might go a long way in explaining how they come
: to have such strange beliefs and how they can seriously make the strange
: claims that they do.
: One thing I've noticed personally about such people is that they're often
: obsessed with fantasy literature (i.e. "I've read all of Piers Anthony's
: 400 novels") and that many happen to be artists.
: I need this information for a bibliography of skeptical works on witchcraft,
: magic, and miracles I've been working on. Any books on how people come to
: have these odd beliefs are welcome.
: You can see a copy of it here:
:http://www.apocalypse.org/pub/u/x/skeptic.html
: Thanks in advance for any help.
: - Xochi
: --
: | Xochi Zen "William James used to preach the 'will to believe.' For |
: | x at apocalypse.org my part, I should wish to preach the 'will to doubt.' ... |
: | What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the wish to|
: | find out, which is the exact opposite" - Bertrand Russell |
