This is a very interesting book. I was very interested in the synesthesia aspect, where one smells a sound and tastes a color, and so on. I thought maybe I could develop a little insight into improving my own mental abilites regarding memory and memory devices. It is quite fascinating to read about his experiences, especially how the vivid, multisensory images he experienced confused the actual content of what he was experiencing. I would actually have enjoyed much more firsthand accounts of his unusual experiences. I got it for 4 bucks at a used book store, i wouldn't pay more for it, the list price looks too expensive.
If you're looking for a good overall introduction to synesthesia, this isn't it. (For this, see Richard Cytowic's book entitled, Synesthesia.) On the other hand, if you're looking for a first-hand account of a famous psychologist's interaction with a synesthete, then you're in good shape with Luria's book. In the first half of The Mind of a Mnemonist, Luria describes how he first learned about "S", a young Russian news reporter with an amazing memory. He then describes in a fair amount of detail, often using S's own descriptions, how S experienced the world. He also gives a rather detailed account (again, often reproducing S's own testimony) of both how S went about memorizing and recalling so many items of data, and where the boundaries of S's memorizing abilities were (e.g., S had a hard time recounting the gist of a story he'd heard read aloud). Because of this, the first half of the book can at times be dull and repetitive.
In the second half of the book, Luria focuses on the effects that synesthesia had on S's personality and overall quality of life. Here's where it gets a bit more interesting, and a bit sad at the same time. S could remember in detail events dating from the first year of his life *and* how he felt at the time (could you imagine being able to remember in detail every mistake your parents made or how it made you feel, from infancy onward?!?). Moreover, the combining of senses made it difficult for him to do two things at once (e.g. he couldn't eat ice cream and read at the same time because the flavor of the ice cream would drown out the sense of the words). Still, even these chapters (i.e., chapter four, "his world" and chapter five, "his mind") get a bit tedious. The final chapters treat S's control of his behavior and his personality. S had a rather amazing ability to raise or lower his body temperature in a particular limb (e.g. his left or right arm), raise his heartbeat, decrease the pain he felt when under the dentist's drill, and the like. However, living with synesthesia caused him to be quite a dreamer, often unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality.
My guess is that psychology and psychiatry students with an interest in synesthesia will derive the most benefit from Luria's book. The rest of us are left with a rather mixed bag. Still, at just under 120 pages, The Mind of a Mnemonist doesn't require an enormous amount of time to read.
(On a bit of a side note, those who are curious about the real name of "S" can find it in the book...I don't know if they intended it to be there or not, but in one instance "S" divulges his identity.)
