Acquired Savant Syndrome explored in gripping new book

Savant syndrome is a rare condition popularized by the film Rain man, whereby people are born with, or acquire, prodigious cognitive capabilities, typically at the expense of an associated deficit.  The congenital variety is far more frequent than those acquired later in life, where similar talents often develop without any such deficit, and without clear provocation.

In one of only forty reported cases of acquired savant syndrome, and the first with both verbal and numerical synesthesia, Jack Hide’s “Annals of a Sick Mind” is a first-hand look at the sudden and striking emergence of automatic writing, poetry, artistic, musical, and mathematical skills, all in the wake of a perilous opiate addiction.

The book depicts a grueling struggle with prescription drugs, and how conquering it led to the development of not only newfound abilities, but an entirely new personality and general outlook.

“I had all but lost myself, and my medical career, to a hopeless Oxycodone addiction.  Then the birth of my son, Declan, woke me from the fog.  Everything went up in lights the moment he was born,” said the author.

Hide uses a creative weave of fact and fiction, meant to both show and tell the experience through the context of a pulse pounding drama written for all audiences.  The novel includes original theories on brain function, time, black holes, synchronized oscillators, math, art, love, the musician alter-ego, and much more—all reflective iterations of a musical frequency code hidden behind the physical substance of nature.

“It began as a sudden music driven shift in perceptual awareness, and all the art, math, writing, and theory reduces to an expression of perceptual ideation,” said Hide. “Regarding the musical basis of natural frequencies, Einstein fathered the known laws of nature, and was very clear on what inspired his wildly original insights, as summarized in the following quote: ‘Relativity occurred to me by intuition, and the driving force behind that intuition was music.  My discovery was the result of a musical perception.’”

“Annals of a Sick Mind” is guaranteed to redefine your sense of the possible, and forever change your perception of the physical world.

For more information on Jack Hide’s “Annals of a Sick Mind,” and to view samples of the art, math, poetry, and free chapters, visit: www.annalsofasickmind.com