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Title: The Man Who Tasted Shapes
Author: Richard E. Cytowic
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: 2.5/5
# pages: 182
Date read: July, 2010

The ten people in one million who are synesthetes are born into a world where one sensation (such as sound) conjures up one or more others (such as taste or color). Extensive experiments with more than 40 synesthetes led Richard Cytowic to an explanation of synesthesia and reveals the brain to be an active explorer, not just a passive receiver--a fascinating breakthrough in our understanding of what it means to be human.

Half interesting, half very dry and occasionally boring. Richard Cytowic is obviously very interested in synaesthesia - what causes it, how it is manifested in different people, whether or not you can track it by scanning the brain etc. - but his book isn't really meant for non-medical readers. I was fascinated by the experiments and the discoveries, but there was a LOT of medical babble that I had no interest in at all, and ended up just skimming.

A non-fiction that reads too much like a textbook for me to enjoy it as "casual reading".
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Title: Mistwood
Author: Leah Cypess
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 300
Date read: July, 2010

The Shifter is an immortal creature bound by an ancient spell to protect the kings of Samorna. When the realm is peaceful, she retreats to the Mistwod.

But when she is needed she always comes.

Isabel remembers nothing. Nothing before the prince rode into her forest to take her back to the castle. Nothing about who she is supposed to be, or the powers she is supposed to have.

Prince Rokan needs Isabel to be his Shifter. He needs her ability to shift to animal form, to wind, to mist. He needs her lethal speed and superhuman strength. And he needs her loyalty--because without it, she may be his greatest threat.

Isabel knows that her prince is lying to her, but she can't help wanting to protect him from the dangers and intrigues of the court... until a deadly truth shatters the bond between them.

Now Isabel faces a choice that threatens her loyalty, her heart... and everything she thought she knew.

I was oddly taken with this book from the very start, and have no idea why it took me so long to read, other than that I'd keep getting sidetracked by other books.

Mistwood is a fun and more classic fairytale/fantasy novel than most common publications. It got back to the basics of the genre, and I actually found it a refreshing change. Also, I liked that it kept me guessing, and I never could figure out what was up with the Shifter.

It's a very charming story, that I was sad to leave behind me. I would like to hope that it's part of a series, but it does very much seem like a stand-alone book... which in itself is a refreshing change for the fantasy genre ;)

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