Then he learned Icelandic in a week...

Interesting interview in New Scientist with Daniel Tammet, who holds a record for reciting digits of pi.

www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126881.800-inside-the-mind-of-an-autistic-savant.html?full=true

He's written a book. "The thinking of savants is an extreme form of the kind that everyone has. The aim of my book is to show that minds that function differently, such as mine, are not so strange, and that anyone can learn from them."