The Man Who Counts & Catalogs Every Sneeze

I am an expert sneezer. I know what you are thinking, but I really am. If you were to ask anyone I grew up with or anyone in my family, they would confirm it. I am allergic to trees (along with about ten other things). I spend a lot of time in nature, so as a result, I sneeze a lot. When I was young, I got three shots each week to make it less severe. I was even offered a two-year full scholarship at a University because my sneezing was so intense it was considered a handicap. I kid you not; this is completely true.

So when I read about Peter Fletcher, I instantly knew I had to share him with you. Apparently Peter is also a rather experienced sneezer because he has been counting and cataloging his sneezes for four years. He not only records each individual sneeze’s date, location and strength, he looks forward to it. He does this because he believes it’s important to count something. There is a pleasure in it, not only to count just one thing at one time, but over time, to keep a record of something that is counted.

According to his website, “Although sneezes are sufficiently unpredictable and involuntary, the act of counting them offers an interesting new take on the old theoretical physics line about events being affected by the process of observation. Sneezecount makes each sneeze matter.” He has learned a lot from documenting his sneezes. You can read more about that on Reflections on the Counting of Sneezes where he documents his thoughts regarding this project like a manifesto. As of his sneeze which occurred two days ago, he has sneezed 2,590 times since July of 2007. Awesome!