An intriguing exploration of a unique hypothesis with broad implications.
An exploration of the quest for a link between high-functioning autistic individuals and child prodigies, co-authored by mother-daughter team Ruthsatz (Psychology/Ohio State Univ.) and journalist Stephens.
In 1998, Ruthsatz, then a graduate student, was exploring what makes prodigies tick. Her particular interest was the nature vs. nurture debate. Her hypothesis was that three factors were involved in their success: “general intelligence, practice time and skills specific to a particular field.” While meeting a young boy with exceptional musical talent, a chance encounter with his autistic cousin prompted her to wonder what they might have in common. Over time, a picture began to emerge: “extraordinary memories, eagle eyes for detail, and voracious appetites for their chosen subjects.” Ruthsatz broadened her inquiry to include autistic children who became outstanding artists, as well as child prodigies with a wide range of talents, including a young gourmet chef. With modest grant money to pursue her research, she was able to include genetic testing in her journey. By the end of 2011, Ruthsatz “had investigated nine prodigies.” Admittedly, this is a small sample, but the results were provocative. She discovered that autism was indeed prevalent in the prodigies’ families, suggesting a genetic component. In several cases, genetic analysis showed a particular mutation carried by prodigies and their autistic relatives. Aside from the fact that her subjects were not chosen randomly—parents had to be willing for the interview to take place—the autistic children were chosen from the high end of the spectrum. Ruthsatz believes that behavioral therapy for autistic children should positively reinforce their potential talents, as well as social and language skills. The authors do not claim to have definitive answers, but they raise fascinating questions about the extent to which autism confers benefits as well as disabilities.
An intriguing exploration of a unique hypothesis with broad implications.Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61723-018-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Current
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
If the authors are serious, this is a silly, distasteful book. If they are not, it’s a brilliant satire.
The authors have created a sort of anti-Book of Virtues in this encyclopedic compendium of the ways and means of power.
Everyone wants power and everyone is in a constant duplicitous game to gain more power at the expense of others, according to Greene, a screenwriter and former editor at Esquire (Elffers, a book packager, designed the volume, with its attractive marginalia). We live today as courtiers once did in royal courts: we must appear civil while attempting to crush all those around us. This power game can be played well or poorly, and in these 48 laws culled from the history and wisdom of the world’s greatest power players are the rules that must be followed to win. These laws boil down to being as ruthless, selfish, manipulative, and deceitful as possible. Each law, however, gets its own chapter: “Conceal Your Intentions,” “Always Say Less Than Necessary,” “Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy,” and so on. Each chapter is conveniently broken down into sections on what happened to those who transgressed or observed the particular law, the key elements in this law, and ways to defensively reverse this law when it’s used against you. Quotations in the margins amplify the lesson being taught. While compelling in the way an auto accident might be, the book is simply nonsense. Rules often contradict each other. We are told, for instance, to “be conspicuous at all cost,” then told to “behave like others.” More seriously, Greene never really defines “power,” and he merely asserts, rather than offers evidence for, the Hobbesian world of all against all in which he insists we live. The world may be like this at times, but often it isn’t. To ask why this is so would be a far more useful project.
If the authors are serious, this is a silly, distasteful book. If they are not, it’s a brilliant satire.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-670-88146-5
Page Count: 430
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1998
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Readers unfamiliar with the anecdotal material Greene presents may find interesting avenues to pursue, but they should...
Greene (The 33 Strategies of War, 2007, etc.) believes that genius can be learned if we pay attention and reject social conformity.
The author suggests that our emergence as a species with stereoscopic, frontal vision and sophisticated hand-eye coordination gave us an advantage over earlier humans and primates because it allowed us to contemplate a situation and ponder alternatives for action. This, along with the advantages conferred by mirror neurons, which allow us to intuit what others may be thinking, contributed to our ability to learn, pass on inventions to future generations and improve our problem-solving ability. Throughout most of human history, we were hunter-gatherers, and our brains are engineered accordingly. The author has a jaundiced view of our modern technological society, which, he writes, encourages quick, rash judgments. We fail to spend the time needed to develop thorough mastery of a subject. Greene writes that every human is “born unique,” with specific potential that we can develop if we listen to our inner voice. He offers many interesting but tendentious examples to illustrate his theory, including Einstein, Darwin, Mozart and Temple Grandin. In the case of Darwin, Greene ignores the formative intellectual influences that shaped his thought, including the discovery of geological evolution with which he was familiar before his famous voyage. The author uses Grandin's struggle to overcome autistic social handicaps as a model for the necessity for everyone to create a deceptive social mask.
Readers unfamiliar with the anecdotal material Greene presents may find interesting avenues to pursue, but they should beware of the author's quirky, sometimes misleading brush-stroke characterizations.Pub Date: Nov. 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-670-02496-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2012
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