A scientific detective story that explores the lives of child prodigies, traces the root of prodigious skills to autism, and challenges what we know about talent. It started with a hunch. Child prodigies have long been a mystery, but, in 1998, psychology professor Joanne Ruthsatz had a chance encounter with a prodigy's autistic cousin and wondered: Could autism be the secret to the prodigy's stunning--almost unbelievable--musical accomplishments? That question led Joanne to investigate more than thirty child prodigies. Their stories border on the fantastic: a two-year-old who loved to spell words like "algorithm" and "confederation"; an eight-year-old whose paintings sold for tens of thousands of dollars; a typical 13-year-old who hit his head and woke up a music prodigy.There were signs of autism almost everywhere. Some had autistic family members; two of the prodigies had autism but "grew out" of it. The prodigies all had extraordinary memories...
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