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9781853029325 Add to Cart Academic Inspection Copy

Bright Splinters of the Mind: A Personal Story of Research with Autistic

Savants
  • ISBN-13: 9781853029325
  • Publisher: JESSICA KINGSLEY PUBLISHERS
    Imprint: JESSICA KINGSLEY PUBLISHERS
  • By Beate Hermelin
  • Price: AUD $44.99
  • Stock: 0 in stock
  • Availability: This book is temporarily out of stock, order will be despatched as soon as fresh stock is received.
  • Local release date: 14/06/2001
  • Format: Paperback 192 pages Weight: 0g
  • Categories: Autism & Asperger's Syndrome [MJNA]
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Little is understood about the nature of the extraordinary talents of some people with autism. Drawing on 20 years research, Beate Hermelin describes what autistic savants do and how they do it. During her studies s he and other researchers examined savants alongside neurotypical individuals talented in the same domain, as well as people with the same level of intelligence as the savants but who had no special abilities. Hermelin describes her investigations and explores the gifts of autistic savants, in the areas of poetry, foreign language acquisition, the visual arts, music and mathematics, and reaches radical conclusions on the very nature of talent and its relationship to intelligence.
1. Outline. 2. Talent and intelligence. 3. Autism and special abilities. 4. Poetry. 5. Foreign languages. 6. Calendar calculations. 7. Date memory. 8. Numbers. 9. Drawing. 10. Pictorial strategies. 11. Two savant artists. 12. Musical memory and improvisation. 13. Autism and savant ability revisited. Index.
'Some autistic people have singular talents of various sorts, existing in strange isolation from the rest of their minds. While such 'savant' talents have been described, anecdotally, for a century or more, Beate Hermelin has been a pioneer in their scientific investigation. In Bright Splinters of the Mind, she brings together the results of her more than twenty years' research, and presents a highly original and systematic analysis of a range of autistic talents - artistic, musical, linguistic, mathematical - showing that while they might seem to be so odd and special, they provide essential clues to the nature of all intelligent thinking. This analysis is embedded in an engrossing narrative of Dr. Hermelin's own personal involvement and passion. This then is research which is rigorous, but has an intensely human face. Bright Splinters of the Mind is simply but beautifully written, and will, I think, fascinate and move a wide range of readers.' -Oliver Sacks 'succeeds in making what hitherto appeared complicated and unknowable seem simple and understandable. She portrays her goal as giving readers an understanding of the mental strategies that underlie the extraordinary talents shown by so-called idiots savants, most of whom are autistic. She achieves that objective in splendid fashion but, in doing so, she accomplishes the more difficult feat of conveying both why science is so exciting, and how scientists tackle the task of testing hypotheses that pit one explanation against others. The book, incidentally, also shows what a special talent Beate Hermelin has for writing about science for a broader audience. But this book is a 'must' for scientists as well as for the general public, because of the clarity of its expression of an experimental approach to special skills and disabilities. Read on to understand the science, but also read on to appreciate the excitement of being a scientist involved in making discoveries.' -Sir Michael Rutter, from the Foreword
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