The Prodigy

Brad Jones is a young but talented sports journalist living in Dallas, Texas. He is given the byline of his young life by his editor. The series of articles are to chronicle the life and golf of young Lee Weaver to be featured in the Dallas Morning Sun newspaper in the weeks leading up to the US open tournament being held for the first time at Weeping Dunes Golf and Country Club, where young Lee learned his skills. Brad must travel to Saleena, Texas, to get the story that can only be told by the aging caddie master who befriended young Lee and became his confidential sounding board. Having an overbearing father and a loving, understanding mother, young Lee must try and navigate the balance between his two parents and hone his golf skill in the process. Brad finds himself as wrapped up in the story along with his readers as he himself learns what happened so many years ago for the first time from eighty-three-year-old caddie master Willie Lumas.

We all know the autistic genius stereotypes. The absentminded professor with untied shoelaces. The geeky Silicon Valley programmer who writes bullet­proof code but can’t get a date. But there is another set of (tiny) geniuses whom you would never add to those ranks—child prodigies. We mostly know them as the chatty and charming tykes who liven up day­time TV with violin solos and engaging banter. These kids aren’t autistic, and there has never been any kind of scientific connection between autism and prodigy. Until now. Over the course of her career, psychologist Joanne Ruthsatz has quietly assembled the largest-ever research sample of these children. Their accomplishments are epic. One could reproduce radio tunes by ear on a toy guitar at two years old. Another was a thirteen-year-old cooking sensation. And what Ruthsatz’s investigation revealed is noth­ing short of astonishing. Though the prodigies aren’t autistic, many have autistic family members. Each prodigy has an extraordinary memory and a keen eye for detail—well-known but often-overlooked strengths associated with autism. Ruthsatz and her daughter and coauthor, Kim­berly Stephens, now propose a startling possibility: What if the abilities of child prodigies stem from a genetic link with autism? And could prodigies— children who have many of the strengths of autism but few of the challenges—be the key to a long-awaited autism breakthrough? In The Prodigy’s Cousin, Ruthsatz and Stephens narrate the poignant stories of the children they have studied, including that of a two-year-old who loved to spell words like “algorithm” and “confeder­ation,” a six-year-old painter who churned out mas­terpieces faster than her parents could hang them, and a typically developing thirteen-year-old who smacked his head against a church floor and woke up a music prodigy. This inspiring tale of extraordinary children, indomitable parents, and a researcher’s unorthodox hunch is essential reading for anyone interested in the brain and human potential. Ruthsatz and Stephens take us from the prodigies’ homes to the depths of the autism archives to the cutting edge of genetics research, all while upending our under­standing of what makes exceptional talent possible.

Classic reissue of the very first biography of the world's biggest hard dance/rock act.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1866.

Written with the cooperation of Liam Howlett, this biography of The Prodigy charts their rise from Essex ravers to festival headliners and international stars.

Toby, born to an unwed teenages in North Carolina, demonstrates miraculous powers to heal people and control weather at an early age, but when a radio talk-show host profiles Toby as a Messiah figure, eventsd spin out of control.