Wes Phillips

Meet Daniel Tammet

Wes Phillips  |  Feb 21, 2006

He's a genius, but he can't drive a car, hold down a 9-to-5 job, or tell left from right. So he works from home, developing custom courses on language acquisition, numeracy, and literacy. He's autistic and he's articulate. Richard Johnson delivers a three-dimensional portrait of a very rare savant—one who can tell us how he does what he does.

COMMENTS
Donald N.'s picture
Submitted by Donald N. (not verified) on February 22, 2006 - 3:38am

Very cool link and interesting. Makes me feel quite silly for not applying myself more...

Al Marcy's picture
Submitted by Al Marcy (not verified) on February 22, 2006 - 2:21am

Lots of people can't drive, nor work. Some are too young, some are too old and the rest are just damn fool lucky. Ask not for whom the screen scrolls, it scrolls for thee ;)

Buddha's picture
Submitted by Buddha (not verified) on February 22, 2006 - 2:47pm

< Makes me feel quite silly for not applying myself more... > But you are. Your busy applying yourself to driving a car, holding down a job, telling left from right, all those things he can't do. To me, genius is mastering all that has preceded you and then blazing a new trail. This guy is smart and all, but he's more an anomaly than a genius. You can admire what he can do, but can't aspire to be like him, eh? Apologies, that sounds negative of me. I had a Mountain Dew today and I think caffeine disagrees with me.

Alan in Victoria's picture
Submitted by Alan in Victoria (not verified) on February 24, 2006 - 3:10pm

Very interesting indeed, when viewed from afar, but frustrating and heartbreaking when you have to deal with the various conditions in the autism spectrum of disorders first hand....

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