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Beate Hermelin
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Book
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Publisher | Jessica Kingsley Publishers | ||
ISBN | 9781853029325 | ||
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Reviewer
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Janice
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Synopsis
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 she 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.
Review
Bright Splinters of the Mind is a book that explains how the mind of an Autistic 'Savant' works in a very different way to anyone else on the planet.
When I started reading the book I felt that it was more of a book for student psychologists than to be read by the public wanting to understand more about people on The Autism Spectrum. Sir Michael Rutter who wrote the forward, states that Beate Hermelin .....succeeds in making what hitherto appeared complicated and unknowable seem simple and understandable...... I found that further on in the book, especially where the talk about artists and the way they can reproduce what they have seen in amazing detail absolutely fascinating. When you look at the photographs and then the drawings - both reproduced in the book - they are virtually perfect reproductions.
Having finished the book I have to agree that 'Autistic Savants' really are remarkable people. Some are like the autistic character in film Rain Man; some can reproduce art works and others can tell you every date and day in every year that you ask for. All really brilliant talents especially when you realise that there are not many normal people who can do these things!
This is a wonderfully written book by Beate Hermelin who is an experimental psychologist working in the area of abnormal development. She gained her degree in psychotherapy from Reading University followed by a PhD. from the London Institute of Psychiatry. She has done a great deal of reseach with most of her work being published extensively on psychology and on autism. This is a great book for those wanting to know more about the Autism Spectrum Disorder whether from a professional point of view or just from personal interest.
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