Kimputer
Kim Peek, the man who was the inspiration for the film Rainman, was nicknamed by his friends the Kimputer:
According to Peek's father, Fran, Peek was able to memorize things from the age of 16-20 months. He read books, memorized them, and then placed them upside down on the shelf to show that he had finished reading them, a practice he still maintains. He reads a page of text in about 10 seconds (about a book per hour) and, apparently, remembers everything he has read, memorizing vast amounts of information in subjects ranging from history and literature, geography, and numbers, to sports, music, and dates. He can recall some 12,000 books from memory. Peek can also do formidable calculations in his head, a skill that serves him well in his day job, where he prepares payroll worksheets.
Despite these remarkable abilities, this lad was born with an incomplete brain, hence:
Peek did not walk until the age of four and still walks in a sidelong manner. He cannot button up his shirt and has difficulty with other ordinary motor skills, presumably due to his damaged cerebellum, which normally coordinates motor activities. In psychological testing, Peek has scored below average on general IQ tests; however he has scored very high in some subtests. The mixed results have led to the conclusion that such tests are not an adequate yardstick to measure Peek's abilities. He has an outgoing personality and is not autistic.
I read an article about this guy last year. After the reporter told him his date of birth, Kim replied instantly with the day of the week the date had fallen on. Freaky.
According to Peek's father, Fran, Peek was able to memorize things from the age of 16-20 months. He read books, memorized them, and then placed them upside down on the shelf to show that he had finished reading them, a practice he still maintains. He reads a page of text in about 10 seconds (about a book per hour) and, apparently, remembers everything he has read, memorizing vast amounts of information in subjects ranging from history and literature, geography, and numbers, to sports, music, and dates. He can recall some 12,000 books from memory. Peek can also do formidable calculations in his head, a skill that serves him well in his day job, where he prepares payroll worksheets.
Despite these remarkable abilities, this lad was born with an incomplete brain, hence:
Peek did not walk until the age of four and still walks in a sidelong manner. He cannot button up his shirt and has difficulty with other ordinary motor skills, presumably due to his damaged cerebellum, which normally coordinates motor activities. In psychological testing, Peek has scored below average on general IQ tests; however he has scored very high in some subtests. The mixed results have led to the conclusion that such tests are not an adequate yardstick to measure Peek's abilities. He has an outgoing personality and is not autistic.
I read an article about this guy last year. After the reporter told him his date of birth, Kim replied instantly with the day of the week the date had fallen on. Freaky.
posted by Engels at 11:48 am
2 Comments:
NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERDDDD!!!
*Got Nuttin*
The ultimate nerd. Strange though. Let's just say that everyone has around about the same size brain. How is his so vastly different? You can have brains that have a higher density of cells, hence more memory intelligence. But this much?
Is his memory missing out somewhere? Surely you can't be brilliant in everything. My memory used to be alright. I can remember faces of people I've seen once before and movie names. OK at dates and numbers. But I can't remember song lyrics to save myself. Or if somebody reads a phone number out to me, I jumble it up. They have to say it slowly.
I can accept temporary photographic memory, but when they remember large volumes perfectly for indefinite periods...truly remarkable.
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