cover image Prodigy

Prodigy

Amy Wallace. Dutton Books, $18.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-525-24404-2

The son of a brilliant Russian-immigrant psychologist associated with William James, Sidis (18981944) was reading the N.Y. Times at 18 months, typewriting at three and entered Harvard at age 11. His phenomenal memory, powers of concentration and reasoning, and breadth of interests astounded his school teachers. According to Wallace, coauthor of The Book of Lists