Spark by Kristine Barnett ✔✔✔

I heard Barnett being interviewed on CBC Radio, and I was impressed with her son's story.  I'm also pretty sure I'd heard about him before. Jake was born with autism, but also with incredible mathematical skills.  He was placed in a Special Ed programme, but his mother withdrew him because he was so unhappy - teachers were trying to discover what he couldn't do rather than what he could. And what he can do is virtually immeasureable, although he has to be reminded to tie his shoelaces, and eat a proper breakfast.

This child's mind is unbelievable!  Kristine relates driving past a Best Buy parking lot at 55 mph, and Jake being able to tell her not only how many cars were in the lot, but also what percentage of them were silver in color! At age seven, she makes arrangements for him to audit college classes, where the professors often cannot answer his questions.  At age 11, he becomes a full-time student in a graduate degree programme, although only one class at a time, simply because when he and his Mom went for the interview, the coins in his pocket overflowed onto the floor, and he was more interested in retrieiving them than talking to the admitting officer! At the present time, he is tutoring his classmates, and research is being done into his developing what has been termed an "original theory" of mathematics, which could put him in line for a Nobel Prize.

I would assign more stars to this book for Jake and Kristine's story, but I wasn't too impressed with the writing. But a fascinating read all the same.  People like Jake do not forget information - they are constantly reliving the moment when they learned, and their ability is akin to our never forgetting how to ride a bike.  When we have to remember a telephone number, we have to write it down quickly, or it'll be forgotten, but Jake's mind is itself the page that's written upon - and his mom describes the size of his "page" as the size of a football field.

It still is almost impossible to comprehend, but the book again reveals the remarkable power and ability of the human brain.  If I were a student again, I'd want to pursue this a bit further.

Summer Reading Recap

I noticed this morning that I haven't got too many books recorded on this blog for the past two months or so, but I only record the ones I've completed - I have a number of books "on the go" at any one time.

So I thought I'd list them here, more to remind myself when I'm looking for something to read ( as if that will ever happen!).  I always have a couple of non-fiction hanging around or on my Kindle/iPad, and books about spirituality are regularly read and reflected upon.

Currently Reading Non-Fiction:

Jazz: A History of America's Music by Ken Burns and Geoffrey C. Ward

The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide To Caring For People Who Have Alzheimer Disease, Related Dementias and Memory Loss - Mace and Rabins

Spirituality:

Immortal Diamond  - Richard Rohr
Falling Upward       - Richard Rohr ( Study Group selection for 2013/2014)

Hildegard of Bingen: A  Saint For Our Times - Matthew Fox
The Greatest Prayer: Rediscovering the Revolutionary Message of the Lord's Prayer - John Dominic Crossan

(Interesting to note that all four titles above have been written by Catholic writers.  All of them are former priests!)

Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom - John O'Donohue

Book Club Preparation:

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce
Ernie's Gold: A Prospector's Tale - Brian Martin

THE CUCKOO'S CALLING by J.K. Rowling ✔✔✔

This book reads like the could be the beginning of a series of novels by Robert Galbraith aka J.K. Rowling.  It introduces us to private investigator Cormoran Strike, an British ex-soldier who lost his leg in Afghanistan, and to Robyn, the young temp he hires to help him with his new - and to this point highly unsuccessful - business as a private investigator.  Robin arrives for her temporary duties at the precise moment Cormoran's girlfriend, Charlotte, flees his office, having just broken up their 15-year relationship.

Anyway, it's a good read, well-paced, with interesting characters, whose names or places in the story I didn't seem to forget , which is always a good point with mysteries.  The chemistry between Robin and Cormoran is good, and doesn't ever intrude on the progress of the case Strike is trying to solve.

All in all, a pretty good read, and I'd read a sequel for sure.  I did read that there's the possibility of a TV show based on it - I hope it's British!