The Einstein Syndrome

Two separate studies of children who are exceptionally bright, and at the same time exceptionally late in beginning to speak, provide the background for this dramatic story of these children and their often anguished parents. In the short time that these children have been studied, examples have turned up all over the world. Numbers of these children have grown into renowned adults: pianists Clara Schumann and Arthur Rubinstein; Julia Robinson, the first female president of the American Mathematical Association; and Nobel Prize winners Gary Becker, Richard Feynman, and Albert Einstein.

The Einstein Syndrome is a follow-up to Late-Talking Children, which established Thomas Sowell as a leading spokesman on the subject, but here Sowell goes much farther. The scientific question as to why these children are behind schedule in developing speech is explored here with the help of findings from an autopsy of the brain of Einstein himself. This book also explores the more immediate question of how parents can cope with problems arising from a late-talking child—at home, and outside in a world that too often refuses to grasp the issue.