The Spark: A Mother's Story of Nurturing, Genius, and Autism
In this compelling memoir, the mother of an autistic savant featured in a 60 Minutes segment tells the story of her remarkable son. The book would have benefited from a foreword by a prominent scientist and/or psychiatrist who could establish that this is completely legit. At two, Jake is diagnosed with autism. As a tyke, he memorizes every license plate in the neighborhood and teaches himself Braille. At eight, he starts auditing college courses. At 10, he teaches himself the entire high-school math curriculum in two weeks. At 13, he is a college sophomore at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. The book contains many interesting nuggets about kids with autism; for example, they dislike bowling alleys (too noisy). The family’s story, which includes Jake’s dad losing his job and his mom suffering from a stroke at age 30, seems destined for a TV or movie screen. Barnett even runs a day-care center, takes in foster kids, and starts a sports program for autistic kids. Jake is unusual, but so is his superhuman mom. --Karen Springen