Kim Peek, the inspiration for Rain Man, dies at 58

[ArtMonkDrillz]

Father: Utah man who inspired 'Rain Man' dies (AP) - Yahoo! Movies

I saw a special on the Discovery Channel about Peek a few years ago and it was simply amazing. It wasn't just that he could spout off these facts in a vacuum, but he actually seemed to have a big personality which made him seem like a very likable guy.

[MTK]

Yeah I've seen some shows about him, remarkable stuff. It's amazing what the human brain is capable of sometimes, if only they could tap in to it.

[cpayne5]

Kim Peek was incredible. It is amazing the types of things some savants can do. One thing that amazed me about Peek was his ability to read with two eyes. Each eye could read independently, ie read 2 pages of a book concurrently.

[ArtMonkDrillz]

Originally Posted by cpayne5

Kim Peek was incredible. It is amazing the types of things some savants can do. One thing that amazed me about Peek was his ability to read with two eyes. Each eye could read independently, ie read 2 pages of a book concurrently.

Do you think that ability may have to do with the fact that he wasn't really picking up the context of what he was reading? I mean basically his eyes were just scanning the page, and yes he was able to remember everything he was reading but he wasn't necessarily able to form abstract thoughts in relation to what he was reading. Either way, it is an amazing talent.

[TheSmurfs22]

It was said he used about 98% of his brain compared to the average which is 45%. The guy was awesome!

[cpayne5]

Originally Posted by ArtMonkDrillz

Do you think that ability may have to do with the fact that he wasn't really picking up the context of what he was reading? I mean basically his eyes were just scanning the page, and yes he was able to remember everything he was reading but he wasn't necessarily able to form abstract thoughts in relation to what he was reading. Either way, it is an amazing talent.

Oh, yeah, he absolutely wasn't comprehending what he was reading. He was a human scanner. He had an IQ of 73. What is interesting to me is the idea that each eye can be focused on something with the brain actually computing it. My eyes can't do that.