LEVEL 75 PALADIN Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 Kim Peek, the autistic savant who inspired the Oscar-winning film Rain Man, has died, aged 58. Mr Peek's father Fran said that his son had suffered a major heart attack on Saturday and was pronounced dead at a hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, the town where he had spent his life. Mr Peek was probably the world's most famous savant. Described as a confounding mixture of disability and genius, his astonishing ability to retain knowledge inspired the writer Barry Morrow to write Rain Man, the 1988 movie starring Dustin Hoffman that won four Academy Awards. Born in 1951 in Salt Lake city, Mr Peek was diagnosed as severely mentally retarded and his parents were advised to place him in an institution and forget about him. Thirty years later, he was classified as a "mega-savant," a genius in about 15 different subjects, from history and literature and geography to numbers, sports, music and dates. By the time of his death he had committed more than 9,000 books to memory and Nasa made him the subject of MRI-based research, hoping that technology used to study the effects of space travel on the brain would help explain his mental capabilities. He would read eight books a day, taking just ten seconds to read a page. He could read two pages simultaneously, his left eye reading the left page and his right eye reading the right page. But throughout his life he still needed 24-hour care. Despite his great mental agility, his motor skills remained limited; he could not perform simple tasks such as dressing himself or combing his hair. His father Fran became his sole carer after Mr Peek's parent divorced in 1975. Fran Peek said that care of his son was a 30-hour-day, 10-day-a-week job but he did it devotedly, encouraging Kim to make the most of his abilities. But Mr Peek remained deeply introverted. It was not until he met Dustin Hoffman, when the Hollywood star was researching his role in Rain Man, that he could look into another person's face. He was 37 at the time. Dustin Hoffman advised Fran Peek not to hide his son away. Mr Peek said of that meeting: "Dustin Hoffman said to me, you have to promise me one thing about this guy, share him with the world. And pretty soon it got so that nobody was a stranger to him, they were people, and so was he". He took Hoffman's advice, putting his son on stage in front of thousands of people for whom he answered, almost always correctly, the most obscure questions they could test him with. He thrived on his new found fame. Mr Morrow said of him: "I love the way he's flowered, it belies the myth that people don't change, especially people with developmental disabilities." Four years before his death, Mr Peek said: "I wasn't supposed to make it past about 14, and yet here I am at 54, a celebrity!" http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6964730.ece http://www.youtube.com/user/godtammet#p/f/2/k2T45r5G3kA RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_gacy Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 I BUY MY UNDERWEAR AT K-MART!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miley Cyrus Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 so? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEVEL 75 PALADIN Posted December 22, 2009 Author Share Posted December 22, 2009 so? It's about as an incredible as a story can be. http://www.youtube.com/user/godtammet#p/f/2/k2T45r5G3kA Sorry if that's lost on you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watson Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 kmart sucks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcs Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Its profound is all. Eidetic memory Makes you wonder what percentage of his brain he used. Its not like his brain is physically larger than normal. I wouldnt have wanted to trade capacities with the guy. I mean... On the one hand he was a genius in 15 different subjects. On the other hand he couldnt dress himself. Pretty fucked up trade off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_gacy Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 I'M AN EXCELLENT DRIVER Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silba Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 thats sad. Maybe he used all the info most of us just forget about and dont use. This really makes you think. hmmmmm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
remainunderated Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 R.I.P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SystemFailure Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Peek-a-boo Imma hump you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElectricitySucks Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 that Kim Peek documentary was pretty good. What was interesting was the part where the neuroscientists couldn't really figure out if Peek actually understands what he is talking about with emotion (or something) or if he just takes the knowledge he has literally and builds it all up book after book after book.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountain dew Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Crazy smart. Rest in peace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IOU Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 RIP.. It's good that he found some happiness before he died. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoes Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 I miss Kim already RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SystemFailure Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 This guy is really interesting. You think they will make a movie about him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harvey Wallbanger Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 It's crazy that Dustin Hoffman was able to connect with him like that... good stuff. RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spring Break '92 Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 RIP to this guy. Fucking amazing capabilities. Such as like reading two pages with both eyes simultaneously. I personally believe that these people use a higher percentage of their brain than the average human being. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Tooth Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 im gonna watch that youtube doc, and yeah the part about him reading two different pages, one with each eye is pretty nut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shellshock Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 must be the cocaine,,, hollywood these days psssshhhhh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kekeke88 Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 R.I.P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freakeenyc Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 amazing person Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*PROTOCOL* Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 He touched us all in his 58 years, 22 weeks, 3 days, 16 hours, 27 minutes, 16 seconds on this planet. R.I.P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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