Kim Peek: Genius Missing Part of his Brain!

Kim Peek is an autistic savant who displays incredible intellectual capabilities. A friend of mine heard him speak to a large audience. Peek asked someone in the audience to tell him the name of the state and town where he grew up. Peek then told the man his zip code and all the streets in his town. Peek repeated this exercise with other audience members, each member was from a different state and Peek was able to provide the same accurate information.

Peek has 14 areas of expertise, including sports, history, and movies. he can be asked any question about a subject area and provide an answer. He is able to speed read, reading two pages at once and remembering every word. Although he is an intellectual genius, Peek is 54 years old and depends completely on the care of his 80 year old father. Kim has difficulty in social settings as well as carrying out mundane activities such as brushing his teeth or buttoning his own shirt. His father Fran has devoted his life to caring for his son. Peek was also the inspiration for the movie Rain Man.

The most fascinating aspect of this man is that he is missing a huge portion of his brain!!! You can view images of his brain on the link I have posted here: http://www.condition.org/sa5cb.jpg.

Peek is missing his corpus callosum. This part of the brain usually connects the left and right sides of the brain. He also has a malformed cerebellum (which controls some motor functions). This may explain his difficulty with motor skills. To my knowledge, however, understanding the source of his intellect is still a mystery.