We should understand savants, not revere them

RECITING 22,514 digits from memory, drawing an entire landscape after seeing it once, and the spontaneous ability to play the piano are among the awesome feats of savants. On page 40, one of these prodigies issues a plea for us all to stop seeing his abilities as magical, and thus inexplicable. Instead, we should regard them as providing a glimpse of the extraordinary things the human mind is capable of. We need to do more to understand how savants summon their uncanny skills. That might help us unlock the true potential of education, and the human mind. There may be…