The story of Kim Peek, the autistic genius who inspired the 1988 film masterpiece Rain Man
Author: Sylvia Borissova
Kim Peek also became known as the Man-‘computer’—his phenomenal abilities attracted even the NASA scientists’ attention while working on the creation of artificial intelligence. He is one of fifty geniuses around the world having the Asperger syndrome, or the ‘Scientist’s syndrome,’ which turns the brain into a unique repository of information.
Kim Peеk has memorized 10,000 books and has captured an incredible amount of knowledge from 15 different scientific fields thanks to hся photographic and auditory memory, which is working at incredible speeds. He is the prototype of Dustin Hoffman’s character from the famous film Rain Man (1988) by director Barry Levinson:
Soon after Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) discovers that he has an autistic brother, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman), he takes him on an unforgettable journey. Or maybe Raymond is the one setting the direction?
From refusing to travel on busy highways to a complete mental breakdown due to a missed TV show in the middle of Oklahoma, Raymond brings Charlie to the edge of his patience, and then completely breaks the framework of the selfish life that his younger brother has been used to leading.
What begins as a nervous journey around the country soon becomes a mystical odyssey of love and self-discovery: Raymond manages to transform Charlie, who finds the strength to outgrow his prejudices and discover the true face of brotherly love—thanks to Rain Man’s different worldview.
Source:
Video interview of Kevork Kevorkian with Kim Peek for the Bulgarian National Television program Vsyaka Nedelya (Every Sunday), April 17, 2005. URL: http://vsyakanedelya.blitz.bg/video/117