Natures Gambit

The negative reviews of this book are unfair. It is far from perfect, but it contains very important information about the various forces that must all meet to create a prodigy. I did find the small amount of material about some of the parents and teachers believing that prodigies are reincarnated geniuses to be absurd. But that did not discount the value of the rest of the book. The most important point in this book is that contrary to the myth that prodigies are born with their talent and will overcome all obstacles to become great, in reality they must be exposed to a field or art, their interest must be observed and acted upon by a parent, and the parents must work hard to allow a potential prodigy to achieve any significant portion of his potential. This is not a trivial point. And it indicates that only a tiny portion of potential prodigies are ever given a chance.

Anyone who has any interest in the phenomenon of child prodigies will find this book a fascinating read. It traces the early development of 6 children who are prodigies (able to work competitively at the adult level) in some field. Of the 6, the fields the children excel in are as follows: 2 are in chess, 1 is a writer, 1 a musician, 1 in mathematics, 1 is extremely gifted overall (one of the highest IQs recorded). The author explains why prodigies are more often found in some fields, such as music or chess, than others (such as writing- the writing prodigy was the only 1 of the 6 children studied who was not working at an adult professional level). The author delves into the "coincidences" of time, place, technology and parenting that allow these prodigies to develop. He draws on other examples of prodigies outside of his own 6 subjects. Among these is a severely handicapped youth who, through the dedication of his adoptive parents, was eventually discovered to have savant ability in music. Some may argue that one or the other child in the study may not be a true prodigy, but they are all interesting children to read about, and the author certainly makes some excellent observations on the development of human potential. I found this book hard to put down.

While "it remains true that the prodigy cries out for explanation," Feldman displays an array of insights which demonstrate that (as he approvingly quotes Richard Feynman): "The thing that doesn't fit is the thing that's the most interesting, the part that doesn't go according to what you expected." By drawing together the interplay, the reciprocal threadings, of physical, psychological, and cultural cultural levels in the development of prodigies, Feldman contends that the "end game" of our evolutionary process is to create conditions which maximally deploy the rich potential expressed in human history. Such an end game thus has survival value to our species by increasing the range of human skills and capacities in meaningfully specific ways. As Feldman states, "Prodigies are masterpieces of timing, individuals who manage to find a fully resonant domain very early in their individual life games." This book sensitively portrays, in a nested cluster of apt metaphors, how such a matching of individual and domain occurs. Any given society provides a fecund bed for very specific types of prodigies to flower. Certain times favor particular forms of talent, yet our prodigies often defy predictability and retain "an element of mystery and uncanniness." And, ironically, for all the efflorescence of talent, the development of a prodigy is intrinsically a fragile event. Feldman's penetrating look at such precocity provides a deeper understanding of its preconditions, structure, and outcomes. And all this is presented in the context of human evolution as psychophysiological-cultural reality. A wonderful, provocative book. Pour a cup of java or tea, and prepare to ponder.