I just watched a fascinating program on Channel 5 about a man called Kim Peek, the inspiration for the Rain Man film. This is a short extract from the Channel 5 description for the program:

“Fifty-four-year-old Kim Peek is arguably the world’s most famous savant and the inspiration behind the Oscar-winning film, Rain Man. He was diagnosed as mentally retarded at birth by a neurologist who spared him five minutes on his way to a golf game, and his parents were advised to place him in an institution. But his father, Fran, refused to give up on him and under his care Kim has developed a memory that, without equal, has made him a household name in the USA.

Described as “a living Google”, Kim is a confounding mix of disability and brilliance that has baffled neurosurgeons. Most savants have only one dominating interest, but Kim seems to soak up everything: from sport to politics and even the minutiae of the British monarchy. But his gifts come at a price. Now nearly 80, Fran still looks after his son who needs help with all aspects of everyday life.”

It was really fascinating to hear some of the things that he could remember.
The program also told you some interesting facts about his habits, like how he reads one page of a book with one eye and the other side with the other. Not only that, he reads a page of a book in about eight seconds compared to an average human who reads one page in three minutes.

Here’s the Channel 5 link about the program if anyone’s interested: Link