Talk:Kim Peek

Death

I'm glad to see that someone put the date of death back to December 19th (as I typed it)! Someone changed it after my entry (to Dec. 20th), and that was WRONG. Honestly people, do some research and get a source before you correct someone! I knew Kim, and received the information first-hand from his father, Fran.

Wikipedia has secured permission from Darold A. Treffert, M.D. to use the text and pictures from the following link: http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant/kimpeek.cfm

Memorizing

I once read that Peek could remember only about 95% of things he's read. It might be nice to find the actual percentage if anyone has the time. -- Someone

If he can remember the content of the books he reads, why does he need to turn the books themselves upside down to remember which ones he has read, which is surely much easier to memorize? 130.234.170.84 17:28, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

It was not for him, but for others to know that he had read and memorized them, and did not want to be bothered with them.--Hypergeometric2F1(a,b,c,x) 05:55, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

I watched a documentary about Kim, and his father says he remembers 98% of what he reads, the documentary is on YouTube if you want to see it.

This is correct. His father says he remembres approximately 98% of what he reads using his speed reading style.

I removed the figure "98.7%" since no source was cited. Even if his father has given that figure, this is very obviously a rough impression - we shouldn't be leading readers to believe that this really has been measured to three significant figures. --GenericBob (talk) 02:32, 3 June 2009 (UTC)

Permission

Email Text:

Mr. [removed [USER:catskul]]

You have my permission to use the WMS savant syndrome web site Kim Peek 
images and text as long as those are properly attributed to WMS and myself 
as exists on that savant syndrome web site posting at present.

Kim is a fascinating person and making more information about him more 
available to viewers will be a worthwhile posting on your site indeed.
The posting should be attributed to Wisconsin Medical Society Savant 
Syndrome web site and to myself, Darold A. Treffert, M.D.

                            Darold A. Treffert, M.D.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "REMOVED" <REMOVED>
To: <savants@dotnet.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 3:15 PM
Subject: Copyrights for Encyclopedia Article on Kim Peek  

> Dr. Darold A. Treffert,
> 
> As it appears that you are the copyright holder this is being sent to you. 
> I would appreciate that you forward the message along with my contact 
> information to the appropriate party if this is not the case:
> 
> I wish to make copies of the following images and to post them to
> en.wikipedia.org as a contribution to the free encyclopedia article on Kim
> Peek.
> 
> Wikipedia, a free-content encyclopedia in many languages.
> 
> To allow uploading the copyright holder must agree to the following:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights
> 
> These are the images in question:
> http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant/images/peek1.jpg
> http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant/images/peek2.jpg
> 
> Its important to note that the images would not be constantly retrieved 
> from your website, but rather they would be served from the wikipedia servers
> eliminating any additional load on your servers and not taking any of your
> bandwidth.
> 
> Furthermore we as a community would like permission to use text contained 
> within the article published at the following address:
> http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant/kimpeek.cfm
> 
> Members of the Wikipedia community try their best to make sure that all 
> content on wikipedia is free and legal. We thank you for your consideration in 
> helping this be possible.
> 
>     Thank You,
>     REMOVED

Rain Man edit

I made a minor edit to identify Barry Morrow as the screenwriter for the movie Rain Man. He was incorrectly attributed as the director. Barry Levinson directed Rain Man.

I also made a minor change to his apperances in which i added that he was on the discovery channel for a short time.

Not autistic (AGAIN!)

Kim Peek is not autistic. We have had this discussion before - see Talk:Autism/History_as_of_2006_June_5#Kim_Peek_appropriateness.3F and Talk:Autism/History_as_of_2006_June_5#The_Kim_Peek_Photo for more information. this version is more correct on this issue. RN 05:26, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

HOWEVER, PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING: Kim Peek is speaking at my company's Annual appreciation dinner in two weeks. According to the information he has sent us he is "diagnosed as an autistic savant. However, he is not behaviorally autistic." I'm not sure where the idea that he is not a person with autism has come from but it definitely is not from Peek himself. Netherhereafter 18 October, 2006

My guess is that the belief that Kim Peek is not autistic came from people who interpretted the claim that Kim Peek is not "behaviorally autistic" too literally. Q0 05:36, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

There has been a lot of confusion about this. As I understand it, the term "idiot savant" was abandoned in favor of autistic savant which sounds better, but it's confusing because not all so-called autistic savants have autism. The autistic savant article doesn't really clarify this. There used to be a link from Kim Peek to autistic savant, but someone changed it to simply savant which really isn't appropriate. Ntsimp 16:58, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Now it is linked to Savant Syndrome. This won't do at all. WizardOfTheCDrive 23:31, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

• Anyone editing this page should also note that it is generally considered inappropriate to refer to people as "autistic." Rather, please refer to them as "people with autism" or something similar.

please explain to me that difference between "autistic" and "people with autism" and why you think it is inappriopirate ?

It may just be stigma. "Coloured" versus "people of colour" for instance. -Bordello 07:32, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

There is a lot of controversy about the "people with autism" vs. "autistic people" labels. Some people, including some autistic people, prefer "autistic people" to "people with autism". Some people, on the other hand, prefer "people with autism". Part of the reason for this controversy is that some people see autism as something which is separate from the person (and thus prefer "people with autism") and some people see autism as a part of the person's identity and as something that cannot be separated from the person (and thus prefer "autistic people"). Q0 10:41, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

"Autistic savant" may be inappropriate or unexact, but not as inappropriate as "savant" without qualification. Robina Fox 11:01, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

I think we should change "autistic savant" to "a person with savant syndrome" (Treffert & Wallace, 2002) - to be technically correct. All savants do not suffer from autism, though savant syndrome is certainly marked very often by autistic tendencies. (72.171.0.146 (talk) 00:45, 26 November 2007 (UTC))

The birth date

Thanks for the subtle humor (or whatever you'd call it), giving the weekday for his birth date, and thereby deviating from the norm of listed dates on Wikipedia to tie in with his ability at telling weekdays quickly. I hope it's not removed but stays -- it gave me a smile, and there's nothing saying we can't have weekdays like this in the intro text. :-) -- Northgrove 03:10, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

Except the fact that it's useless spam. I vote to remove the sunday. Jolb 02:11, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, those 10 bytes could be better spent elsewhere! Tsch, please... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.43.182.51 (talk) 21:45, 27 January 2007 (UTC).

I guess tight-ass conformity trumps humor. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.154.125.189 (talk) 11:56, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

Health?

I saw a documentary recently that said he has heart problems because he never exercises and likes junk food. That should probably be added. Jack Daw 14:59, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

Why? That doesn't seem notable to me. Dreamyshade 22:23, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Now that he's died of a heart attack, I guess "Dreamyshade" can bite it, eh? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.126.229.138 (talk) 21:14, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

Biography?

This page needs quite a substantial cleanup before I could imagine it gaining inclusion into the 2006 Wikipedia CD Selection. Citations need to be added, and the "autistic savant" vs. just "savant" issue needs to be resolved with citable evidence from reputable sources. Loose cannon claims; "we had this discussion already" retorts; and personal, unsubstantiated justifications will not do.

Syntax Change

The word "importantly" is an adverb. "Most importantly," therefore, is incorrect grammar. Your sentence should read, "most important, . . ." I have made this small change.

What? Adjectives can modify adverbs, why the heck can't they? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.72.21.221 (talk) 04:13, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

Tag

The "missing citation" tag is boring. It don't feel comfortable seeing so many construction sites in Wikipedia.... IF necessary, why don't you place it at the end of the article?

Reading ability

The text I added withour citation about his ability to read the left page with the left eye, and the right with the right comes from a comment made by his father Fran in the documentary "Daniel Tammet - The Boy With The Incredible Brain", viewable on YouTube. I'll let the person who took it down restore it. He can add the comment about 8 seconds too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.154.125.189 (talk) 12:57, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

Religion

Just a simple question: who cares of what church Kim Peek is a member? It has exactly nothing to do with why people are interested in his life. It would be cool for someone to remove this extraneous detail from the page. 66.45.157.158 (talk) 18:05, 23 August 2008 (UTC)Evan

• • I would normally have had some sympathy for this suggestion. However I have just seen a doco about savants featuring KP. It seems to me that it is indeed fortunate that he is a "member" of the LDS since there is no doubt that he will be cared for appropriately should his father, Fran, who seems to care for him very lovingly pre-deceases him. This does not mean I don't think know LDS beliefs are for dingbats. Albatross2147 (talk) 11:20, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

Weather it should remain on the page or not, the information of him being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should be in his biography section, not the increased ability section ;) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.3.251.3 (talk) 19:02, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

The Peeks were very active within the LDS Church, and their religion is an important part of Kim's biography. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.126.229.138 (talk) 21:16, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

question

In the article it says that he can recall 12000 books. Does it mean the titles or the content?--Megaman en m (talk) 18:48, 2 October 2008 (UTC)

Both. He really is that amazing. -- JackofOz (talk) 00:06, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

Wish I could do that, would improve my grades XD anyway thanks for answering.--Megaman en m (talk) 09:47, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

neurological terminology

"information bounces around in his lob" "immobilize his left lob"

I am not a neurologist, but I suspect this section has been added by someone with even less knowledge : Is that supposed to be 'lobe' ?--195.137.93.171 (talk) 18:29, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

I'm a cognitive scientist, and this is nonsense. 18.93.3.251 (talk) 20:47, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

Autism?

Kim Peek is part of a discussion for my Psychology class, so I thought I would look up a few things about him only to find a bunch of comments about how he is not autistic. My university textbook says he is, and I feel that people posting here think that it is some sort of insult for Mr.Peek to be labelled as an autistic person, which I do not believe it is. I find it very disturbing that this website clearly states that Mr.Peek is not autistic, when my textbook (which I am pretty sure is far better informed than this site)states that Mr.Peek is autistic. The text is "Psychology: frontiers and applications" I hope that this information can be changed soon as it is wrong.

Cmoore03 (talk) 20:06, 25 July 2009 (UTC)

The current article says he likely has FG syndrome which seems entirely different from autism. I wasn't convinced.

Here's what the FG syndrome entry says:

FG syndrome's major clinical features include mental retardation, usually severe; hyperactive behavior, often with an outgoing personality; severe constipation, with or without structural anomalies in the anus such as imperforate anus; macrocephaly; severe hypotonia; and a characteristic facial appearance due to hypotonia, giving a droopy, "open-mouthed" expression, a thin upper lip, and a full or pouting lower lip.

Textbooks can be wrong, and this is a good example. Kim certainly did NOT have Autism. His father told me this personally, and Dr Treffort (the foremost authority on Savant Syndrome) makes the statement consistently. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.126.229.138 (talk) 21:18, 21 December 2009 (UTC)