Biography

Kim Peek, the inspiration behind the movie Rain Man, was born on the 11th of November 1951.

At birth, doctors discovered that Kim suffered from several major defects to the brain. He was classified as mentally retarded. Later, he was diagnosed with autism. At 9 months of age, Kim’s parents took him to a neurologist. The doctor perused Kim’s case briefly and concluded that Kim was too mentally retarded to walk or learn, and suggested he be put in an institution and forgotten about. Kim’s parents did not oblige.

Kim’s father (and permanent guardian) reports that at 16-20 months, Kim was able to memorize every book that was read to him. Soon, he began reading on his own. After reading a book, he’d place it back on the shelf upside down to signal that he’d already read and memorized that book and he didn’t want to have it read to him again. That habit has stuck with him until the present day – he still returns books to their shelves backwards or upside down.

One pivotal moment in Kim’s development occurred at age 3 – he asked his parents the meaning of the word ‘confidential’. Kim’s parents jokingly told him to look it up in the dictionary, but that’s exactly what the 3-year-old did. Astoundingly, he managed to use alphabetical order to look the word up. The most recent estimation puts the number of books that Kim has read at 10 000, and he has the ability to recall all of them to a large degree of accuracy.

Kim’s motor skills lagged behind other children of his age. For example, he did not walk until he was 4 years old. At the age of 6, a brain surgeon offered Kim’s parents the option of giving Kim a lobotomy so that Kim could be permanently institutionalized. However, they refused and tried to bring Kim up in a way that was as normal as possible.