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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good read for anyone, but great for bright young readers, November 19, 2005
This review is from: Children Of The Atom: Facsimile Reproduction Of The 1953 First Edition (Hardcover)
This is a facsimile reprint edition of the Shiras' 1953 fix-up novel of really exceptional children-the brilliant mutant offspring of parents caught in a nuclear industrial accident.
Peter Welles, a school psychiatrist, is asked by a teacher to talk to Timothy Paul, an apparently perfectly normal thirteen-year-old who nevertheless seems to her teacher's instinct different in some hard to pin down way. Welles gradually ferrets out the truth-that Timothy is an astoundingly bright child who has been taught, unknowingly but effectively, by his loving grandparents to pass for normal. As he discovers the extent of Timothy's exceptionalism-he's been writing and publishing under multiple false names, saving the money in a bank account opened by mail, and carrying on extensive correspondence with adults who never suspect his true age-Welles realizes that Timothy can't be the only one. Worried about this brilliant boy's long-term prospects without any intellectual equals to relate to when he's an adult, Welles helps him seek other orphans of the same accident, and slowly gathers them together in a school for what are accurately, if somewhat understatedly, called "gifted children." Their troubles aren't over, of course; in some ways, they're just beginning. Shiras manages to be both realistic and optimistic in describing the children's attempts to both develop their potential and adapt to society, and this is a good and still satisfying book.
Recommended.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
You've got a friend., January 27, 2011
This review is from: Children Of The Atom: Facsimile Reproduction Of The 1953 First Edition (Hardcover)
When your down and troubled
And you need a helping hand
And nothing, whoa nothing is going right.
Close your eyes and think of me
And soon I will be there
-- Carole King
This is a great book with a surprisingly wonderful story. However by the time you figure out where the author Wilmar H. Shirras is leading us the book ends and possible the real story just begins.
A physiatrist stumbles on a secret that children born after a nuclear mishap have expanded intellects.
This of course can be a blessing or a curse depending on how it is handled. There is a much bigger theme of which this is just the core.
As with other readers this book needs to be revisited periodically.
If you like this story you should also like "Starship on Saddle Mountain" It is a different kind of story but also has the general intent of this story.
Star Ship on Saddle Mountain by Atlantis Hallam
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3.0 out of 5 stars
finding a classic, October 12, 2009
This review is from: Children Of The Atom: Facsimile Reproduction Of The 1953 First Edition (Hardcover)
This book was recommended by jerry Porunelle as one of his books of the month. I had never heard of it, although I am a fan of classic science fiction of this period. The book is a mixed bag. It is a collection of 4 previously short stories wound together with a final section, dealing with exceptionally bright children and their mental and social development. Interesting social science, but the ending comes too quickly and too neatly for me. My adult daugher has a blog of science fiction reviews, and she reviewed this book after she read it too. [...]
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