Customer Reviews

Children Of The Atom: Facsimile Reproduction Of The 1953 First Edition

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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

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. [...]

Radiation damage to parents have left certain children with enhanced abilities. After a scientist learns of the existence of such children by tracking down one of the older boys, he decides a school would be a good idea, and brings them together.

Eventually they realise psychology will be a big issue, after some practical jokes start escalating, and work on that as a project. A local preacher of the crazed loon variety starts preaching against them as abominations and witches, etc., so they decide to disperse back into the normal population, for their own good, and to influence others, at least for a significant percentage of the time.

I just finished this book after reading a short review on [...] and after all this time it's still a great read after all this time.
The characters are well written and the psychology was professionally thought out.

I'd recommend this book to anyone that has a passing with psychology or with the X-Men comic books or shows/movies.