In a work of extraordinary luminosity, Russell Martin takes on the science of language, probing this most profound and complex of human traits in a spellbinding narrative about his once-outgoing nephew, Ian Drummond, trapped at a young age within a mute cage of wordlessness.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Martin's account of how an autistic child was brought out of his silence and acquired language is made more poignant by the fact that 10-year-old Ian Drummond of Colorado is his nephew. Given to bizarre rituals and violent tantrums, and bombarded by a cacophony of sounds due to a brain-related hearing impairment, Ian struggled inside a seemingly inescapable hell. Yet, aided by his parents, he gradually learned to communicate, first through American Sign Language, then with a portable speech synthesizer, and most recently by typing his thoughts, wishes and feelings on a computer keyboard. Martin, author of a book on neurology, Matters Gray and White , interweaves his nephew's heroic story with speculations on the mechanisms of autism and language acquisition, buttressed by recent findings of linguistics, brain research and learning theory. Of special interest is his disturbing charge, backed by corroborative studies, that Ian's autism resulted from an allergic, encephalitic reaction to the pertussis component of the DPT (diphtheria/pertussis/tetanus) vaccine administered to him when he was 18 months old.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Joining Joel Davis's Mother Tongue ( LJ 12/93) and Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct ( LJ 2/1/94) is another book on language--this one told from the unique perspective of a child whose linguistic development has gone awry. Martin relates the story of his nephew who, following a routine pertussis vaccine at 18 months, developed autism. The struggle of Ian and his family to compensate for his disorder is told in counterpoint to the normal development of language in the human species. Martin reviews the prevailing theories regarding language development and autism and offers his own hypothesis on the direct cause of Ian's disorder. Neither scientist nor linguist, Martin ( A Story That Stands Like a Dam , LJ 10/15/89) has nevertheless researched his topic well and writes with grace and sensitivity. His book offers new insights on how the organization of language within the brain profoundly affects many aspects of human development. Appropriate for general readers.
- Laurie Bartolini, Lincoln Lib., Springfield, Ill.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Laurie Bartolini, Lincoln Lib., Springfield, Ill.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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More About the Author
Russell Martin is a producer and co-writer of the award-winning documentary film TWO SPIRITS and an award-winning, internationally published author of two critically acclaimed novels, THE SORROW OF ARCHAEOLOGY and BEAUTIFUL ISLANDS, as well as many nonfiction books. He has written for Time, the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, and National Public Radio. His nonfiction book BEETHOVEN'S HAIR, a United States bestseller and a Washington Post Book of the Year, has been published in twenty-one translated editions and is the subject of a Gemini-award-winning film of the same name. His books have been optioned by Robert Redford's Wildwood Enterprises, the Denver Center Theatre Company, and New World Television. He is, says Kirkus Reviews, "first and foremost a masterful storyteller."
His highly acclaimed book, PICASSO'S WAR, has been published in seven international editions; OUT OF SILENCE, was named by the Bloomsbury Review as one of fifteen best books of its first fifteen years of publication, and A STORY THAT STANDS LIKE A DAM: Glen Canyon and the Struggle for the Soul of the West, won the Caroline Bancroft History Prize.
When he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Colorado College in 1995, the citation read, in part, "Mr. Martin offers to general audiences precise and accurate, but highly readable, studies of extraordinarily complex issues. He does more: he sees beyond what is already known; he moves beyond synthesis to new insights. His work is disciplined, analytical, and creative. It is also profoundly humane."
He is based in Los Angeles, and welcomes every opportunity to spend time in Barcelona.
His highly acclaimed book, PICASSO'S WAR, has been published in seven international editions; OUT OF SILENCE, was named by the Bloomsbury Review as one of fifteen best books of its first fifteen years of publication, and A STORY THAT STANDS LIKE A DAM: Glen Canyon and the Struggle for the Soul of the West, won the Caroline Bancroft History Prize.
When he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Colorado College in 1995, the citation read, in part, "Mr. Martin offers to general audiences precise and accurate, but highly readable, studies of extraordinarily complex issues. He does more: he sees beyond what is already known; he moves beyond synthesis to new insights. His work is disciplined, analytical, and creative. It is also profoundly humane."
He is based in Los Angeles, and welcomes every opportunity to spend time in Barcelona.
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