Bobby Fischer became the youngest international grand master of chess at the age of 15.
Mozart composed a concerto at the age of four. By the time I knew about child prodigies, I was too old. I considering trying to be an enfant terrible, but . . . I wasn’t very terrible. I had to settle for “smart enough to come in from the rain.”
Off the Charts: The Hidden Lives and Lessons of American Child Prodigies, Ann Hulbert writes about extraordinary children including chess champion Bobby Fischer, child star Shirley Temple, math genius Norbert Wiener and pianist/composer Philippa Schuyler. She also deals with autistic savants and “tiger mothers.”
Noel Jett, who earned a Texas A&M bachelor’s degree at 16, defends “radical acceleration.”