chetday wrote:Dann, I share your interest in the topic of savant abilities. After reading the article Ted linked to, I once again marvelled at the remarkable potential of the human brain. Isn't it a shame that most of us will never be able to tap into whatever area(s) in the brain the savants tap into
This guy isn't a savant actually...
Accelerated learning is something that anybody can take an interest in, and once the
methods are learnt, learning speed can be very quick.
There are groups of err....hobbyists who use accelerated learning methods to acquire skills in the same way as one might pick up any other hobby...only for them its the
challenge that is the hobby - the challenge to master the skill quickly.
People who do this break the skill down into its essential components and then sort of reassemble it in a way that is more efficient.
Polyglots (language learning nuts) do this with languages and can learn a brand new language in as little as 3 months - one guy I met online mastered Mandarin from scratch to university level (for native speakers) in 9 months.
There are various books on this topic:
4 Hour Chef
The First 20 Hours
Fluent in 3 Months
...those are some interesting ones.
There is a kid online named Tim Doner who while still in his teens, achieved various levels of fluency in 20 languages.
None of this is savant stuff, just a hobby with a proven method (or methods).
This is a big interest of mine too actually.
As for this Max guy...I think he underestimated the vast complexity of chess - as many amateurs do.