Description

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"A tragic tale of obsession, exploitation, and lost souls. And the questions Rymer poses about human experience and experiments on humans make the story both intellectually absorbing and emotionally disturbing. Genie is a wondrous feat of storytelling and investigative journalism, compulsively readable while forcing us to think hard about our own humanity." —Amy Tan, New York Times bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club

The compelling story of a young woman's emergence into the world after spending her first 13 years strapped to a chair in a closed room, and her rescue and exploitation by scientists hoping to gain new insight into language acquisition.

About the Author

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Russ Rymer is a journalist who has written for The New Yorker, Harper's, and the New York Times. His first book, Genie, was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He lives in Los Angles.

Praise For…

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"A child deprived of her birthright of love. . . and then almost rescued: out of that 'almost' comes this remarkable story of dedication impeded by personal squabbles and the research bureaucracy." — Roger Shattuck, author of The Forbidden Experiment

"Russ Rymer, in the process of telling the poignant story of one desperately unfortunate little girl, raises profound questions about both the origins of language and the ultimate source of what we call 'human nature.' At once a scientific detective story and an examination of professional ethics, Genie is disturbing, enlightening, and impossible to forget." — Michael Dorris, author of The Broken Cord

"Topical books by journalists rarely afford the reading pleasures of Genie: high drama, intellectual and philosophical substance, and vivid, poetic reportage. . . brilliant." — Richard Higgins, Boston Globe

"I am dazzled by Rymer's literary skills and his expertise in delineating the debate—or rather the feeding frenzy—that Genie's 'case' stirred among scientists, academics, and caretakers. It is a tragic tale of obsession, exploitation, and lost souls. And the questions Rymer poses about human experience and experiements on humans make the story both intellectually absorbing and emotionally disturbing. Genie is a wondrous feat of storytelling and investigative journalism, compulsively readable while forcing us to think hard about our own humanity." — Amy Tan, New York Times bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club

"A rarity among popular science books, a luciously written page turner." — New York Times Book Review