Both of the people mentioned in the title today are fictional characters, even though you can "follow" Prof. Don Tillman on Twitter if you want to. You can get to know the professor better by reading "The Rosie Project" by Graeme Simsion and you can learn lots about Capricorn Anderson by reading "Schooled" by Gordon Korman.
The psychologist Simon Barr-Cohen has a theory that the processes that make human males create beings that more easily think about things and systems than people while human females more easily understand people and empathize with them. Don Tillman is a professor of genetics and is 39 years old. He is not married but wants to be. He is not just sure what the problem is but he realizes that the evidence points to something about him that is "unappealing to women." The Rosie Project is a work of fiction, set in Australia, and written by a New Zealander who lives in Australia.
As with Alexander McCall Smith's excellent Mma Ramotswe series set in Botswana, The Rosie Project is better listened to, in my opinion, than read. That way, one gets the effect of a professional narrator who speaks in the Australian accents that strike American ears as an odd way to speak. The professor is a scientist and tries to go about the business of finding a wife in a scientific way, but in a way that most people who do not have Asperger's syndrome would not advise. We begin to get a flavor of Tillman's approach to life when we find him explaining to a date that he never "drinks caffeine after 3:48 PM" because of the half-life of caffeine. I am listening to the audiobook while I drive around town laughing. You may see me howling in my car and now you know why.
Capricorn Anderson is homeschooled by his grandmother. They live alone together on a farm off the grid. But she fell and broke her hip. She needs extensive care and therapy and the 13 yr. old has to suddenly attend public jr. hi. He has a sharp mind and a lovely character but there is much learning ahead. You can catch the story in "Schooled" by Gordon Korman.
"The Rosie Project" is an adult book while "Schooled" is young adult fiction, which I understand is attracting many adult readers these days, as with "The Hunger Games."
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
