Kim Peek, the inspiration for the main character in the movie “Rain Man,” has the remarkable ability to read up to eight books a day, with his left eye reading the left page and right eye reading the right page.

Peek visited UVU last Friday to share information about his condition; he is commonly referred to as a savant.

An autistic savant is defined as some-one who has an increased mental capacity in certain fields.

Peek can remember 98 percent of everything he reads. He can recall ZIP codes and the history of nearly any town in the United States.

Peek and his father spoke of Peek’s accomplishments, including graduat-ing from the LDS seminary program 20 times.

Peek’s father, Frank, is a member of the LDS Church. He refers to Peek as “a child of God” and “a child of every religion.”

After the presentation, Peek and his father allowed for the audience to ask questions about anything ranging from his personal thoughts to what area code they live in, given the home-town.

When someone from the audience gave Peek a complex mathematical equation, Peek wasn’t very keen on answering.

“Too much … no math,” Peek said.

Twenty-three documentaries have been made about Peek, who currently resides in Salt Lake City. The charac-ter Raymond Babbit, played in the popular film Rain Man, was inspired by Peek.

The film was awarded four Oscars, one of which was for Best Original Screenplay. Barry Morrow gave the Oscar to Peek to display at his lectures. In the UVU ballroom, Peek’s father said he wanted to pass the statue around to the audience “so that every-one can say that they held an Oscar.”

Fran Peek, Kim’s father, said the mo-tivation behind them having these lectures is mainly to inform and edu-cate the public.

Fran said he wants everyone to live the Golden Rule, and that people seeing and meeting Kim will help them to remember and live it more.

David Smith, who was in charge of organizing the event at UVU, said they enjoyed having Peek and his father there.

“It’s important for us to bring diverse people, so we’re thrilled.” Smith said.

Copyright Brigham Young University 6 Feb 2009