The painful and baffling mystery as to why some obviously bright children do not begin talking until long after the "normal" time is explored in this book through personal experiences and the findings of scientific research. The author's own experiences as the father of such a child led to the formation of a group of more than fifty sets of parents of similar children. The anguish and frustration of these parents as they try to cope with children who do not talk and institutions that do not understand them is a remarkable and moving human story. Fortunately, some of these children turn out to have not only normal intelligence but even outstanding abilities, especially in highly analytical fields such as mathematics and computers. Public figures who were late in talking include the distinguished mathematician Julia Robinson, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman and - the most famous of all - Albert Einstein. Fascinating stories of late-talking children and the remarkable families from which they come are followed by explorations of recent scientific research that throws light on the unusual development patterns of such children.