RUSS RYMER is a journalist who has written for The New Yorker, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. He has just written his first book, "Genie," (Harper Collins) which began as a couple of New Yorker articles last year. It's about the discovery in 1970 of a "wild-child," a thirteen year old girl who had lived her entire life locked in a room of her parent's house. Genie had no language or social skills. Her discovery coincided with a raging debate among scientists about the origin of language. Michael Dorris writes about the book, "At once a scientific detective story and an examination of professional ethics. . . disturbing, enlightening, and impossible to forget."
Copyright 1993 Fresh Air