Almost every person I’ve encountered in the past three weeks is probably aware that I’ve been reading The Count of Monte Cristo. At number 44 on the BBC Big Reads, it’s one of the longest I’ve read to date – though having last night discovered that Dumas was paid by the word, one can certainly see why he’d pen such a lengthy novel – and on top of talking about it a lot, it’s had quite a big impact on my life. Not only have I been getting up before 6 most mornings to read; I’ve also been substituting trains for buses in order to make my commute to work longer so that I can increase my daily reading time.

Written in 1844 The Count is one of Dumas best loved novels and is a tale of adventure, revenge and deceit with a love story at its core. On the eve of his wedding to Mercedes, Edmond Dantes becomes the victim of a miscarriage of justice as he is arrested for being a Bonapartist traitor. Despite maintaining his innocence he is jailed where he spends six years plotting his revenge on those that have wronged him.

Having escaped from jail Dantes goes about exacting his revenge on a monumental scale; while also ensuring that he rewards those who were loyal to him, both prior and during his time in jail.

Set between 1815 and 1838 – a time when Napoleon was abdicated and exiled before ultimately returning to power – the backdrop is the basis for much of the political tension that lies within the novel. The tale is an epic one; populated with villains, aristocrats and innocents, the lives of the characters are in the hands of Dantes and as the plot unfolds so too do the fate of their fortunes.

For me, the final hundred pages – and indeed the climax of the tale – were the best, and I found myself racing through them despite not wanting the novel to end. A huge, beautiful, triumphant saga, The Count of Monte Cristo is the ultimate tale of revenge.

About The Count of Monte Cristo

In 1815 Edmond Dantès, a young and successful merchant sailor who has just recently been granted the succession of his erstwhile captain Leclère, returns to Marseille to marry his Catalan fiancée Mercédès. Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantès is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration.

About Alexandre Dumas

Alexandre Dumas was born on July 24, 1802, in Villers-Cotterêts, France. He adopted the last name “Dumas” from his grandmother, a former Haitian slave. Dumas established himself as one of the most popular and prolific authors in France, known for plays and historical adventure novels such as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. He died on December 5, 1870, in Puys, France. His works have been translated into more than 100 languages and adapted for numerous films.

Current data from the CDC states that autism prevalence is estimated to be about 1 in 36. Many people are wondering why there are so many people who have autism now. In this video, I’ll address that question. Happy World Autism Awareness/Acceptance Day!

Thor was a majestic motion picture that combined Shakespearean themes with science-fiction to create one of the most unique superhero films ever made up to that point in time. It was also (at the time) the most aesthetically beautiful motion picture Marvel Studios had ever produced as well as the most emotionally complex. Thor was Marvel Studios’ first origin story since 2008’s Iron Man, and it was the film that first took the MCU beyond the stars, opening the door to the Cosmic side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which would be greatly expanded upon in forthcoming years.

Thor tells the story of two Prince’s of Asgard who are raised side-by-side until the Throne divides them and sets them upon two very different paths. In the beginning, Thor is the brash, rebellious, and egotistical son that is always anxious for a fight while Loki is the soft-spoken, eager-to-please, and quietly jealous son. Odin himself has raised both of his sons to believe that they were born to be kings, but the story takes a turn when Loki learns that he is adopted and is the son of the Frost Giant King Laufey. Loki learns this around the same time that Thor is cast out of Asgard by Odin and Loki’s ascent to the Throne coincides with Thor’s fall, but personally speaking, Loki’s rise is a turn to villainy while Thor’s fall teaches him what it means to be a hero.

In my opinion, Thor would have only worked with the right vision and the right cast, and Marvel Studios nailed it when it came to choosing who would direct this film, and who would portray these iconic characters who were not only Marvel comic book properties, but to some, actual deities. Just as Robert Downey Jr perfectly brought Tony Stark to life on film previously, Chris Hemsworth perfectly brought the God of Thunder to life, but doing this successfully went beyond just Hemsworth. Oftentimes in superhero films, the hero is defined by their villain, and that was certainly the case with this motion picture as Tom Hiddleston was incredible as Loki!

This was not a mere case of two characters being at odds and fighting either; Thor and Loki had a relationship and a bond that was clearly illustrated during their scenes together. As a viewer, I believed that underneath their bravado, Thor loved Loki and that Loki (in his own way) loved Thor, and this gave the film a tremendous depth that made many scenes more meaningful beneath their surface. As Thor, Chris Hemsworth had confidence that bordered on arrogance, and a chiseled physique. He was big, and strong, and charismatic, but within his eyes was a passion and a sincerity that brought his entire character together. Tom Hiddleston meanwhile was cunning and calculating, and he had a sinister smile, but his character depth was also found within his eyes, which were hauntingly desperate, and through which hints of a very damaged soul shined. Loki was as tragic as he was evil and whether they were standing side-by-side as brothers or fighting each other on the Rainbow Bridge, Hemsworth and Hiddleston had incredible chemistry.

I thought Loki was written perfectly as a villainous character, obtaining an origin story that was grounded in lies and despair. Anyone that has ever felt overlooked, underappreciated, or lost in the shadow of a sibling can relate to Loki, as can anyone that has ever had to wrestle with the frustrations of not measuring up to a loved one’s expectations, particularly those of a parental figure. These are complex, life-changing, and soul-shattering trials that only the strongest emerge from without scars, and Loki as a Marvel character is sort of the patron saint of the damaged, the outcast, and the fallen; a character that detests the proverbial cards that he has been dealt and that will do whatever it takes to come out of the game ahead in the end. Loki is certainly not a character without its flaws, but it is those flaws that make him so endearing and to many so relatable, and to more still so beloved. Loki – my personal favorite character in all of comics – was easily my favorite part of Thor, and I don’t have enough compliments to bestow upon Tom Hiddleston to justifiably praise his work with this character.

Next, I have to discuss Anthony Hopkins as King Odin, the All-Father. Again, what an amazing casting choice by Marvel Studios! Hopkins portrayed the character with passion, nobility, and aggression, and there was perhaps no scene more powerful in Thor than the one in which Odin casts Thor out of Asgard. The performances of Hemsworth, Hopkins, and Hiddleston during this scene specifically were mesmerizing!

Speaking of Asgard, just seeing the Realm Eternal brought to life was amazing! The architecture of the buildings and the beauty of the waters that surrounded the planetary body were really well done and I especially loved the sky, particularly at night. Asgard looked like a Heaven that I would want to go to!

There were so many other things that Marvel Studios got right in Thor! I loved seeing Lady Sif and The Warriors Three, whose spirits were captured flawlessly, and I enjoyed seeing The Destroyer brought to life, and I thought the nature of Mjolnir was perfectly achieved with Thor throwing the Hammer and it returning back to him and whatnot. I also loved seeing the God of Thunder conjure lightning on Jotunheim and wielding it against the Frost Giants; just an incredible and visually stunning scene that did a great job of capturing Thor’s immense power in a matter of seconds!

Back on Midgard, I enjoyed seeing Thor trying to fit-in on Earth after getting cast out of Asgard. The way the God of Thunder interacted with the humans that he encountered allowed room for some humor in what was otherwise a very heavy film, emotionally speaking. Thor going into a pet shop and asking for a horse was one of my favorite moments and I also loved the scene where everyone tries to lift Mjolnir in the desert to no avail, which came right out of the comics. Thor trying to break into the S.H.I.E.L.D. barricade was also a fantastic scene, and the Hawkeye cameo was an awesome bonus!

I also have to mention the big showdown pitting Thor against Loki at the end of the film! This was an incredible fight scene that saw each actor stay precisely true to their characters throughout. It was so sad to see Loki sort of try and become all of the things he resented Thor for being in an effort to earn Odin’s approval and emerge as Thor’s equal in his father’s eyes. Loki’s entire plan was based on this logic, and he so desperately wanted it, he was willing to not only slay his biological father in the name of his adopted one, but to destroy the entire Frost Giant race in Odin’s name. Loki fought Thor with rage, anger, aggression, and yes, a hint of malevolence, but he also fought Thor with conviction and with literal tears in his eyes. This was an emotionally complex war between one brother that had risen above his pride and another who had been crushed by it. Make no mistake, Thor’s rise would have never occurred without Loki’s fall.

This will probably sound blasphemous to most Marvel fans, but Thor was for me at the time, my favorite of the four Marvel Studios films that had been released up to that point. When you take into consideration the costumes and the set pieces and the music and the effects, and the stellar performances that bled through all of the mythology; it was a huge achievement in comic book moviemaking. I love this film!

The German mathematician David Hilbert was born in Konigsberg on January 23, 1862. He studied and taught at Konigsberg University until he transferred to the University of Gottingen in 1895, where he made an immense contribution to various fields of mathematics. For example, in 1900, he proposed 23 mathematical problems for investigation, most of which have since been solved.

Hilbert was described as a gay young man with a reputation as a snappy dancer and a charmer who flirted outrageously with a great number of women — traits that would not suggest Asperger Syndrome. However, this chapter will present evidence that he may in fact have displayed characteristics of this syndrome.

Life History

Richard Courant found Hilbert to be “a unique personality, profoundly immersed in his work and totally dedicated to his science, a teacher and leader of the very highest order, inspiring and most generous, tireless and persistent in all of his efforts” (Reid, 1970, p. 2). His mother Maria Therese was an unusual woman — she was interested in philosophy and astronomy, and fascinated by prime numbers. His father was a county judge, “rather narrow in his point of view with strict ideas about proper behavior, a man so set in his ways that he walked the same path every day and so rooted in Konigsberg that he left it only for his annual vacation on the Baltic” (Reid, 1970, p. 3).

As a boy, Hilbert had an intense desire for truth, but he described himself as a dull and silly youth. He found memorization exceedingly difficult, and language classes caused him more sorrow than joy. He was not particularly quick at comprehending new ideas. A member of the Hilbert family recalled, “all I know of uncle David is that his whole family considered him a bit off his head. His mother wrote his school essays for him. On the other hand, he could explain mathematics problems to his teachers. Nobody really understood him at home” (Reid, 1970, p. 6). Mathematics appealed to him, and he was delighted with it because it was easy and effortless. It required no memorization.

Hilbert found the perfect mate, married, and fathered a child in 1893. The boy, Franz Hilbert, was “disturbed.” Hilbert said “I must consider myself as not having a son” (Reid, 1970, p. 139; Einstein also ignored a son with mental illness). It is not clear whether or not Franz had schizophrenia, but he did announce that he wanted to save the family from evil spirits that were after them. It was said that he lacked tact and would speak of his views inappropriately.

Work

Hilbert did not grasp complicated ideas in a flash and took his time to get to the bottom of matters. He set high standards of simplicity and clarity for his talks to the mathematics club. After his death, Nature described Hilbert as a “mathematical Alexander.” This is typical of persons with Asperger Syndrome and genius; there is a parallel with Wittgenstein.

Hilbert’s conception of mathematical existence was freedom from contradiction. He divided his working life into periods during which he occupied himself almost exclusively with one particular problem. If he was engrossed in integral equations, integral equations seemed everything. When he dropped a subject, he dropped it for good and turned to something else. There were five periods in his working life:

1. theory of invariance (1885-1893)
2. theory of algebraic number fields (1893-1898)
3. foundations — (a) of geometry (1898-1902); (b) of mathematics
   in general (1922-1930)
4. integral equations (1902-1912)
5. physics (1910-1922).

Max Von Lau, a Nobel Prize winner, noted, “Pure mathematics … did not fail to impress me, especially in the brilliant courses of David Hilbert.” He went on to say that Hilbert was “the greatest genius I ever laid eyes on” (Reid, 1970, p. 68).

Hilbert’s lectures were in some ways like Wittgenstein’s, in that he prepared them only in the general sense and then tried to work out the details in the lecture. At times they were mathematics in the making. His lectures were a faithful reflection of his spirit (direct, intense).

Social Behavior

For Hilbert, comradeship and human solidarity were essential to scientific production (contrary to an Asperger trait). He complained about a lack of mathematical conversation. Students had to be careful about offering a lie or an empty phrase to him, and his directness could be something to be afraid of (Reid, 1970, p. 53). He was not good with children.

Hilbert was described as “a bit of an arrested juvenile” (Reid, 1970, p. 131). He would come to a lecture hall in short-sleeved opennecked shirt — inconceivably inappropriate attire for a professor in that day. He pedaled through the streets with bouquets from his garden for his “flames,” but was just as likely to bear as his gift a basket of compost balanced on the handlebars. At a concert or restaurant, no matter how elegant, if he felt a draught, he borrowed a fur or a feather boa from one of the ladies present. He liked pretty young ladies and delighted in explaining mathematical ideas to them. He fancied himself a dashing man of the world.

Hilbert thought the war was stupid, and said so (not unlike Bertrand Russell’s views). He refused to sign a declaration in favor of the war and was treated as a traitor.

Narrow Interests/Obsessiveness

Hilbert had an extraordinarily focused attention on mathematics — he once described himself as a mathematical Eskimo. Richard Courant said that Hilbert had “a fantastic balance between intense concentration and complete relaxation” (Reid, 1970, p. 109).

Routines/Control

As we have seen, Hilbert imposed strict self-control in terms of work. He was also controlling of others; when he went to a restaurant after a lecture, the subject of conversation was “only algebraic number fields” (Reid, 1970, p. 51). His active influence on the mathematicians of his time was embodied in a statement that one of them made directly to him: “You have made us all think only that which you would have us think” (Reid, 1970, p. 214).

He absolutely denied the reality of his physical illness — pernicious anemia — which was more or less fatal at the time he got it. It seems that his wife was entirely devoted to him and looked after him. However, there is no sense of reciprocal social interaction with her. She simply provided for all his needs, while he was totally controlling, dominant, and he appears to have entirely imposed his will on her in the home situation. He would have been lost without her and could not have lived the life he lived.

An example of the importance of routines in Hilbert’s life appears in an anecdote told about him: One day, at a party in their house, his wife asked him to go upstairs and put on a clean shirt. After some time, when he had failed to reappear, she went upstairs and found him asleep in bed. For Hilbert, the natural sequence of things was to take off his coat, then his tie, then his shirt, and so on, and then go to sleep (Reid, 1970).

Language/Humor

Hilbert delivered his lectures with many repetitions to make sure that everyone understood him and repeated briefly what had been covered in a previous lecture. His sentences followed each other simply, naturally, and logically. We have no definite evidence of abnormalities in this area. What was very unusual about his language was its content, with an almost exclusive focus on mathematics.

Naivety/Childishness

Hilbert was said to have had “all the naivety and the freedom from bias and tradition which is characteristic only of true great investigators” (Reid, 1970, p. 53). His mathematical approach was to go back to questions in their original conceptual simplicity. George Polya said that Hilbert always “looked so innocent” (Reid, 1970, p. 132).

Hilbert demonstrated a “naive and imperative egoism” that was always “egoism in the interest of his mission, never of his own person.” He once made an interesting comment about Einstein: “Do you know why Einstein said the most original and profound things about space and time in our generation? Because he had learned nothing at all about the philosophy and mathematics of time and space” (clearly, he thought spending too much time reading others’ work was counterproductive) (Reid, 1970, pp. 141-142).

Lack of Empathy

Alfred North Whitehead wrote, “The leading characteristic of mathematics is that it deals with properties and ideas which are applicable to things just because they are things, and apart from any particular feelings, or emotions, or sensations, in any way connected with them. This is what is meant by calling mathematics an abstract science” (Whitehead, 1948, p. 2). It is perhaps one of the reasons why the study of mathematics has attracted many people with Asperger Syndrome.

Hilbert seemed to lack tact in his relationship with “the flames” he pursued. He basically denied the existence of his son when he got ill. He couldn’t really relate to children, as we have seen, and would spend just a minute or so with them. This is not unlike Bertrand Russell.

While he had very intense relationships with mathematicians, these were exclusively focused on discussing mathematics, which is typical of Asperger Syndrome. He could also relate in a social way to students, but again, even at dinner, mathematics was the focus. The brutality with which he could dispose of someone who did not meet his standards was well known. Hilbert once told Norbert Wiener, later a famous mathematician himself, that his lecture was “the worst there ever has been!” (Reid, 1970, p. 170).

Despite being married himself, Hilbert was against scientists marrying. When Wilhelm Ackerman married, Hilbert was very angry and refused to do anything more to further Ackerman’s career. Ackerman, a gifted young logician, had to teach in a high school.

Nonverbal Communication Problems

From photographs, Hilbert appears to have had a peculiar, stiff gaze.

Motor Clumsiness

He was probably not clumsy because he was a good dancer. In very high-IQ Asperger Syndrome, clumsiness does not come into the picture. It is possible that in cases where clumsiness does come in, a somewhat lower IQ exists and maybe more severe brain pathology. (True Asperger Syndrome probably does not include clumsiness, which should therefore be excluded as a criterion for it — this may be the one item that Asperger himself got wrong.)

Anxiety/Depression

In 1908, Hilbert became depressed and spent time at a sanatorium. The breakdown did not seem to be triggered by any specific experience. Courant, in the Foreword to Reid’s (1970) book, wrote that “almost every great scientist I have known has been subject to such deep depressions.” He felt that this might be due to periods in the life of a productive person when he appears to himself to be losing his powers, which can come as a great shock.

Conclusion

David Hilbert meets the criteria for Asperger Syndrome, according to Gillberg (1996), with the exception of an absence of speech and language problems and motor clumsiness. However, neither of these features is essential for such a diagnosis, while their absence would suggest a diagnosis of Asperger’s disorder under the American Psychiatric Association (1994) classification. It is likely that Asperger Syndrome/disorder helped Hilbert to become as creative as he was in mathematics because it gave him the kind of exclusive focus that is necessary for major creativity.

• Michael Fitzgerald, Former Professor of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry