Flowers for Algernon

With all the reading I do for work, I like to keep at least one book that I read for pleasure. So I keep at one least one book by my bed to read before I go to bed most nights.

The book I just finished reading (actually I did read this as an eight grader) is Flowers for Algernon. I bought the copy I have back in Duncanville, TX before we moved here to Little Rock.

I decided to reread it because I had heard a dramatic interp at a recent speech and debate tournament in Houston, TX and it piqued my interest in the book again.

I found it a great read. It is a story of a severely retarded boy who gets selected for a highly risky experiment where they do surgery on his brain and intend to make Charlie Gordon smart!

The surgery is successful! He becomes extremely intelligent but there is a down side too.

Charlie grows in his intelligence far quicker than he does in his emotional IQ.

I have heard much of EQ (or emotional intelligence) in the last few years. But now I have come to see how this book really opened the question far in advance of the recent inquiries!

It made me realize that being emotional mature is as important as have the brains.

What do you think?