The Boy Who Played with Fusion by Tom Clynes

The Boy Who Played with Fusion is a fascinating exploration of ‘giftedness’ and all its consequences.” -Paul Greenberg, author of Four Fish and American Catch “Clynes guides us on an engrossing journey to the outer realms of science and parenting. In The Boy Who Played with Fusion, science journalist Tom Clynes narrates Taylor’s extraordinary journey-from his Arkansas home, to a unique public high school just for academic superstars, to the present, when Wilson is designing devices to prevent terrorists from shipping radioactive material and inspiring a new generation to take on the challenges of science.

How could someone so young achieve so much, and what can Wilson’s story teach parents and teachers about how to support high-achieving kids? And by fourteen, Wilson had built a 500-million-degree reactor and become the youngest person in history to achieve nuclear fusion. At eleven, his grandmother’s cancer diagnosis inspired him to investigate new ways to produce medical isotopes. “Imagine if cartoon whiz kid Jimmy Neutron were real and had a brainchild with MacGyver and his adolescence got told as a rollicking bildungsroman about American prodigies and DIY nuclear reactors-well, that’s this book.” -Jack Hitt, author of Bunch of Amateursīy the age of nine, Taylor Wilson had mastered the science of rocket propulsion. You won’t be able to walk away from this tale.” - Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

The world that opens up to us through his story is both fascinating and slightly terrifying. “The amazing story of an unbelievable boy.

Wilson Literary Science Writing Award Finalist

The Boy Who Played with Fusion by Tom Clynes