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Bright, but it sounds like he was also overcompensating. Many celebs, leaders in thier respective fields, get there by being massive good at something. Often they get that good as mental cover for some other self-percieved failure. The drive required to be the absolute best is itself rather unnatural, requiring some sort of trigger. Being a totally friendly extrovert seems a logical cover for poor reading ability.

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I've taken my time to respond to this. Firstly, that's a big statement about someone you only know from TV.

Secondly, he was one of the most functional human beings I've ever met.

The reason he was so good at herpetology is because he was raised with dangerous reptiles. The backyard of his home in Botany Circuit was crawling with snakes, crocs and goannas. I rarely played at his place, because it un-nerved me. He was very confident and capable, and understood animal behaviour even at 6yo.

I was better at playing with spiders though, no doubt that changed as he grew older.

That's a lot to read into a story about a kid memorising books

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