The Edison Gene: ADHD and the Gift of the Hunter Child

by Thom Hartmann

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Author: Thom Hartmann

Publisher: Park Street Press

Hardcover:
ISBN 10: 0892811285
ISBN 13: 978-0892811281

Explores how the ADHD gene is and has been critical to humanity's development

• Shows how artists, inventors, and innovators carry the gene necessary for the future survival of humanity

• Explains why children with the Edison gene are so often mislabeled in public schools as having a disorder

• 10,000 sold in hardcover since August 2003

Thomas Edison was expelled from school for behavior that today would label him as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but his mother understood how to salvage his self-esteem and prepare him for a lifetime of success. In The Edison Gene Thom Hartmann shows that the creativity, impulsiveness, and distractibility that are characteristic of ADHD are not signs of a disorder at all, but instead are components of a highly adaptive skill set utilized by our hunting and gathering ancestors. These characteristics have been critical to the survival and development of our modern civilization and will be vital as humanity faces new challenges in the future.

Hartmann, creator of the “hunter versus farmer” theory of ADHD, examines the latest discoveries confirming the existence of an ADHD gene and the global catastrophe 40,000 years ago that triggered its development. Citing examples of significant innovators in our modern era, he argues that the children who possess the “Edison gene” have neurology that is wired to give them brilliant success as innovators, inventors, explorers, and entrepreneurs. He offers concrete strategies for helping Edison-gene children reach their full potential and shows that rather than being “problems,” such children are a vital gift to our society and the world.

Review

"Thom Hartmann demonstrates that ADHD can be associated with creativity, high achievement, and a most successful adaptive style."
(Edward Hallowell, M.D., author of Driven to Distraction)

"Thom Hartmann helps take us to the edge of knowing ourselves, our brains, and our world."
(John J. Ratey, M.D., author of A User's Guide to the Brain)

"Once again, with tireless scholarship and a bit of poetry, Thom Hartmann helps take us to the edge of knowing ourselves, our brains, and our world."
(John J. Ratey, M.D., author of A User's Guide to the Brain)

"Hartmann gives us a deeper explanation of ADHD, explaining its origins and characteristics and offering strategies to help."
(Jenny Richter, Magical Blends, October 2004)

"For those who believe that ADHD can be treated without medication, this book could be akin to another New Testament . . ."
(Manuel Mota-Castillo, M.D., Psychiatric Services, April 2005)

“Thom Hartmann surveys new genetic evidence that kids with ADHD have gifts and unique abilities.”
(The Midwest Book Review, August 2005)

From the Back Cover

HEALTH / PARENTING

“Thom Hartmann demonstrates that ADHD can be associated with creativity, high achievement, and a most successful adaptive style.”
--Edward Hallowell, M.D., author of Driven to Distraction

“Once again, with tireless scholarship and a bit of poetry, Thom Hartmann helps take us to the edge of knowing ourselves, our brains, and our world.”
--John J. Ratey, M.D., author of A User’s Guide to the Brain

Thomas Edison was expelled from school for behavior that today would label him as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but his mother understood how to salvage his self-esteem and prepare him for a lifetime of success. In The Edison Gene Thom Hartmann shows that the creativity, impulsiveness, and distractibility that are characteristic of ADHD are not signs of a disorder at all, but instead are components of a highly adaptive skill set utilized by our hunting and gathering ancestors. These characteristics have been critical to the survival and development of our modern civilization and will be vital as humanity faces new challenges in the future.

Hartmann, creator of the “hunter versus farmer” theory of ADHD, examines the latest discoveries confirming the existence of an ADHD gene and the global catastrophe 40,000 years ago that triggered its development. Citing examples of significant innovators in our modern era, he argues that the children who possess the “Edison gene” have neurology that is wired to give them brilliant success as innovators, inventors, explorers, and entrepreneurs. He offers concrete strategies for helping Edison-gene children reach their full potential and shows that rather than being “problems,” such children are a vital gift to our society and the world.

THOM HARTMANN is the award-winning, bestselling author of over a dozen books, including Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception and The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight. A former psychotherapist and founder of the Hunter School, a residential and day school for children with ADHD, he lives in central Vermont.

About the Author

Thom Hartmann is the award-winning, bestselling author of over a dozen books, including Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception and The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight. A former psychotherapist and founder of the Hunter School, a residential and day school for children with ADHD, he lives in central Vermont.

From the Introduction

. . . The premise of this book is that children who have what we have come to know as ADHD are an important and vital gift to our society and culture, and, in the largest sense, can be an extraordinary gift to the world. In addition, for those adults who have been similarly diagnosed or defined, this book offers a new way of understanding themselves and their relationship to the world--a way that brings insight, empowerment, and success.

Genetics and Differences
The long history of the human race, as we’ll see in this book, has conferred on us . . . a set of predilections, temperament, and abilities through the medium of our genetic makeup. These skills were ideally suited to life in the ever-changing world of our ancient ancestors and, we have now discovered, are also ideally suited to the quickly changing modern world of cyberspace and widespread ecological and political crises that require rapid response. I will call this genetic gift the Edison gene, after Thomas Edison, who brought us electric lights and phonographs and movies and--literally--ten thousand other inventions. He is the model for the sort of impact a well-nurtured child carrying this gene can have on the world. . . .

When Edison’s schoolteacher threw him out of school in the third grade for being inattentive, fidgety, and “slow,” his mother gave the teacher a piece of her mind, withdrew him from school, and became his teacher from then until the day he went off on his own to work for the railroads (inventing, in his first months of employment, a railroad timing and signaling device that was used for nearly a century). She believed in him, and wasn’t going to let the school thrash out of him his own belief in himself. As a result of that one mother’s efforts, the world is a very different place. . . .

What exactly defines those bearing this genetic makeup? Edison-gene children and adults are by nature: enthusiastic, creative, disorganized, non-linear in their thinking (they leap to new conclusions or observations), innovative, easily distracted (or, to put it differently, easily attracted to new stimuli), capable of extraordinary hyperfocus, understanding of what it means to be an “outsider,” determined, eccentric, easily bored, impulsive, entrepreneurial, and energetic.

All of these qualities lead them to be natural explorers, inventors, discoverers, and leaders.

Those carrying this gene, however, often find themselves in environments where they’re coerced, threatened, or shoehorned into a classroom or job that doesn’t fit. When Edison-gene children aren’t recognized for their gifts but instead are told that they’re disordered, broken, or failures, a great emotional and spiritual wounding occurs. This wounding can bring about all sorts of problems for children, for the adults they grow into, and for our society. . .

1993: The Hunter Gene
Dozens of studies over the years have demonstrated that ADHD is genetically transmitted to children from their parents or grandparents. From the 1970s, when this link was first indicated, until 1993, when my first book on the topic was published, conventional wisdom held that ADHD, hyperactivity, and the restive need for high stimulation were all indications of a psychiatric illness that should be treated with powerful, mind-altering, stimulant drugs.

But could it be that ADHD, this psychiatric “illness” has a positive side? . . . Here’s a chart from my first book, Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception, that broadly summarized my 1993 view of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), and that contrasts the hunter-gatherer skill set with the skills of the farmer:

The Hunter/Farmer View of ADHD
Traits As They Appears in the “Disorder” View:
1. Short attention span, which can become intensely focused for long periods of time
2. Poor planning, disorganization, and impulsiveness (tendency to make snap decisions)
3. Distorted sense of time; lack of awareness of how long it will take to do something
4. Impatience
5. Inability to convert words into concepts and vice versa; a learning disability may or may not be present
6. Difficulty following directions
7. Daydreaming
8. Acting without considering consequences
9. Lacking in social graces

Trait As It Appears in the “Hunter” View:
1. Constant monitoring of the environment
2. Ability to enter the chase on a moment’s notice
3. Flexibility; a readiness to quickly change strategy
4. Tirelessness; the ability to sustain drive, but only when “hot on the trail” of some goal
5. Visual/concrete thinking; clear sight of a tangible goal even if there are no words for it
6. Independence
7. Becoming bored by mundane tasks; enjoying new ideas, excitement, the “hunt,” or being “hot on the trail”
8. Willingness and ability to take risks and face danger
9. “No time for niceties when there are decisions to be made!”

“Farmer” Trait:
1. Attention is not easily distracted from the task at hand
2. Ability to sustain a steady, dependable effort
3. Purposeful organization; long-term strategy that’s adhered to
4. Awareness of time and timing; tasks are completed “in time,” on pace, and with good “staying power”
5. Patience; an awareness that good things take time; a willingness to wait
6. Playing on a team
7. Focusing on follow-through; tending to details and “taking care of business”
8. Taking care to “look before you leap”
9. Nurturing; creating and supporting community values; attuning to whether something will last

In 1996, the Journal of Genetic Psychology published an article titled “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: An Evolutionary Perspective,” in which they suggested that, “ . . . ADHD may have served an adaptive function and may have been selected by the environment for survival.”

The Edison Gene: ADHD and the Gift of the Hunter Child

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The Edison Gene: ADHD and the Gift of the Hunter Child