Steve Olson claims he is trying to humanize a group of kids in his new book, \Count Down."" Instead of making his subjects seem more real, he transforms them into vehicles that drive his exploration of genius, talent and mathematics. The frequent asides and distractions that Olson throws in keep his book from being a truly great documentary.
The setting for ""Count Down"" is the 2001 U.S. International Mathematical Olympiad. The characters are six contestants, the team coach and the team guide. The journey is the how the contestants rose from being kids who were sort of interested in math to earning a place in the most prestigious competition in that field.
The beginning of ""Count Down"" shows the promise that Olson has rightfully earned from his previous work, ""Mapping Human History,"" a volume that was finalist for the National Book Award. The introduction sets the stage of the Olympiad as the most polite battleground possible, considering that prominent teams represent Russia, the United States and China. Olson's first example, the 1974 Olympiad in Erfurt, East Germany, is well crafted and serves as a fine example of the rivalry that accompanies the event.
The good example fades into a series of prodding questions and long explanations of the difficulties and distractions of the definition of genius. From the start the author stated that he wanted to give some explanation of the contestants' talent and would need to talk about prodigies, savants and gifted children. If Olson had stuck to shorter passages and succinct examples of these topics, ""Count Down"" would have offered a good balance between the contestants and the background themes. Instead, the characters are confused with their problems.
In the Olympiad, the competitors must answer three questions on the first day and three the next. Olson uses this model to move the book along, attaching one question to a corresponding team member. While he offers a few words on the kids, from Reid Barton, who attended four Olympiads, to Gabriel Carroll, who is a master mirror writer, Olson seems to be more intrigued by the devilishly complex problems they tackle.
In portraits of the contestants Olson shines, and he even makes their problems understandable to the average reader. The details Olson brings in are wonderful and flesh out his work, ranging from examples of proof by contradiction to the workings of Fibonacci numbers.
Olson set high goals for himself in ""Count Down"" and followed through with them. For all his assurances that the competitors are normal kids, they never seem to be angry, romantic or overjoyed. Instead, the reader is left to marvel at their intuition and intelligence as the final pages fly by. Despite warnings that his characters shouldn't be viewed as geniuses, all seem to fit that definition when the book ends.
""Count Down"" is published by Houghton Mifflin.
