Robbie is a 9-year old boy with Asperger's-like traits a precocious intelligence a prodigious
memory and exquisitely tuned to loss. A gifted young artist he aims to draw all of the animals
in danger of extinction. His father Theo is an astrobiologist consumed with finding signs of
life in the cosmos and raising Robbie alone after the tragic death of his wife Aly. As
Robbie's behaviour grows more unmanageable Theo seeks out an experimental treatment conducted
by Dr Martin Currier involving neurofeedback that enables Robbie to pattern his emotional
responses on the recorded brainwave activity of his late mother. But as government funding is
pulled from the study Robbie suffers a precipitous decline with heart-breaking consequences.
With its soaring descriptions of the natural world tantalising vision of life beyond it and
the ferocious love of a father for his young son Bewilderment marks Richard Powers' most
emotionally powerful novel to date. At its heart is the question: What is the world at once
perilous and imperilled we've left for our children to inhabit and can Theo save Robbie from
it?
