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I just received a copy of The Strangest Song, a book about Gloria Lenhoff, a 51 year old woman with William?s Syndrome whose father Howard left the biochemistry bench to study cognitive neuroscience and foster his daughter?s remarkable musical abilities. I wrote about Howard?s work in 2001, and I remember how driven he was in getting his message out.

Williams is a rare genetic disorder, a 20-gene deletion on chromosome 7 leaves individuals with puckish facial features, heart problems, and an average IQ of about 60. While Gloria and many like her struggle with many simple mental tasks, they have extremely gregarious personalities and in some cases an uncanny aptitude for music.

I haven?t read the book, yet, but something in the release notes certainly piqued my curiosity. It speaks of ?the extremely single-minded, perhaps manipulative, campaign of Howard Lenhoff,? indicating this work by Orange County Register journalist Teri Sforza might portray his story with warts and all.

Howard Lenhoff has made quite a bit of noise about the connection between music and Williams, sometimes to the chagrin of researchers who have said the science doesn?t quite support it. He?s understandably careful about the way the press portrays him and his family. Regardless, Lenhoff has worked quite hard developing an academy of music for people with this and other disorders. Passion drives people, especially passion for their children, and the book looks all the more interesting for it.