The Fourth 'R'

The Fourth 'R' (also known as The Brain Machine) is a science fiction novel by American writer George O. Smith, first published in 1959. It is a science fictional examination of the genius naïf phenomenon. The plot follows a five-year-old boy named Jimmy Holden, who was given the equivalent of a college education by virtue of his parents' invention, an 'Electromechanical Educator.' In his review column for F&SF, Damon Knight selected the novel as one of the 10 best genre books of 1959.[1] R. D. Mullen reported that 'Though it becomes tendentious and sentimental in its last chapters, [The Brain Machine] is up to that point a surprisingly good story of the difficulties of the superboy in a world run by stupid adults.