WILLIAM JAMES, the well-known psychologist and philosopher, was born in New York on January 11, 1842, the son of the Swedenborgian theologian Henry James and brother of the novelist Henry James.

In "The Prodigy: A Biography of William James Sidis," author Amy Wallace — who described his parents as pushy and aggressive — quotes Boris Sidis thusly: "Before a baby can talk, his mind is ...