Kim Peek, Murray man who inspired 'Rain Man', dies - Salt Lake Tribune

The man who inspired Rain Man dies at 58

"At the time of his death, Peek is believed to have committed at least 9,000 books to memory. He could recite so many gigabytes of facts that people often called him Kim-puter. NASA made him the subject of MRI-based research."

"While Peek was known for his amazing ability to retain and recite facts, he also was a musical genius, said April Greenan a musicologist and director of the U. of U.'s McKay Music Library. 'He could talk about musical form in an intricate, specific and authoritative way,' said Greenan, who met Peek about seven years ago. She said Peek could hear just a few bars of a piece of music and be able to sort out the patterns and explain how it was similar to other pieces of music by other composers and from different eras. 'You couldn't program a computer with the thousands of pieces of music in Kim's head,' Greenan said. 'He was beyond anything anyone in music has ever known.'