10-year-old bookworm draws attention with philosophy knowledge

ISTANBUL

AA Photo

A 10-year-old boy in Turkey has become a trending topic on Twitter after a man posted a video of him talking about philosophy, mentioning Platon, Aristotle, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Atakan Kayalar is just 10 years old, but the number and types of books he has read astonish people.

He stated that he read 250 books in just the last five months.

In the video, which was shot in a bookstore, Atakan proudly says he has read Rousseau’s The Social Contract, Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion and Plato’s Republic.

The video soon went viral on Twitter and some people commented on how they were impressed with the boy, while others were more critical as they thought these books were not “for children.”

It has been shared more than 80,000 times.

‘I want to be president’

Atakan told reporters after a chess course he attended that he wants to be a psychiatrist someday.

“But I have another goal besides my vocational ambitions: To be president.”

He said he thinks the country’s education system should be changed but declined to elaborate.

“People need to be educated about respect and good manners starting from pre-school. The [bad] examples are right in front of our eyes.”

Atakan’s mother Hülya Kayalar said she wants her child to get an education “without being separated from his friends. I have no materialistic expectations.”

His father is currently unemployed, and his mother said as Atakan spends most of his time in bookstores, their only problem is finding the money to pay for his books.