Ethan Canin Explores the Cost of Great Achievement in 'A Doubter's Almanac'

A lonely boy discovers his genius for mathematics in the woods of Cheboygan, Michigan. Years later, his brilliance is world-renowned, but he develops a crippling addiction to alcohol. As his life unravels, his equally-gifted son starts down the same tortured road of substance abuse. Can this pattern be broken? Or is self-destruction the inevitable fate of great minds? Author Ethan Canin takes on the questions of genius, addiction and family in his new novel, “A Doubter’s Almanac.”