Turkish bookworm makes splash on social media
Atakan Kayalar is only 10 years old but says he has read 250 books in the last five months
ISTANBUL
Turkish secondary school student Atakan Kayalar has become a trending topic on Twitter after someone posted a video of him on the social media site while mentioning the hundreds of books he has read, mostly on philosophy.
Kayalar is just 10 years old, but the number and types of books he has read astonishes people. He stated that he has 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 Atakan, 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 a psychiatrist’
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 Hulya 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.
