Neatorama has a great post about 10 Most Fascinating Savants in the World. One of them is young Frenchman Gilles Tréhin.

Since he was 5, Gilles taught himself to draw three dimensional objects. By 12, he started building a city he called “Urville” (after Dumont d’Urville, a French scientific base in the Antarctic). At first he used LEGO, but shortly thereafter, he realized that he could expand his imaginary city much easier with drawings. Urville isn’t just an idle idea – Gilles has 250 detailed drawings, complete “history” of the founding the the city, and has even published a book detailing it.

Strangely enough, his own website is not up to date. His latest drawings are from 2003, and his most recent book (in English, 2006) looks like a collection of his earlier drawings. Which begs the question: what happened to Gilles Tréhin in the past five years? Has his talent dried up? Is he not well – or even dead?

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