In the 1959 novella Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (and the 1968 film Charly), 32-year-old Charlie Gordon, a janitor at a New York City bakery, undergoes experimental surgery that has boosted the intelligence of a laboratory mouse, Algernon. Soon, Charlie is devouring books, asking questions, and even solving problems at work. But then Algernon dies, and...