I actually think he was probably on the Autism Spectrum, maybe with Aspergers Syndrome. People who have this, such as Chris Packem the zoologist, have very high brain functionality. This means they process and store information at a far faster speed than most people. They have very high memory retention and also tend to do things in a certain way they have been taught/learn to do. Their life runs on very strict guidelines and deviating from these guides, or overloading their information capacity can lead them to have 'meltdowns' where they seem unable to see logic or reason if it doesn't conform to their teachings.