"Apparently we have been walking around with the genetic equivalen of a KICK ME sign..."

This is one of the best quotes in the book to me. Probable because I can relate.

It's hard to give an objective review to a book that hits so close to home in many ways. It's a wonderful description of one child with autism. Some things mirrored my own experience as a parent of a son with an autism spectrum disorder. Some did not. The historical chapters were interesting, but a little too disjointed for my taste. ( )

Paul Collins probably knows that one tree does not a forest make. Unfortunately, he fails to realize that two or three are no more forest-like than one.

This book about autism, but it is, I fear, a rather parochial autism. Collins knows his autistic son Morgan. He has learned from autism researcher Simon Baron-Cohen. And he has studied the case of "Peter the Wild Boy," who is offered as an eighteenth century example of autism. From there -- he does on talk about autism and its manifestations as if this is all the manifestations there are.

Even his starting point may be wrong. "Peter" didn't talk, but that doesn't guarantee that he was autistic; it is possible that -- like the famous modern case of "Genie" -- he simply was not talked to at the age when people learn how to talk. Anyone not given the chance to speak in those early years is just about certain to be non-verbal.

As for Simon "Extreme Male Brain" Baron-Cohen, his views are very widely heard but really not widely held. Baron-Cohen has done important work, e.g. in his research on the "Sally-Ann Test" for "Theory of Mind." But -- as a person with autism -- I can guarantee you that the Extreme Male Brain hypothesis doesn't work for me, and I know plenty of other autistics for whom I don't think it works either. Similarly, while many people with autism "think in pictures" as Temple Grandin does, many do not. (Here again, I'm an example.)

Nor are all people with autism scientifically inclined, nor do they always have peculiarities of speech, nor do they have anything in common except (by definition) difficulties in social communication and a tendency toward repetitive behavior. There are people with autism who are like the boy Morgan in the book. But the majority are not, and most of the descriptions Collins gives are descriptions of Morgan and his tribe, not of people with autism.

Oh, and Mr. Collins, if you're going to be wrong, at least don't perpetuate stereotypes: "autistics are the ultimate introverts" (p. 189). Yes, some people with autism are hard to get out of their shells. Some don't seem to realize that other people exist. But many -- probably the large majority, if anyone bothered to measure -- want to be social; it's just that they aren't good at it, and get driven away, and eventually stop trying.

It's no surprise that Collins doesn't understand the full spectrum of autism. It took me a lot of time around the local autism society to realize that I was no more typical of autism than I am typical of neurotypicals. No one is typical of autism! And anyone who takes this book and assumes it will teach you all about autism will be very, very badly deceived.

If you read it with that in mind, you will learn a lot. Otherwise, it may lead you far astray. ( )

4.5 stars. Might not be the best book that can get tagged 'autism' but definitely should be the first for parents who have discovered that their child is autistic, because it addresses the process of discovery and the reactions of the parents this life-changing experience. Also highly recommended for teachers, young people considering a career in psychology or special education, etc.

Collins shares his own experiences with his toddler, giving us hope that with early intervention a child has a good chance of being able to be happy in his own world but still able to function in the larger realm of the neurotypical.

And he includes engaging anecdotes of lots of historical examples of patients, doctors, and other eccentrics to illustrate the syndrome. Plus he's got a way with words that I just love. Bonus - an annotated bibliography.

If you've read, or put on your to-read shelf, [b:Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's|454856|Look Me in the Eye My Life with Asperger's|John Elder Robison|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320509615s/454856.jpg|2119898], [b:Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant|74812|Born on a Blue Day Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant|Daniel Tammet|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170864661s/74812.jpg|1461054], [b:Marcelo In The Real World|3700085|Marcelo In The Real World|Francisco X. Stork|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1230930906s/3700085.jpg|3743599], etc., or even [b:Flowers for Algernon|18373|Flowers for Algernon|Daniel Keyes|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327870353s/18373.jpg|3337594] or [b:Lottery|759175|Lottery|Patricia Wood|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328042892s/759175.jpg|2549658], read this soon.

Oh, and the reason I say soon is because I'm hoping we get another memoir from Collins. We first met Morgan in [b:Sixpence House: Lost in A Town Of Books|242201|Sixpence House Lost in A Town Of Books|Paul Collins|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312027019s/242201.jpg|234645] and it's wonderful & enriching to watch his development.

And you've other books, esp. memoirs of any person w/ cognitive or neurological challlenges, to recommend, please leave a comment here. Thanks! ( )

This was a wonderful book. This was a fabulous book. This may be the best book I've ever read about autism, with the exception of Temple Grandin's [Thinking in Pictures].

Paul Collins is an historian. He is also the father of a son with autism. This book is kind of hard to describe. It combines history (people of the past with autism and those who dealt with/ reacted to them), and a memoir of his experience of life with his young son with autism, and some modern-day developments in dealing with autism. It is well-written and engaging. There were moments when I laughed out loud -- not so much that the material was funny, but simply out of RECOGNITION, because I'd lived the experience with my son and it was so good to see someone putting a loving spin on what so many people recount with gloom.

So many autism memoirs make me sad because I relive unhappy times, or wish I'd done things differently. This one reminded me why I love my son so much, and made me better appreciate the special view he has of life.

Enthusiastically recommended to anyone even remotely interested in the topic of Autism!!! ( )

Interweaves the story of Peter 'the wild boy', the nearly mute feral child discovered in the Black Forest in 1725, with the author's own family's struggle with his son Morgan who has autism. Also delves into the lives of other people with autism, finding their traces in numerous tales of solitary eccentrics who made astonishing scientific and and artistic advances.