Naoki Higashida

I have my doubts

About halfway through, I had this suspicion that this book may not have actually been written by who the book claims to have been written by. I did some research and learned that I'm not the only one to have had that feeling. I do not have a child with autism, but I do have a cousin whose son has severe autism, and plenty of friend who are raising children at all different levels on the spectrum. I had high hopes this book would offer hope, but my gut feeling is that it's little more than snake oil. I would like to think I'm wrong, but if the other reports I've read are true, this boy author never actually even made an appearance on the so-called documentary based on this book.

All that said, if you're still thinking of reading it, the format was easy to read, set up in a question & answer format. The author repeatedly asks the reader to be patient with people with autism & to not fuss at them. A lot of the information presented chapter after chapter is quite repetitive.… (more)

A short book by an autistic Japanese boy, describing what it is like to be autistic. It's pretty interesting, as obviously he doesn't know what it's like to not be autistic. The book is structured as brief questions about autism (presumably those that Naoki has been asked a lot), followed by answers, of about a page. Interspersed are Naoki's short stories, some of which are really beautiful. A touching - perhaps moving - courage, openess and humanity pervades the book. This is a quick, fascinating read, which left me feeling a huge amount of sympathy and admiration for Naoki, and, I hope, a good bit more understanding of the experience of autism. Recommended.… (more)