ABSTRACT
If you’ve just picked this book up casually from the bookshop shelf and have turned to this chapter because you want to find out all about autistic spectrum disorders – stop right here. Put this book back on the shelf and go to the Autism section where there are many hundreds of very learned tomes available. Moving through in degrees of difficulty I might recommend The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Vintage 2004) – a novel, but an ingeniously constructed one that gives an excellent insight into higher functioning autism (not, note, Asperger’s) even if the book itself does not mention autism (or Asperger’s) once; Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome by Luke Jackson (Jessica Kingsley 2002) and Nobody Nowhere by Donna Williams (Jessica Kingsley 1999) – both being well-written accounts from individuals diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and autism respectively; and for those seeking a more academic analysis, Theory of Mind and the Triad of Perspectives on Autism and Asperger Syndrome by Olga Bogdashina (Jessica Kingsley 2006) is slightly harder to read but well rounded, up to date and full of thought-provoking little asides.
