Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's
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Ever since he was small, John Robison had longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits an inclination to blurt out non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother in them) had earned him the label social deviant. No guidance came from his mother, who conversed with light fixtures, or his father, who spent evenings pickling himself in sherry. It was no wonder he gravitated to machines, which could, at least, be counted on. After fleeing his parents and dropping out of high school, his savant-like ability to visualize electronic circuits landed him a gig with KISS, for whom he created their legendary fire-breathing guitars. Later, he drifted into a real job, as an engineer for a major toy company. But the higher Robison rose in the company, the more he had to pretend to be normal and do what he simply couldn t: communicate. It wasn t worth the paycheck. It was not until he w... Publishers Weekly Although this memoir deals with some dark topics-including Asperger's syndrome, family alcoholism and mental illness-debut author Robison maintains a keen humor and sense of dramatic irony throughout. The gravelly voiced Robison proves to be a capable storyteller, whether describing the pranks he used to play on his much younger brother (Augusten Burroughs, who reads his foreword) or the relief of finally being diagnosed with Asperger's in middle age after a lifetime of social isolation and relatively odd behaviors. Robison is a vocal and emphatic advocate for Asperger's, which he insists is not a disease but a different-and sometimes better-neurology. Asperger's gave Robison a single-minded ability to focus on his love of electronics, giving him a place in the world as the wizard behind Kiss's smoking and flaming guitars or, later in life, a gift for diagnosing and fixing high-end imported cars. This memoir is highly entertaining and the abridgment is smoothly edited. Simultaneous release with the Crown hardcover (Reviews, July 9). (Oct.)Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
Author's Note ixForeword Augusten Burroughs xiPrologue 1A Little Misfit 7A Permanent Playmate 19Empathy 29A Trickster Is Born 35I Find a Porsche 43The Nightmare Years 51Assembly Required 59The Dogs Begin to Fear Me 69I Drop Out of High School 85Collecting the Trash 95The Flaming Washtub 101I'm in Prison with the Band 113The Big Time 125The First Smoking Guitar 133The Ferry to Detroit 143One with the Machine 151Rock and Roll All Night 155A Real Job 171A Visit from Management 181Logic vs. Small Talk 189Being Young Executives 195Becoming Normal 207I Get a Bear Cub 219A Diagnosis at Forty 233Montagoonians 241Units One Through Three 247Married Life 253Winning at Basketball 259My Life as a Train 265Epilogue 273Acknowledgments 283Reading and Resources 285
