Which Aspie or Autie books have you read?

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Which Aspie or autie books have you read and which did you find most helpful?

Was the author an NT and did you think he or she really understood the Aspie or autie person?

The most helpful was "Elijah's Cup" by Valerie Paradiz. It's written about her autistic son, but the mother has shadow traits and is very understanding of her son's needs.

There was also "Pretending to be Normal" by Liane Holliday Willey, which I found extremely useful. She has AS herself and describes many things that I was never able to explain myself, and I have used her book to explain myself to other people before.

Tony Attwood's book "Asperger Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals" provides excellent information but was less useful to me since, obviously, I'm not a parent or professional. However he definitely understands us and is compassionate, and I do refer to this book often for information on diagnostic criteria, etc.

"The OASIS Guide to Asperger Syndrome" is written by NTs and meant for NT parents, but I found it quite useful and informative. It's very, very long and detailed.

A less useful book I read was "Eating an Artichoke" by Echo Fling. It was written by an NT mother about her AS son. She seems to pity her son and baby him and just really doesn't come across as fully understanding how he works. There's a part when he refuses to eat his dinner (due to sensory sensitivity, of course) and she made a huge deal of it and says something like "No child of mine was going to act this way! He eats what I made or he doesn't eat!" This seems purely a battle of control as it doesn't take much to make the poor kid some toast or something. She also writes a lot about how her poor little NT daughter suffers because her brother has AS. I didn't like it.

There was another book I read that I absolutely cannot remember the title or author of, maybe someone else will know what I'm talking about. It's written by a mother about her child with PDD-NOS. The mother is very insecure and questions herself a lot, and there's something in the book about the kid wearing a chartreuse hat all the time.

I have not gotten a chance to read Temple Grandin's books yet because they are not in the local library.

I read the Parent's Guide to Asperger's Syndrome. I also made my mom read it. It made her understand a lot more.

I have read almost everything by Dr. Temple Grandin and they were all very interesting and helpful. We have read various manuals and none of them were really helpful or interesting.
I can't think of anything else. You can find Temple Grandin's books in any autism library, like at the local Autism Society or if there is an Autism center in town.

I read Finding Ben. Thanks to her boy, the NT mother decided to go back to school and get an education in working with kids with special needs so she would try to find out what was wrong with her boy. Ben was very smart, started reading at age 1 and talked early, knew how to read maps before age 6, had vocabulary of a 10 year old at age 2, but he had poor self help skills. He wasn’t diagnosed with autism till he was 23 but his mother knew it didn’t seem right until in 1998 she saw an article on Aspergers and it fit her son well. I guess screw the criteria. I could have AS after all but who knows.


I also read Pretending to be Normal, Thinking in Pictures, Running with Walker, Son Rise, Ride in the Family, Aspergers Huh? This is Asperger’s syndrome, The Blue Bottle Mystery, Of Mice and Aliens, and Lisa and the Lacemaker. The last three fictional stories had stereotyping of AS in it but at least the author made the two aspie characters very different from each other.


I also read the book written by Temple Grandin’s mother but it was mostly about her life and her marriage problems with her husband who didn’t approve of their daughter Temple.

I have read parts of Freaks and Geeks, parts of a Tony Attwood books and a few other Asperger books. I am still reading books on autism and AS I keep checking out of the library.


What I found helpful was reading the book Aspergers and Sexuality written by Jerry Newport and his wife. They talk about relationships and how to get one and what you should do and not do. They also tell you as a man to groom yourself and keep yourself clean as if telling you to change yourself. Lot of apsies probably aren’t going to like that book because Jerry says you need to push yourself and stop using AS as a crutch for your behavior and start working on those skills instead of feeling sorry for yourself. I have seen many aspies with that attitude and that was why I left the groups few years ago because I got tired of it.

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I read the OASIS guide to Asperger's Syndrome (very long, but also very informative), the one by Tony Attwood partly (got it from the library once), George and Sam by Charlotte Moore (NT mother about her two autistic boys, daily life with them, how they got their diagnosis and so on. I don't know if she fully understands her sons, I don't remember her ever say something in the book which might indicate that she thinks so though), Beyond the Silence by Tito Mukhopadhyay, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon (found the Aspie boy in it a bit stereotypical) and, if this counts at all, All Cats have Asperger's Syndrome by Kathy Hoopmann (informative only to somebody who has never heard of AS before, but with cute pics).
I also read three other books, but they are of German authors, one called I don't want to be inside me anymore and the other title I don't know how to translate, both written by Birger Sellin (nonverbal LFA). The other one is called Colored Shadows and Bats by Axel Brauns (either Aspie or HFA, I think it's never clearly said).
I found all of them to be nice and/or interesting. If I had to pick favourite ones it'd probably be the one by Tito Mukhopadhyay (great writing style with beautiful poems and wise statements) and the one by Axel Brauns as I could relate to that the most.

Has anybody read the book Asperger's and Girls? I'd be curious to know more about that one.

i read a book called "freaks geeks and aspergers syndrome" it was written by Luke Jackson aged 13 at the time.

i thought it was rather good as it gave you examples with the symptom!!

I read Curious Incident of a Dog in the Nighttime it really confused me. I didn't really know about AS at the time. The guy in it came across as incoherent, no sense of humour, it was really stereotyped. I was obviously written by an NT trying to understand but not really getting it. It is really popular though.

I just finished Tony Attwood's book, The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome. Excellent read! As it was said above, he is compassionate toward all people on the spectrum. He does not talk down to us or describe us as defective.

Fiction

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime-hated it!

Daniel Isn't Talking-I liked this one

Non-Fiction

Animals in Translation-Temple Grandin. Excellent. It encompasses two of my special interests, Autism/AS and animals.

Sound of a Miracle-Annabel Stehli. (Also Dancing in the Rain)

Tony Attwood's book Asperger Syndrome

The OASIS Guide to Asperger Syndrome-long, but good

Can It Be Autism?

I'm still waiting on a book that deals solely with the adult Aspie.

I've read parts of most books that deal with autism and AS. But the fact that 99.5% of these books only deal with the developing child, I must admit to being a little prejudiced against most sources of info on autism. Children with autism and those people, parents and loved ones and anyone else involved with the struggles of raising an autistic child - bless you all.

But let's hear it for the adult Aspies. You know, we still need a little help into old age.

Roger Bannister's book, The Four Minute Mile, is not specifically about AS, but he deals with a lot of the issues someone with Asperger's faces. It also shows that life can get better over time. His childhood and teenage years were difficult, but he became a world-class athlete and a physician at 25. Now, in his 70s, he has been married over 50 years, has 4 children, and 14 grandchildren. With hard work, life can get better.

I've read both Thinking in Pictures and Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin, and The Parent's Guide to Asperger's Syndrome which is what I read when I was diagnosed. I especially liked Temple Grandin's book about animals as they're something I'm interested in.

I have read Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin, Autism Spectrum Disorders by Chantal Sicile Kira, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

Thinking in Pictures was good. Autism Spectrum Disorders was ok, but not much was said about adults in it, so I skipped a bunch of parts. The Curious Incident was cute and entertaining and I could relate to some of the stuff. I think the boy was more HFA though.

Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin, Tony Attwood's The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome, Pretending To be Normal by Liane Holliday Willey (I'm sorry but her name always makes me laugh ) and the Curious Incident, which is the only one I read before I knew I was AS and have since realised what an exaggerated character that is.