Any Books for Us (and not parents of)?
15 Oct 2006, 9:04 pm
I am an adult with Asperger's. I have two kids, but they do NOT have Aspergers.
I love to read and I learn a lot from reading. However, I can't find any books written to adult (or teenage) Aspies! All the books I've found are for parents, and say such things as: "if your child is afflicted (yuck) with AS, he won't understand what you understand". This doesn't help me much, because I don't understand it either!
I've read like 6 of these books, because they're all I can find, but I'm growing tired of it. I want a book for me.
Can anyone recommend any good books on Aspergers for an adult to read to herself?
Thanks.
15 Oct 2006, 10:23 pm
i recently bought a ton of aspergers books from amazon, which are all or most geared to adults. you're right though, that most books readliy available in libraries or bookstores are for parents. i don't have them all in front of me, but i'll list the ones i can remember. titles may not be exact but i'm sure you can find them on amazon.
Pretending to be normal by liane holliday willey
self-advocacy and disclosure for those on the autism spectrum
the hidden rules of social relationships by temple grandin (and anything else by her)
women from another planet
solutions for adults with aspergers
aspergers in love (written by a woman, but favors men with AS)
the other half of asperger syndrome
your life is not a label by jerry newport
body language by by Susan Quilliam (good info and wonderful illustrations)
too loud too tight too fast too bright
I'm about 1/3 done with most of them. there were a few others i havn't picked up yet, but all of these have proven to be very helpful. I especially like women from another planet because it deals with many issues women have from many different individuals' perspectives. Things like femininity, motherhood, jobs, love, marriage, school, etc
hope this helps!
15 Oct 2006, 10:27 pm
My favorite is Temple Grandin's "Thinking In Pictures." Donna William's book "Autism: An Inside Out Approach" isn't bad, though I find Donna William's writing very difficult to read.
I thought "Pretending to be Normal" sucked. Tony Attwood's book, simply titled "Asperger's Syndrome" is very good. I want to read some of his other books, like "Asperger's and Girls" and his new book "The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome," but my local libraries don't carry them.
16 Oct 2006, 9:04 am
Okay, books written specifically with an autistic audience in mind:
Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships by Sean Barron and Temple Grandin.
The People in a Girl's Life: How to Find Them, Better Understand Them, and Keep Them by Kate Noelle Downey and Martha Kate Downey (for children and teenagers)
Survival Strategies for People on the Autism Spectrum by Marc Fleisher.
Finding Out About Asperger Syndrome, High Functioning Autism, and PDD by Gunilla Gerland (for children)
Developing Talents: Careers for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism by Temple Grandin and Kate Duffy
Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome: A User Guide to Adolescence by Luke Jackson (for teens)
Build Your Own Life: A Self-Help Guide for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome by Wendy Lawson
Asperger Syndrome Employment Workbook: An Employment Workbook for Adults with Asperger Syndrome by Roger Meyer
Your Life is Not a Label by Jerry Newport
Autism - Asperger's and Sexuality: Puberty and Beyond by Jerry and Mary Newport
Ask and Tell: Self-Advocacy and Disclosure for People on the Autism Spectrum edited by Stephen Shore
Those are ones that are written by autistic people, and specifically mentioned to be for autistic people. There are a lot of other books that have autistic people as part of a wide audience that also includes non-autistic people, but that don't really mention autistic people as part of that audience.
_________________
"In my world it's a place of patterns and feel. In my world it's a haven for what is real. It's my world, nobody can steal it, but people like me, we live in the shadows." -Donna Williams
16 Oct 2006, 11:40 am
Okay... now I'm going to list books that are by autistic people, and that may not be aimed specifically at autistic people, but still aren't particularly aimed away from us either.
There's A Boy In Here: Emerging from the Bonds of Autism Sean and Judy Barron -- autobiography, an autistic man and his mother taking turns telling the story.
Congratulations! It's Asperger syndrome by Jen Birch. Autobiography.
Lucy's Story: Autism and Other Adventures by Lucy Blackman. Autobiography.
Confusion, Loneliness, Depression: Asperger's Syndrome - A Journey by John and Patricia Brine. Autobiography by an autistic man and his mother.
Do You Understand Me? My Life, My Thoughts, My Autism Spectrum Disorder by Sofie Koborg Brøsen. Not exactly autobiography, more an explanation of autism, by a child, readable by children.
Going Through the Motions: Coping with Autism by Sharon P. Cowhey. Autobiography.
Understand: Fifty Memowriter Poems by David Eastham. Poetry. If you ever get hold of this, let me know, because I haven't managed. (It's the first book I know of, about autism, written by an autistic person, ever.)
Silent Words: Forever Friends by David and Margaret Eastham. First half is biography by his mother, second half is some of his stories and poems.
Cinderella With Wrong Shoes: Poems by a Young Woman with Autism Jennifer and Autumn Fan. Poems by Jennifer Fan with comments by her mother.
Making Sense of the Unfeasible: My Life Journey with Asperger Syndrome by Marc Fleisher. Autobiography.
A Real Person: Life on the Outside by Gunilla Gerland. Autobiography.
Emergence: Labeled Autistic by Temple Grandin. Autobiography.
Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin. A collection of articles about autism, drawn from her own experience and that of others.
Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson. About autism and animals, much of it speculative although there's also a lot of science in there.
The Light Within by Lincoln Grigsby. Poems.
Anne Droyd and Century Lodge by Will Hadcroft. Fiction for children or teens, I think (haven't read it) that has a lot of autistic themes.
The Feeling's Unmutual: Growing Up With Asperger Syndrome (Undiagnosed) by Will Hadcroft. Autobiography
My World is not Your World Alison Hale. Autobiography.
I Had No Means to Shout! by Charles Martel Hale and Mary Jane Hale. It's mostly stuff by Mary Jane Hale, with contributions from her son now and then.
Asperger Syndrome, the Universe, and Everything by Kenneth Hall. More an explanation of his life than an autobiography. Written by a kid.
Born on the Wrong Planet by Erika Hammerschmidt. Autobiography.
No Duty to Retreat: The Stories of Tourette's Disease and Asperger's Autism by E. Antonio Hernandez. Combination of autobiography, and rambling about historical figures, and the nature of autism and Tourette's.
"now you know me think more": A Journey with Autism using Facilitated Communication Techniques by Ppinder Hundal and Pauline Lukey. Biography with occasional contributions by Ppinder Hundal.
A User Guide to the GF/CF Diet for Autism, Asperger Syndrome and AD/HD by Luke Jackson. About exactly what it sounds like it's about.
Crystalline Lifetime: Fragments of Asperger Syndrome by Luke Jackson. Poetry.
Standing Down Falling Up: Asperger Syndrome from the Inside Out by Nita Jackson. Autobiographical stuff mostly.
Carrousels and Storms: Mysticism from an Autistic Mind by William Julien. Poetry.
From Infant Bestiality to Adolescent Humanity: A Maturing Evolution Theory Regarding ASD Among the Human Species by William Julien. Not sure exactly what it's about because I've never been able to get my hands on a copy.
Life Behind Glass: A Personal Account of Autism Spectrum Disorder by Wendy Lawson. Autobiography.
Understanding and Working with the Spectrum of Autism: An Insider's View by Wendy Lawson. Actually mostly aimed at non-autistic people, a textbook.
Sex, Sexuality and the Autism Spectrum by Wendy Lawson. A textbook about sexuality.
ASPoetry: Illustrated Poems from an Aspie Life by Wendy Lawson. Poetry.
Jonathan Lerman: The Drawings of a Boy with Autism by Jonathan and Caren Lerman. Art.
And Wake Me with the Morning Light by Nicky Mann. Stories of kids she's worked with in a daycare program for troubled children, consciously modeled after "Chicken Soup" stories, which she likes (so if "Chicken Soup" stories aren't your thing, not recommended).
Living and Loving with Asperger Syndrome: Family Viewpoints by Patrick, Estelle, and Jared McCabe. A description of Patrick McCabe, from his point of view, his wife's, and his son's.
The Mira Trilogy by Thomas McKean. His collected letters to Mira Rothenberg. Not intended for general publication until some people forced the issue by distributing it without his permission, at which point he decided he might as well be the one selling it, or something like that.
Soon Will Come the Lightl: A View from Inside the Autism Puzzle by Thomas McKean. Autobiography first, then specific autistic traits examined, then poetry. It's what he edited Mira into for general publication.
Light on the Horizon: A Deeper View from Inside the Autism Puzzle by Thomas McKean. Essays about different aspects of autism, and a bit of an update from what happened since Soon....
The Alternative Personality by Desmond Meldrum. Autobiography, among other things. Combines everything he wrote in his previous books, so I'm not listing those.
Everywhere House: A Mystery by Jane Meyerding. It's a fiction book that was not intended to have anything to do with autism, but the author is autistic, and the main character seems to have autistic traits (although not modeled at all after the author). And it's pretty good, and I'm saying that as someone who doesn't normally like any of the genres it's in (mystery, murder mystery, lesbian detective stories).
My Autobiography by David Miedzianik. Autobiography.
Now All I've Got Left Is Myself by David Miedzianik. Poetry.
Taking the Load off My Mind by David Miedzianik. Poetry.
Women From Another Planet?: Our Lives in the Universe of Autism edited by Jean Kearns Miller. Anthology by autistic women.
Beyond the Silence: My Life, the World and Autism by Tito Mukhopadhyay. Autobiography.
The Gold of the Sunbeams: And Other Stories by Tito Mukhopadhyay. Short stories.
The Exact Mind: An Artist with Asperger Syndrome by Peter Myers, Simon Baron-Cohen, and Sally Wheelwright. Art.
Wasted Talent: Musings of an Autistic by Krishna Narayanan. Autobiography.
Through the Eyes of Aliens: A Book About Autistic People by Jasmine Lee O'Neill. Textbook on autism, with the final chapter dedicated to autistic people.
And Love Was All He Said: Growing Up Autistic by Michael J. O'Reilly. Poetry.
Caught Between Two Worlds: My Autistic Dilemma by Thomas S. Page. Autobiography.
Asparagus Dreams by Jessica Peers. Partial autobiography (about experiences at a residential school for autistic people, where she grew up).
Gorillas Among Us: A Primate Ethnographer's Book of Days by Dawn Prince-Hughes. This is not about autism, but it still could be of interest to autistic people, and involves the part of her life the author (who is autistic) has spent with gorillas.
Aquamarine Blue 5: Personal Stories of College Students with Autism by Dawn Prince-Hughes. Anthology with contributions by autistic college students.
Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey Through Autism by Dawn Prince-Hughes. Autobiography.
Finding a Different Kind of Normal: Misadventures with Asperger Syndrome by Jeanette Purkis. Autobiography.
The Vial by Chammi Rajapatirana. Poetry.
Embracing the Sky: Poems Beyond Disability by Craig Romkema. Poetry.
Martian in the Playground: Understanding the Schoolchild with Asperger's Syndrome by Clare Sainsbury. About the school experience of autistic people, and combines material not only by the author but by a wide variety of other autistic people she knows.
Overcoming Asperger's: Personal Experience and Insight by Robert S. Sanders, Jr. Autobiography, and then some musings about autism. (Including some decidedly unorthodox ones, such as demon possession.)
Discovering My Autism: Apologia pro Vita Sua (With Apologies to Cardinal Newman) by Edgar Schneider. Autobiography.
Living the Good Life with Autism by Edgar Schneider. Continuation of previous book combined with his thoughts on different aspects of autism.
Autism, Pre Rain Man: Pre Rain Man Autism by Rich Schull or Rich Shull (he spells it both ways, and is dyslexic, so I'm not sure which one is his name). About his ideas of the experience of autistic people who grew up before widespread "treatment" of autism.
I Don't Want to Be Inside Me Anymore: Messages from an Autistic Mind by Birger Sellin. Poetry.
Beyond the Wall: Personal Experiences with Autism and Asperger Syndrome by Stephen Shore. Autobiography among other things.
The Story of Isosceles by Jim Sinclair. Short cartoon-illustrated book about Jim's service dog, and the concept of service dogs for autistic people.
An Asperger Marriage by Christopher and Gisela Slater-Walker. Christopher (autistic) and Gisela (non-autistic) alternate chapters talking about their marriage.
It's OK To Have Asperger Syndrome by Candy Smith. Short pamphlet-like book, has autobiographical stuff and just general "this is what autism is like" stuff.
Spectrums: A Collection of Poems by Starfire M. L. Soledad. Poetry.
Demystifying the Autistic Experience: A Humanistic Introduction for Parents, Caregivers, and Educators by William Stillman. Autism textbook.
Autism And the God Connection: Redefining the Autistic Experience Through Extraordinary Accounts of Spiritual Giftedness by William Stillman. Pretty close to what the title says: It's a book about spirituality as well as "psychic" (which are, in the book, not particularly differentiated from each other) experiences reported by autistic people or guessed by their families.
Do-Si-Do with Autism by Sarah Stup. A picture book about an autistic turtle.
Overcoming Autism by Georgiana Thomas. Autobiography.
Urville by Gilles Trehin. A travel guide to an imaginary city that he has drawn up since childhood.
The Road Trip: Life with Autism by J. Kevin Vasey and Gloria Pearson-Vasey. Autobiography, I'm assuming.
Pretending to be Normal: Living with Asperger's Syndrome by Liane Holliday Willey. Autobiography.
Asperger Syndrome in the Family: Redefining Normal by Liane Holliday Willey. Descriptions of having a family with several autistic members.
Asperger Syndrome in Adolescence: Living with the Ups, the Downs and Things in Between edited by Liane Holliday Willey. An anthology (with contributions by parents, professionals, and autistic people) about adolescence.
Nobody Nowhere: The Extraordinary Autobiography of an Autistic by Donna Williams. Autobiography.
Somebody Somewhere: Breaking Free from the World of Autism by Donna Williams. Autobiography, picks up where the last left off.
Not Just Anything: A Collection of Thoughts on Paper (1995 version) by Donna Williams. Poems and the occasional short story.
Like Color to the Blind: Soul Searching and Soul Finding by Donna Williams. Autobiography, picks up where the last left off.
Autism - An Inside Out Approach: An innovative look at the mechanics of 'autism' and its developmental 'cousins' by Donna Williams. Textbook.
Autism and Sensing: The Unlost Instinct by Donna williams. Textbook, dealing with what she calls the "system of sensing", a nonsymbolic way of understanding the world that she believes many autistic people use more than we use symbol (which she calls "interpretive thought").
Exposure Anxiety - The Invisible Cage: An Exploration of Self-Protection Response in the Autism Spectrum and Beyond by Donna Williams. Textbook about a whole lot of different things that she collects under the idea of "exposure anxiety".
Everyday Heaven: Journeys Beyond the Stereotypes of Autism by Donna Williams. Autobiography, picks up where the last left off
The Jumbled Jigsaw: An Insider's Approach to the Treatment of Autistic Spectrum `Fruit Salads' by Donna Williams. A textbook, sort of like updates to Autism: An inside-out approach. (2005) [added to booklist 2004-09-18]
The Self-Help Guide for Special Kids and Their Parents by James Williams and Joan Matthews. Forgot this one, also targeted at autistic people, in my last list. By an autistic kid and his mom.
Reflections of Self by Sondra Williams. Autobiography and discussion of autism.
Drawings by Stephen Wiltshire. Art. (He can draw entire cityscapes from memory.)
Cities by Stephen Wiltshire. Art.
Floating Cities by Stephen Wiltshire. Art.
Stephen Wiltshire's American Dream by Stephen Wiltshire. Art.
In Their Hearts: Inspirational Alzheimer's Stories by Mary Margaret Britton Yearwood. Stories from an autistic woman who worked as a chaplain in an Alzheimer's ward.
Then there's books with a lot of autistic contributors like:
Autism and the Myth of the Person Alone edited by Douglas Biklen. By several autistic people who have been greatly underestimated intellectually and now type independently.
Coming Out Asperger: Diagnosis, Disclosure and Self-Confidence edited by Dinah Murray. Pretty much what it sounds like, with a lot of autistic contributors.
[i]Sharing Our Wisdom: A Collection of Presentations by People within the Autism Spectrum[/i
edited by Gail Gillingham and Sandra McClennan. Again, what it sounds like.
_________________
"In my world it's a place of patterns and feel. In my world it's a haven for what is real. It's my world, nobody can steal it, but people like me, we live in the shadows." -Donna Williams
16 Oct 2006, 1:13 pm
Hello there!There's a new book by Tony Attwood "The Complete Guide To Asperger's Syndrome" published 2006, an updated version of his earlier book.
A Real Person: Life on the Outside by Gunilla Gerland (a woman with HFA)
Women From Another Planet
Pretending to Be Normal: Living with Asperger's Syndrome by Liane Holliday Willey
Try your local library or amazon, best of luck.
16 Oct 2006, 8:22 pm
I have the pretending to be normal book here that I got from the library, but couldn't read it. I am glad I saw someone else post that it sucked, so now I won't even try to bother reading it. I too am looking for an asperger book dealing with adult aspergers. Think I will look into tony attwoods new/old book.
16 Oct 2006, 9:47 pm
why couldn't you read pretending to be normal? you shouldn't make a decision based on just one person's opinion. I read the book and really liked it. I could relate to a lot of it. Most of it is about her adult life, just the first 2 chapters are her youth. i understand if someone else read it and didn't like it, but i think you should at least try. it might be helpful to you.
17 Oct 2006, 1:56 pm
Just saw this in the bookstore but didn't buy it: Solutions for Adults with Asperger's Syndrome: Maximizing the Benefits, Minimizing the Drawbacks to Achieve Success by Juanita Lovett
_________________
"In my world it's a place of patterns and feel. In my world it's a haven for what is real. It's my world, nobody can steal it, but people like me, we live in the shadows." -Donna Williams
21 Oct 2006, 4:26 am
I was quite disappointed with this book (I bought it), seemed vague and lacking insight-but it's precarious predicting what someone else will think of it. My reaction may not be representative of sample, your experience of that book likely may differ from mine.
I thought "Pretending to be Normal" was okay, had a few paragraphs I really thought were similar to me. So it was a mixed bag, neither great nor awful-it may be more or less useful/educational to other persons w/AS. Unable to be a detached reviewer, I'm judging to some extent based on & biased by my idiosyncratic traits/interests/quirks/lifestyle/relationships/etc.
Despite it being about working w/kids (instead of adults), I liked Howard Buten's "Through the Glass Wall". Guy in France who works with autistic youth-his attempts to understand them make sense to me (I'm dx'd AS). Book doesn't seem to be well-known, though it was at local library.
"Asperger Syndrome and Adolescence" by Teresa Bolick was a good (handy-type) read, too bad I didn't have it back then.
"Autism:Explaining the Enigma" by Uta Frith was more interesting than it looked at first.
"Songs of the Gorilla Nation" by Dawn Prince-Hughes was pretty good.
"Shadow Syndromes" by Ratey & Johnson was good, even though it's about multiple conditions.
The 4 memoirs (so far) by Donna Williams were great to read, though I was utterly bored & confused by one of her textbooks ("Jumbled Jigsaw").
Enjoyed Temple Grandin's writings also, despite our surface & symptom dissimilarities.
"Too loud too bright too fast too tight" by Sharon Heller is only book I've been able to find for physically oversensitive adults (which I am), and it doesn't even touch on autism. Otherwise, "The Out-of-sync Child" by Kranowitz or "Sensational Kids" by Miller are worth a look.
_________________
*"I don't know what it is, but I know what it isn't."*
21 Oct 2006, 11:53 am
One reason I didn't buy the book I saw in the store was that it did look fairly superficial and useless. (Unfortunately a lot of books targeted at autistic people seem to be that way -- they give really superficial and vague information and aren't too practical except in sort of whitewashed scenarios that don't resemble the real world much.)
I didn't like "Through the Glass Wall" very much. I can't remember why. Oh... yeah. Here's part of my blog entry in response to that (written to "experts" like the author of that one):
So now you come along and say that if someone has relationships with others, they are coming out of autism. You say that autism is defined by a shell that you hallucinate around us. Even if they had relationships all along that you were unable to see. You come along and say that we’re in these enclosed worlds, and it’s your job to come in and get us out, but you’re oblivious to the much more enclosed worlds you tend to live in, and oblivious to how much of the world we do perceive. You come along and basically say that anyone who can talk about it isn’t autistic, anymore, or isn’t very autistic anymore.
But you’ve defined autistic along your parameters. You have defined it, not in terms of how we actually work, but in terms of what you guys have been imagining all along to be inside us. Then you made the rules based on what you imagined rather than what was there.
And now you’re writing books, to be read by many people around the world, that may as well all be your imaginings. You write very well. You write deceptively well. It may take an autistic person, maybe an autistic institution survivor in parts, to see through what you have written, what you have gotten yourself to believe about us, what you are telling others to believe about us, what you are telling others to believe about you. What you are telling us to believe about ourselves, which is the scariest part.
Take a look at what your ideas about autism have been founded on: Mental hallucination on top of imagining on top of bad inference on top of mental hallucination stacked for decades. Take a look at the assumptions you have made. Take a look at alternate explanations for what you have done to us, for what we have done to you. Have faith that even if everything you thought you knew about us falls apart and leaves you totally confused, who and what we are is still going to be here and will be easier to see. And then maybe you’ll be able to actually listen to us and hear something other than a distorted reflection of yourself.
I think as a person who's been in institutions I remember seeing certain distortions in the storytelling that would not be evident necessarily to people who haven't been in and/or seriously studied the places. But it's been awhile since I've read that one.
I did like Dawn Prince-Hughes's autobiography and also liked meeting her at a booksigning. Her book on gorillas (not on autism) is also really good.
Basically indifferent to Pretending to be Normal. Not great, not awful, not too interested in it.
Of Donna Williams's books, my favorites are Nobody Nowhere and Not Just Anything (both editions of that one).
Uta Frith seems to me great at outward descriptions of us and not so great at knowing why we do things. Her theories are founded on science that's being overturned, such as the theory of mind idea, and also the idea of weak central coherence. Weak central coherence assumes that if we are good at certain tasks it means we are bad at certain others, and I don't think that's true.
_________________
"In my world it's a place of patterns and feel. In my world it's a haven for what is real. It's my world, nobody can steal it, but people like me, we live in the shadows." -Donna Williams
21 Oct 2006, 12:06 pm
Some of my favorite books on autism or by autistic people are... let's see...
Autism and the Myth of the Person Alone edited by Douglas Biklen.
Sharing Our Wisdom edited by G. Gillingham and S. McClennan
Lucy's Story: Autism and Other Adventures by Lucy Blackman
Everywhere House by Jane Meyerding (fiction, and not specifically about autism)
Women from Another Planet edited by Jean Miller
Beyond the Silence by Tito Mukhopadhyay
Gorillas Among Us by Dawn Prince-Hughes (not specifically about autism)
Songs of the Gorilla Nation by Dawn Prince-Hughes
_________________
"In my world it's a place of patterns and feel. In my world it's a haven for what is real. It's my world, nobody can steal it, but people like me, we live in the shadows." -Donna Williams
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