Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's

This book is a must read for anyone who is living with or knows someone with Asbergers. The descriptions of his feelings and life experiences gives great insight into how Aspergian minds work. It makes it much easier to understand the Aspergian and why they do and say the things they do. At the same time, it's entertaining. This book gives you a little bit of everything, comedy, drama, information, etc. I highly recommend it.

This book was very enlightening to me, especially as a parent of a recently diagnosed Asperger's child. To read of John Elder's childhood experiences from his point of view gave me such a different perspective. I gave copies of the book to my child's teachers since they are all new at working with forms of autism and it's been helpful. A friend of mine read the book and now believes he has Asperger's (he read the electronics section about the KISS projects and totally understood what the author had written!). I really enjoyed the book -- relatively easy reading but so eye-opening.

A young boy learns by trial and error to be a productive part of society. He overcomes many challenges (physical abuse from his drunk father, a mentally unstable Mother, difficulty with peers, later on in life he learns he has asperger's) and succeeds.
My favorite parts of the book were his "functional naming", pranks he plays on family members, teachers, co workers, and how he protects himself from snakes. I laughed out loud. I loved it. I hope to read more books by this author. His brother Augusten Burroughs is also an exellent story teller.

This was such an amazing book. It really helped me understand Asperger's, and yet John made his experiences hysterical. He is a great writer and I would reccomend the book to anyone.

"I realized I was standing outside, next to a pool full of kids and sunbathing parents, in my underwear, waving a smoking revolver." To many, perhaps this scenario would be considered a sign of insanity; for Robison it is one of many true to life gems that enrich his tale. Written by the brother of Augusten Borroughs (of Running with Scissors fame), this memoir shows another side of the family story. Yet beyond being just another familial chronicle, this work of what Robison refers to as an "Aspergian," or someone diagnosed with Asperger's, a syndrome on the autism spectrum. Through clear explanations and life examples we gain insight into the difficulty someone with Asperger's has in reading and reacting to social cues like that of facial expressions or conversational nuances, understandings that most of us naturally take for granted.

Along the way, Robison takes us through a childhood full of social missteps and an especially challenging set of parents, not failing to include experiences from a job on the road with KISS, as well as a job working for 'the man' at corporate Milton Bradley, rounded out with tales from the ultimate prankster. A book not for the faint of heart, it is interspersed with undoubtedly dark moments amidst his personal triumphs.

The author's writing flows intuitively, reflecting his preference for a utilitarian approach seen in many aspects of his work and lifestyle. He is clear, forthright and is a trusted voice while coloring, well, a colorful life story. If his brother's memoir Running with Scissors was hard to believe, it could be said that this memoir confirms a youth where truth is much stranger than fiction.

Robison proves to be a sort of hero, actually. He survives an abusive childhood, as well as a lifetime of being undiagnosed, a factor that left him feeling quite different from the norm without having the comfort of a concrete reason. Yet, despite this condition that brings along severe social challenges, he is a successful individual of his own right and trains himself on how to work within society's standard operating procedures.

Ultimately, this is the story of an individual who has learned to live in his own truth and has successfully harnessed the humor found in even the darkest of moments. Although the final few chapters feel like a choppy addition to the storyline continuum, laughing aloud at various intervals throughout the book is practically a guarantee. Hopefully this book will reach a broader audience spreading awareness and improving understanding about Asperger's; although, it is still important to remember that this is a rendering of just one man's experience.

Quill Says: If you like peeking into the unique adventures and thought processes of another person, this book will quench that thirst.