Send in the Idiots by Kamran Nazeer

The book is about the tales of the author and four of his classmates from a special school for autistic kids, whom he tries to connect with 20 years later. The work is an outstanding book and not because it is written by someone who is autistic (And if you read the book, you will know why it is important to make that distinction). Of course there are minor style & editing issues but they are mostly my issues with the narrative. You may not have the same or even notice them.

The author is a civil servant in the UK. He is educated in both law and philosophy and he argues convincingly during the course of the book, especially in the section when he expresses his displeasure about people making 'allowances' for autistic people and having unreasonable expectations (at both ends of the expectation spectrum). He uses the fascinating example of Ray Monk who was the biographer for both Wittgenstein and Russell and didn't appear to treat both his subjects objectively, only because he believed one of them was a genius.

The author being a policy adviser to the UK government is extremely articulate and writes well. Here is an illustration of his writing as well as his ability to express himself and argue convincingly - "Striking up a conversation is an autistic person's version of extreme sports." Once you get his insider's perspective with illustrations like this one, you begin to feel like you are in a seminar with the author at the end of which you will ask him some questions to which he shall provide convincing responses.

I would strongly urge you to read this book. It is in an altogether different realm from anything I have read on autism (which is mostly Sacks' two books, but they focussed largely on savants).

Just reading the book is like a mental slap to several prejudices/notions you may have held like I did. Even if you didn't, it is nevertheless rare and fresh insight.

Phew!

And now I must sleep...