Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger'sNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “As sweet and funny and sad and true and heartfelt a memoir as one could find.” —from the foreword by Augusten Burroughs Ever since he was young, John Robison 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, Augusten Burroughs, in them)—had earned him the label “social deviant.” It was not until he was forty that he was diagnosed with a form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome. That understanding transformed the way he saw himself—and the world. A born storyteller, Robison has written a moving, darkly funny memoir about a life that has taken him from developing exploding guitars for KISS to building a family of his own. It’s a strange, sly, indelible account—sometimes alien yet always deeply human. |
Contents
Prologue | 1 |
A Little Misfit | 7 |
A Permanent Playmate | 19 |
Empathy | 29 |
A Trickster Is Born | 35 |
The Nightmare Years | 51 |
Assembly Required | 59 |
The Dogs Begin to Fear Me | 69 |
Logic vs Small Talk | 189 |
Being Young Executives | 195 |
Becoming Normal | 207 |
Get a Bear Cub | 219 |
A Diagnosis at Forty | 233 |
Montagoonians | 241 |
Units One Through Three | 247 |
Married Life | 253 |
The Flaming Washtub | 101 |
The Big Time | 125 |
The First Smoking Guitar | 133 |
The Ferry to Detroit | 143 |
One with the Machine | 151 |
Rock and Roll All Night | 155 |
A Real Job | 171 |
A Visit from Management | 181 |
Winning at Basketball | 259 |
My Life as a Train | 265 |
Epilogue | 273 |
Postscript to the Paperback Edition | 283 |
Acknowledgments | 289 |
Reading and Resources | 291 |
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Ace Frehley Amherst Ampie April Wine asked Asperger Syndrome Asperger's Asperger's syndrome Aspergian autism baby band began better Big Trak brother called Chuckie Cubby door drive drove electronic engine father feel feet felt Finch fire flash powder floor Flying Lizard friends front girls grown-ups guitar guys hard head hear heard hole inside John Elder kids KISS knew Land Rover later learned light Little Bear lived looked Microvision Montagoonian mother moved never night okay parents Paul picked pile Pink Floyd played Porsche realized road Robison Running with Scissors seemed ship Shutesbury smile smoke snake Snort someone sound started stopped stories stuff sure talk tell things thought told took tour town tractor train trick truck turned Varmint Vito walked wanted watched woods