Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant
This unique first-person account offers a window into the mind of a high-functioning, 27-year-old British autistic savant with Asperger's syndrome. Tammet's ability to think abstractly, deviate from routine, and empathize, interact and communicate with others is impaired, yet he's capable of incredible feats of memorization and mental calculation. Besides being able to effortlessly multiply and divide huge sums in his head with the speed and accuracy of a computer, Tammet, the subject of the 2005 documentary Brainman, learned Icelandic in a single week and recited the number pi up to the 22,514th digit, breaking the European record. He also experiences synesthesia, an unusual neurological syndrome that enables him to experience numbers and words as "shapes, colors, textures and motions." Tammet traces his life from a frustrating, withdrawn childhood and adolescence to his adult achievements, which include teaching in Lithuania, achieving financial independence with an educational Web site and sustaining a long-term romantic relationship. As one of only about 50 people living today with synesthesia and autism, Tammet's condition is intriguing to researchers; his ability to express himself clearly and with a surprisingly engaging tone (given his symptoms) makes for an account that will intrigue others as well.


Memory Keeper's Daughter 
This stunning novel begins on a winter night in 1964, when a blizzared forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins.  His son, born first, is perfectly healthy, but the doctor immediately recognizes that his daughter has Down's Syndrome.  For motives her tells himself are good, he makes a split-second decision that will haunt all their lives forever.  He asks his nurse, Caroline, to take the baby away to an institution.  instead, the nurse disappears into another city to raise the child as her own.  Compulsively readable and deeply moving, The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a brilliantly crafted story of parallel lives, familial secrets, and the redemptive power to love. 

Wild Ride up the Cupboards
A Wild Ride up the Cupboards is the story of a young boy's decent into autism, and how his parents struggle to sustain their marriage under this unanticipated strain.  Threaded through the novel, too, is the tale of Rachel's late uncle, who may have suffered from a similar disorder during a time when society's notions of parenting, pediatrics, and psychology were dramatically different from today's.  As the boy's mom delves into her own family history in search of answers, flashbacks to Mickey's live afford moving insights into both the nature of childhood trauma and the coping mechanisms that families employ. 



Reflections from a Different Journey: What Adults with Disabilities Wish All Parents Knew
Hearing from people who have lived the disability experience can provide all parents, regardless of their children’s age, with essential information about the possibilities for their children.  This book comprises forty inspiring essays written by successful adult role models who share what it is like to grow up with a disability. 

“Advice to parents about how to raise and guide their children with disabilities is rarely offered in such a compelling and insightful way as it is in Reflections from a Different Journey. Nobody says it better than people with disabilities themselves when topics such as risk taking, social acceptance, envisioning a life of greater independence, and all the challenges confronting any parent arise.  These essays will educate, inform, and entertain every parent who wants to know how to be the very best parent he or she can be.”

-Senator Robert Dole


Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism

Known for her extreme honesty about the everyday trials of pregnancy, motherhood, marriage, and divorce, Jenny McCarthy has developed a national fan base that has taken her to the New York Times bestseller list for a total of twenty-three weeks. USA Today ranked McCarthy's first two books as the fourth and fifth bestselling baby books in 2005. But few have known that her son, Evan, has autism. In Louder Than Words, she takes this revelation to parents across the country, starting a dialogue on this complex condition, much as Brooke Shields did for postpartum depression in Down Came the Rain.

Writing with the raw humor and honesty that has made her so popular with women across the country, McCarthy shares her son's symptoms and her attempts to sort through the maze of conflicting medical theories. With Louder Than Words, McCarthy sheds much needed light on autism through her own heartbreak, struggle, and ultimately hopeful example of how a parent can shape her child's life and happiness.


Send In the Idiots: Stories From the Other Side of Autism

In 1982, when he was four years old, Kamran Nazeer was enrolled in a special school alongside a dozen other children diagnosed with autism. Calling themselves the Idiots, these kids received care that was at the cutting edge of developmental psychology. Now a policy adviser in England, Kamran decides to visit four of his old classmates to find out the kind of lives that they are living now, how much they’ve been able to overcome—and what remains missing.
 
Bringing to life the texture of autistic lives and the limitations that the condition presents, Nazeer also relates the ways in which those can be eased over time, and with the right treatment.Using his own experiences to examine such topics as the difficulties of language, conversation as performance, and the politics of civility, Send in the Idiots is also a rare and provocative exploration of the way that people—all people—learn to think and feel. Written with unmatched insight and striking personal testimony, Kamran Nazeer’s account is a stunning, invaluable, and utterly unique contribution to the literature of what makes us human.

If you are interested in other popular titles please check out our reviews of popular materials, or our selected bibliographies.  You can also see what's new at the Resource Center by viewing our recently added titles.