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NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity

Steve Silberman

4.30 · Rating details · 7,050 ratings · 1,067 reviews

A New York Times bestseller

Winner of the 2015 Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction

A groundbreaking book that upends conventional thinking about autism and suggests a broader model for acceptance, understanding, and full participation in society for people who think differently.

What is autism? A lifelong disability, or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference a ...more

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Hardcover, First Edition (U.S.), 477 pages

Published August 25th 2015 by Avery/Penguin Random House LLC (first published August 2015)

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Lists with This Book

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Feb 27, 2016 Petra Eggs rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016-150-reviews, 2016-read, popculture-anthropology, psycho-neurology-crime, medicine-science, reviewed

Finished. Very long review. Apologies. Skip to paragraph 3 ** for a horror story. The book was hard to rate. Some of it is as bad as a 1-star: excreble writing when he's giving far too much detail about the irrelevant (to the book) discoveries of the 18thC scientist Henry Cavendish whom he confidently diagnoses as Aspergers. 3 stars for most of it where the research is general too narrowly focused on too few people but quite in depth for them and 5 stars for giving away such appalling things as Finished. Very long review. Apologies. Skip to paragraph 3 ** for a horror story. The book was hard to rate. Some of it is as bad as a 1-star: excreble writing when he's giving far too much detail about the irrelevant (to the book) discoveries of the 18thC scientist Henry Cavendish whom he confidently diagnoses as Aspergers. 3 stars for most of it where the research is general too narrowly focused on too few people but quite in depth for them and 5 stars for giving away such appalling things as the typo in DSM III.

People forget that DSM is a for-profit company. It made $10M on DSM III. It had 25 committees of people searching for evidence of at least 25 different symptoms of autism. They were well paid as professionals. They consulted all kinds of people from teachers to those therapists qualified by attendance at a day's seminar in some hotel ballroom. In other words, everyone involved had a pecuniary interest in diagnosing autism in as broad a way as possible.

** But to the terrible typo. For those who might be autistic or have aspergers or might not but definitely seemed to have something, there was always PDD-NOS. The intention was that children being diagnosed would have a certain number of symptoms from list A, from list B and list C. However, instead of 'and' the word 'or' was substituted. The author reckons that 75% of all children diagnosed with PDD-NOS didn't in fact have anything.

Hans Asperger said, a long time ago and his words have been nearly forgotten, trampled on and now totally ignored, not to pathologise eccentricities! Just because someone is weird doesn't make them mental! Forget that, they're all on the spectrum now.

I was going to write a long and well-argued (hopefully) review of the book and of own my own opinion that Aspergers and Autism are not related at all. But I'll keep that for another time and stick to reviewing the book (view spoiler). I do think that a lot of children so diagnosed don't have autism at all and grow out of it (or according to many therapists are 'cured') in much the same way that 90% or more of the kiddies put on Ritalin turned out to be normal adults. The incidence of ADHD in America in children is higher than anywhere else in the world. But the figures for adults are more or less the same in all the countries of the West.

By all evidence that I've seen and read, Aspergers is most often just a personality type, that is unless you want to diagnose almost the entirety of Silicon Valley and perhaps computer people in general with having it. Would we even be so advanced in electronics without these people? In any case, quite a few of the 'symptoms' of Aspergers are common to Prosopagnosia or face-blindness (I have it so I know) which is only just being recognised and most people with it just think they are bad at remembering people, but there is more to it than that.

If a child has hobbies he is really into, he's encouraged and parents' say things like, 'the way he's always taking apart things, you could see he's going to be an engineer'. If a child would rather just play with one good friend, then that friend gets invited over more for tea and parents' say he's a bit of a loner. If the child is really good at maths, parents praise him. But once he has a diagnosis of autism, suddenly he's not got a hobby he's mad keen on, no that's perseveration, his kind of sociability is now inability to communicate, his ability with maths is an unhealthy autistic obsession. And so it goes... It's a self-fulfilling diagnosis.

So overall, it's quite a good book on the history of the diagnosis of Austism and relatively recently, Aspergers. But it isn't really about Neurotribes at all.

A final thought. If we stopped thinking of neurotypical people as normal but thought of them as the most common personality type, or the most usual, then those who were different would not be abnormal, but unusual, rare or even, as say A+ is in the world of blood groups, just uncommon. There would still be those who were definitely abnormal, Autism wouldn't go away, but people who are different wouldn't be labelled and if there were enough of them in each group, might get special ed. As in - a group of nerdy loners that don't like playing games in the playground, could be taught together in their favourite academic subjects and everyone would be a winner. Teachers, children and society. In any case it's better than making them depressed and feeling bad about not fitting in by labelling them abnormal.

Notes on reading the book(view spoiler)[ Even though the author was intent on including own evidence to support that, there were enough signs when hUpdate It's getting better. I'm on to Vienna and Asperger. The problem I have with the book is I think Aspergers is a) misdiagnosed most of the time and b) it isn't related to Autism at all and all I'm reading is the conventional viewpoint and absolute disdain for unconventional therapies which I more or less share. The author writes well but it does seem to be confirmation bias all the way through. He has an agenda and includes only that which fits into it.

An interesting point. Firstly that Sweden removed the mercury preservative from it's vaccines back in 1987 and Japan banned the MMR altogether. Their rate of autism is on a par with other countries using the same diagnostic criteria, it hasn't dropped. The vaccine thing was proved to be a hoax and Wakefield a charlatan. He was actually employed to prove that the vaccine caused damage and had produced his own vaccine to sell in place of the 'damaging' one, but still the myths linger on. Is it because autism is generally diagnosed at age 2, past the age of vaccines, and the parents must have someone or something to blame?

______________

This started off well and then meandered into a very long biography of the very famous and quite asocial 18thC scientist Henry Cavendish The detail with which the author went into some of Cavendish's experiments was not only irrelevant but boring, which is worse in a book.

I understand that Silberman was trying to prove historically that Cavendish had Asperger's Syndrome, but all it proved to me was the author's confirmation bias. Everything that could point that way was to be included and anything that didn't dismissed. An example: Cavendish was supposed to not like women at all, not want to deal with maids even, let alone get married. But then the author mentions as an aside he was very friendly with Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire. I was happier when he got back to modern times and living people. (hide spoiler)] ...more

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Aug 30, 2015 Todd N rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: parents, people who work in the valley

Recommended to Todd by: NYTimes review

First of all, I thought that this book really needed a timeline in addition to its thorough notes and index, so I spent an afternoon going through the book making one myself. Command or Shift click here to read it in a new tab. (Commenting permission is open on it if you find any mistakes.)

Quick story from when I worked at Google: James Watson, the co-discoverer of DNA, was speaking at a Google event. He talked about a wide variety of topics on genetics, and I remember he lumped in autism and As ...more

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Aug 17, 2015 Beth Cato rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015, autism, early-reviewers, nonfiction

I received this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program, and I'm very glad I did. As the mother of an autistic child, the subject matter of autism is very personal for me.

NeuroTribes was educational and affirming. I was genuinely astonished at how enjoyable the book was, long-winded though it is at times (my early reviewer copy is just under 500 pages). Silberman writes about subjects that are horrible, but they are necessary matters to address: Hans Asperger's insights made withi I received this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program, and I'm very glad I did. As the mother of an autistic child, the subject matter of autism is very personal for me.

NeuroTribes was educational and affirming. I was genuinely astonished at how enjoyable the book was, long-winded though it is at times (my early reviewer copy is just under 500 pages). Silberman writes about subjects that are horrible, but they are necessary matters to address: Hans Asperger's insights made within the context of Nazi-controlled Austria, the institutionalization of children (often labeled imbeciles and/or schizoid), and the abusive nature of many "therapies" in the past fifty years, up to the present day. There's also the vital topic of the vaccines-cause-autism debacle, which he saves for near the end. However, the book is not all grim and dire. There's wonderful brightness through the middle of the book as he addresses the importance of science fiction, fandom, and the internet within the autistic community. There is even a section on the movie Rain Man and how that changed public perception. The end of the book is extremely positive as it shows how autistics are now empowered, and that many of them are fully capable of finding their own place in the world.

I love Silberman's approach to this. Honestly, I cheered aloud. I have really been appalled by the stance of Autism Speaks and the emphasis on finding a source or cure for autism, rather than on how to serve the kids AND adults who need help now. The overall message of the book is that there is no autism epidemic. Autism has always existed. That different manner of thought has been essential to our survival as a species. Only now, it is diagnosed in a very specific way, and autistics are not hidden from society.

If you have any interest in the history of autism research, I really, really recommend this. It's a challenging read at times, but it's also full of hope and potential. I look at my son and I see that hope and potential, too. ...more

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Oct 02, 2015 Snotchocheez rated it really liked it

I'd never penalize a well-written book just because it wasn't something I expected to read but once you get past the techno-babble-y faux-portmanteau worded title NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and The Future of Neurodiversity you kinda expect more than just a comprehensive history of autism. But that's essentially what this is. I knew from the get-go, when Steve Silberman (a tech journalist by trade) divulged his motive for writing the book (when two of his interviewees for a tech article bo ...more

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Aug 05, 2015 Ellie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015indchallenge, autism, non-fiction, own, first-reads

NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently by Steve Silberman provides a comprehensive (and very moving) history of autism from its original diagnostic criteria by Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger to parent-run organizations up to today's self-advocacy groups, in which people with autism are speaking for themselves and advocating for a focus on services not cures.

At first, I was overwhelmed by the amount of detail Silberman gives. It seemed as thoug NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently by Steve Silberman provides a comprehensive (and very moving) history of autism from its original diagnostic criteria by Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger to parent-run organizations up to today's self-advocacy groups, in which people with autism are speaking for themselves and advocating for a focus on services not cures.

At first, I was overwhelmed by the amount of detail Silberman gives. It seemed as though what could be summed up in a couple of paragraph was explored for pages. As I got deeper into the book, however, I came to appreciate Silberman's approach which provides not only a generalized overview of the topic but depth as well. The stories of the labeling mothers as "refrigerator mothers," the narrowness and lack of scientific validity of the diagnostic process as well as the sometimes amazing efforts on the part of clinicians such as Asperger as well as family's to appreciate the child's (and as time went on, the adult's) strengths as well as difficulties became much more satisfying than a mere outline of the history would have been.

By the time Silberman's book approaches its end, the focus has shifted from autism as a childhood tragedy to a more comprehensive view of autism as a spectrum condition that is not only about children but adults as well. The neurodiversity movement calls for society to change, not only to "fix" the autistic person (although certainly to help address needs) but also to appreciate the person's strength's and perspectives and the skills that a different perspective can bring to the table of society.

Silberman's book moved me to anger and to tears and (occasionally) to laughter. The conclusion of the book, with its call for respect and accommodation to a variety of ways of processing the world, left me wanting to cheer.

I thank Steve Silberman for his beautiful work and (in the interest of full disclosure) LibraryThing for giving me this book as a part of its Early Reviewers' program. My opinions are my own.

I strongly recommend this book for anyone interested in autism, the disability rights' movement, or simply in the potential of all people to contribute to community and how everyone benefits from a policy of inclusion. In fact, I would recommend this book especially to people who have not given much thought to the subject. The implications of a shift in society's attitude would impact all of us positively.

It could change the world we live in for the better. ...more

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Apr 10, 2019 David rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobook, psychology

This is a fascinating book about autism. The first part of the book focuses on the history of research into the syndrome. It describes how early researchers tried to formulate the causes of autism, including the pitifully sidetracked idea that cold parents are responsible for the syndrome. The book gives brief biographies of a few historical figures, including Henry Cavendish, Steve Jobs, Nikola Tesla and Mozart who are suspected of being autistic. Just try Googling "famous autistic people in hi This is a fascinating book about autism. The first part of the book focuses on the history of research into the syndrome. It describes how early researchers tried to formulate the causes of autism, including the pitifully sidetracked idea that cold parents are responsible for the syndrome. The book gives brief biographies of a few historical figures, including Henry Cavendish, Steve Jobs, Nikola Tesla and Mozart who are suspected of being autistic. Just try Googling "famous autistic people in history" and you will find an amazing list of inspiring historical figures who were probably autistic.

Our consciousness of autism was heightened immeasurably by the movie "Rain Man", starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. After this movie was shown, people everywhere became aware of autism. However, the movie portrays a man who is at one end of the autistic spectrum, who could not possibly live independently. But the autism spectrum encompasses a broad range of capabilities, and high-end functioning autistic people are able to get along just fine.

In some cases, being autistic can assist one professionally. I think first and foremost about Professor Temple Grandin, who realized that her autism helped her to understand animal behavior. She was better able to design and engineer equipment for handling animals because of her unique insights. She has written several books (such as Thinking in Pictures, Expanded Edition and Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior) and was celebrated in the terrific movie made about her.

The latter part of the book is about the controversies between those who think of autism as a disability, and those who think of autism as simply a different way of thinking and living. This is where the book becomes most interesting. The book also discusses why autism seems to be diagnosed more frequently now than in the past; this is largely due to the enlarging scope of its definition in the psychiatric literature.

I didn't read this book; I listened to the audiobook, as read by William Hughes. His narration is wonderful, and I definitely recommend it to those who enjoy listening to audiobooks. ...more

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Cecily Good review. As for disability versus difference, I think it's depends a bit on the degree. There are some for whom their autism means independent liv ...more
Apr 18, 2019 02:12PM

Alfred Haplo I kind of see "different" as a broad umbrella, with ability as a subset of that umbrella, and the degree of disability as a sub-subset of ability.

I g ...more
updated Apr 19, 2019 03:53PM

Sep 15, 2015 Ann Marie (Lit·Wit·Wine·Dine) rated it it was ok

Shelves: non-fiction, netgalley

www.litwitwineanddine.com

Thanks to Penguin House/Avery via NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I admit that I was excited, really excited, when I heard about this book. After reading all 544 pages, I found myself more than a little let down. I was expecting to read about new research, treatment/therapy options, and ways for families to support one another and the autistic person they help care for. The book was largely about the history of au ...more

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Nov 27, 2016 aPriL does feral sometimes rated it it was amazing

Shelves: academic-notations, history, illuminating, literary, non-fiction, psychology

'NeuroTribes' is a well-written, deeply-researched book of history which describes the centuries of effort that has gone into developing a psychological outline of autism (still incomplete). The author, Steve Silberman, includes short biographies of likely autistic-spectrum scientists as well. In telling the story of discovery about autism and about people with autism, he also shows us readers how psychological research is generally done and that it is in its infancy. He gives valid arguments an ...more

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Sep 26, 2015 Aaron Hook rated it liked it

Shelves: 2015

As a history of autism and its diagnosis, treatment, and social acceptance, this is a solid book. Could have used some more editing (the author often provides way too much detail on various players' bios and historical background. For example there's a good 30 pages devoted to a summary of the Nazi occupation of Austria, which was only tangentially related to the topic).

The blurbs on the jacket about it being "groundbreaking" and "radically alter[ing] the societal conversation" are hyperbolic at ...more

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Oct 24, 2015 Kerry Kenney rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mental, non-fiction, autism

This heartbreaking book came highly recommended. As an autistic adult with an autistic son I was sickened by the book, the therapies, the history. I thought of my own childhood and how grateful I am that I was born verbal and in an intact family that raised me, accepting me where I was and allowing me to do the best that I can.

As a member of the autism community reading this book is like getting punched in the face over and over again, until you get to the last chapter about neurodiversity, whe ...more

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Nov 17, 2016 Paula Kalin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: on-the-spectrum, non-fiction, audio-book, award-winner, published-2015, read-in-2016

Nice history about autism and Aspergers. Wished it had more general information and not just data about a few cases. A bit dragged on, but informative.

Glad I listened to the audiobook.

4 out of 5 stars.

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Aug 19, 2015 Bea Charmed rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, beas-book-nook, cookbooks, coyer, ebook, kindle-books, non-fiction, professional-books, psychology, read-in-2015

If you have any interest in autism or the history of psychiatry, this book is for you. I've taught toddlers and preschoolers for over 20 years and have had students with autism in my classes; some were diagnosed while in my class while others were diagnosed later. I remember my team and I fighting to get one particular boy diagnosed and provided with services who was clearly Asperger's while another was later diagnosed and we went, "Oh, that explains a lot." The information has changed a lot ove If you have any interest in autism or the history of psychiatry, this book is for you. I've taught toddlers and preschoolers for over 20 years and have had students with autism in my classes; some were diagnosed while in my class while others were diagnosed later. I remember my team and I fighting to get one particular boy diagnosed and provided with services who was clearly Asperger's while another was later diagnosed and we went, "Oh, that explains a lot." The information has changed a lot over the years and it's hard to keep up with the current thinking.

This book provides a detailed, thorough look at the history of autism, its permutations as well as the permutations of the definition of autism. Put me firmly in the camp, where the author also seems to be, that there isn't an epidemic of autism. What's changed is the definition and diagnosis for autism, from a strict, highly limited and rigid definition to a broader, more accommodating definition. As well, there's the fascinating, and to me highly likely, hypothesis that autism, especially certain forms of it, are just part of the normal continuum and one that veers to genius level at times. Maybe instead of 'fixing' autistics, and oh, there are some heartbreaking stories, we need to be focused on how to adjust the world to include them. Many inventors and some geniuses were autistic and Silberman, along with doctors and experts before him, posit that without those autistic gifts, the inventors and geniuses wouldn't have been capable of their achievements.

"NeuroTribes" is full of fascinating information, history, and theories. I read it on my Kindle and highlighted so much of the book, I may not be able to find what I'm looking for. At times, the history dragged on, there could have been less detail, but overall I was impressed with Silberman's thoroughness and I learned so much. I'll definitely recommend this to my co-workers and the administration where I teach. The author did get judgmental at times, especially in regard to Dr. Kanner, whom he really disliked. Still, the detail is exhaustive and I can imagine, after all the research Silberman did and the people he talked to, that it would have been difficult not to have an opinion.

Silberman didn't forget to talk to the people most directly affected by autism - the autistics and their families. We see how they are not so different in some respects - they fall in love, hold down jobs, are creative, etc. It wasn't too long ago that the medical establishment claimed none of that was possible for people diagnosed with autism. Heck, it was believed that only children were autistic, not adults. In recent years, adult autistics have begun to reclaim the autism movement, advocating for less time and money spent on 'cures' for 'fixing' them and for more spent on services helping them to cope and to function in our society as well as helping society to cope and to include people of diverse neurology.

I'd have liked more time spent on the whole concept of neurodiversity and how other neurological and cognitive conditions such as ADHD and dyslexia tie in. The whole concept of neurodiversity fascinates me and I will need to hunt up more information about it. I teach an age group that is pliable and open to being molded and helped. What can I do as teacher do to help and just as importantly, what should I not do?

"NeuroTribes" is not a quick or light read but it's well worth the effort. As I said, I learned a lot and I have a lot to think about. It's a good introduction to what autism is and is not and to changing our thinking about what is normal and what is different. ...more

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Dec 23, 2015 Abigail Duran rated it liked it

I read this book a couple of months ago, but only got around to reviewing it now. As a parent of multiple kids with autism I had been very eager to get hold of copy, especially as from the reviews I had read it seemed the author must have read my mind before he set out to read the book. The premise that autism has always been with us, that vaccines do not cause autism, there is no epidemic and that the rise in the number of diagnoses is a direct result of changes in diagnostic criteria, is one I I read this book a couple of months ago, but only got around to reviewing it now. As a parent of multiple kids with autism I had been very eager to get hold of copy, especially as from the reviews I had read it seemed the author must have read my mind before he set out to read the book. The premise that autism has always been with us, that vaccines do not cause autism, there is no epidemic and that the rise in the number of diagnoses is a direct result of changes in diagnostic criteria, is one I already held. I read the book very quickly and after the first few chapters I was enthralled and was recommending the book to all I knew.
However, by the time I got to the end of the book my opinion had changed. I still like the book, I still recommend the book, but with a caveat. I am the mother of four kids with autism. They range in severity from 'mild/level 1' (ie formerly Asperger's Syndrome) to 'severe, level 3'. I felt that the book started by giving an idea of range of autism from severe to mild and that severe cases were often mislabeled as ID and that mild cases were overlooked entirely. I also began to dislike the undertones in the book that suggested autism=great because look how useful high functioning/mildly autistic/Asperger's types can be! As the book went on I felt the author's focus left the ID and autistic or purely severely autistic kids and adults behind. The focus was on how people with high functioning autism can thrive and lead successful industries and so forth. That's a useful story to tell, but I felt it was interesting that the author began by seemingly bringing autism out of the shadows of history only to hide the lowest functioning members behind the shadows of the high functioning members of the community. They simply disappeared from his narrative. What happens to ID autistic adults in the modern world? Where do they live? Where does the low functioning teenager live? What happens to the 'mild' adults who regress or so forth?
By the time the book ended I felt it put a nice glossy sheen over the lives of people with autism. This obscured the real struggles faced by people all the spectrum and by those who care for them and want the best for them. I was saddened by the underlying narrative that the of people with autism are worthwhile because of what they contribute rather than simply stating that people with autism are worthwhile because they are people, regardless of how useful they are to the rest of us. ...more

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Sep 30, 2015 Jake rated it it was ok · review of another edition

As someone interested in autism, its theories and its future, after reading some reviews of this book, I was hoping this would be a good, comprehensive introduction to the details of the subject. Instead, it was a long-winded, yet surface level history that could have been much deeper had the author not tried to shoehorn traditional narratives into a nontraditional story.

The books started out great, talking about various historical figures that would likely have been diagnosed with autism today. As someone interested in autism, its theories and its future, after reading some reviews of this book, I was hoping this would be a good, comprehensive introduction to the details of the subject. Instead, it was a long-winded, yet surface level history that could have been much deeper had the author not tried to shoehorn traditional narratives into a nontraditional story.

The books started out great, talking about various historical figures that would likely have been diagnosed with autism today. In these wonderfully-written chapters, the author makes no grand conclusions, but provides the facts in a compelling narrative that points in a direction ... aka good writing.

After that, the book gets clumsier and more questionable. The discussions of Hans Asperger are nice, but border on annointing Asperger as a saint that completely predicted all forms of autism. A positive depiction of Asperger is certainly justified, but this section was saccharine in its sweetness towards the subject.

The worst offense, however, was the long-winded and clumsy attempt at creating an antagonist out of Leo Kanner. The book portrays Kanner as a swindler, a Doctor that had no business being a serious player in child psychology, and someone who knowingly, maybe even maliciously, ignored Hans Asperger's writings on the "normal" side of the autistic spectrum to promote his own career. Of course, the reader comes with the benefit of hindsight, which makes the demonization very unfair.

The book also starts diagnosing people as on the autistic spectrum with little or no knowledge of their actual behaviors, treating autism seemingly as a personality trait indistinguishable from nerdiness. When talking about the birth of comic books and amateur radio operators, the book spontaneously diagnoses the entire readership of a trade magazine as autistic, dubbing them "Asperger's Army."

After that, it was hard to take any assertions the book made seriously, and it left me wishing I had just read some medical literature. ...more

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Aug 22, 2015 Clif Hostetler rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: health-and-selfhelp

This book provides a thorough account of the troubled history of the psychiatric understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder (this includes Asperger's syndrome). Unfortunately, most of this history in hindsight was incredibly blind to what now seems apparent as to the nature of the condition. Consequently, this long book spends most of its historical account describing what is now understood to be incorrect and spurious theories and treatments. The reader who makes it all the way through the book This book provides a thorough account of the troubled history of the psychiatric understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder (this includes Asperger's syndrome). Unfortunately, most of this history in hindsight was incredibly blind to what now seems apparent as to the nature of the condition. Consequently, this long book spends most of its historical account describing what is now understood to be incorrect and spurious theories and treatments. The reader who makes it all the way through the book to the end will have a feel for the current understanding of autism. But I fear some readers will read about their own pet theory and read no further.

The first response that comes to my mind after completing this book is that the field of psychiatry owes multiple generations of families an apology for promoting bogus explanations for the causes and possible treatments of autism. For many years they were no better than quacks in their explanations. They blamed the victim by using terms such as “refrigerator moms” to provide a pseudo-scientific Freudian like psychoanalysis explanation of how autism was caused by lack of parental love.

The history of autism has a unfortunate tragic thread. Autism was observed and described by two different psychiatrists in the 1940’s, Hans Asperger in Vienna and Leo Kanner in Baltimore. Based on our current understanding of the autism spectrum the description proposed by Asperger was the more accurate of the two.

Asperger described it as a continuum of characteristics that included “social awkwardness, precocious abilities, and fascination with rules, laws, and schedules.” He understood many of these cases as causes for celebration for their ability to focus on esoteric issues that in many cases can be considered as genius. According to his understanding, the occurrence of autism was biological in origin and has been present throughout history in a portion of the population.

Kanner’s proposed definition of autism, in contrast to Asperger’s observations, was narrow and rare. He defined it as affecting only young children (anyone older was schizophrenic or psychotic), and though it was biological in origin it was activated by cold and withholding parents. With this definition he made the syndrome a source of shame and stigma.

The unfortunate accident of history placed Asperger on the wrong side during WWII. His work was thus ignored, and his research papers destroyed in a bombing raid. Kanner who was located in the United States became the recognized expert in the field. Consequently it has taken sixty years to recover from his incorrect description of autism.

This change in the definition of autism explains the reason for the apparent “epidemic” of autism in recent years. It is no longer a diagnosis of a sickness to be denied and avoided, but instead is now understood to be a naturally occurring condition that requires special training and assistance to learn to cope with it.

There is now a much more optimistic understanding of the future prospects for those with autism.

“Our therapeutic goal must be to teach the person how to bear their difficulties. Not to eliminate them for him, but to train the person to cope with special challenges with special strategies; to make the person aware not that they are ill, but that they are responsible for their lives.”
― Steve Silberman, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity

...more

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Aug 04, 2015 Faith Justice rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc-early-reader

As a parent who raised an autistic daughter through much of the later history Silverman describes, I loved this book. The early history of diagnosis and treatment was fascinating. Each time he delved into the background or quoted a leading expert from the field, I felt like I was saying hello to an old friend. Like many desperate parents, I met these people at conferences, read their books, tried some of their techniques, and took hope from the smallest "improvements" in my child's behavior. The ...more

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Oct 23, 2015 Shannon rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015

The day I finished reading Steve Silberman’s NeuroTribes, I saw an image on Facebook that made me want to buy copies of the book for everyone I know. I’m sure you’ve seen something similar: this was a picture of a baby, surrounded by text with skyrocketing rates of autism, learning disabilities, and “chronic illnesses”, lamenting the depressing state of America’s “new childhood”.

NeuroTribes tells a completely different tale, connecting past to present in an incredibly detailed history of autism The day I finished reading Steve Silberman’s NeuroTribes, I saw an image on Facebook that made me want to buy copies of the book for everyone I know. I’m sure you’ve seen something similar: this was a picture of a baby, surrounded by text with skyrocketing rates of autism, learning disabilities, and “chronic illnesses”, lamenting the depressing state of America’s “new childhood”.

NeuroTribes tells a completely different tale, connecting past to present in an incredibly detailed history of autism research and awareness. Starting with Hans Asperger, an Austrian pediatrician who first recognized autism on a spectrum, the book uncovers connections between early researchers and sheds light on their work. By connecting the story of autism's discovery and early study to its sudden rise, it becomes clear how the widening of diagnostic criteria, increased public awareness, and improvement of diagnostic tools could account for recent growth in numbers. Siberman also digs into the details of Andrew Wakefield's fraudulent linking of vaccines and autism enough to show its place in history, including its impact, but not enough to let it overpower the book.

Silberman ends with the concept of neurodiversity, which would balk at that Facebook meme’s depressing outlook on America’s “new childhood”. Instead, the focus of neurodiversity is celebrating neurological differences and recognizing them as variations that should be supported instead of disorders that must be cured. Like the rest of NeuroTribes, Silberman reaches this point through history, tracing back to Hans Asperger’s bold, early claims and walking through the evolution of the developing concept.

“Viewed as a form of disability that is relatively common rather than as a baffling enigma, autism is not so baffling after all. Designing appropriate forms of support and accommodation is not beyond our capabilities as a society, as the history of the disability rights movement proves. But first we have to learn to think more intelligently about people who think differently.”

Though I was familiar with much of the information in NeuroTribes, it had previously come in bits and pieces or from heavily opinionated sources. Silberman manages to pull together an incredible amount of material on a hot-button topic and turn it into an even-handed, compelling narrative. I can’t recommend it enough.

More at rivercityreading.om ...more

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Jun 28, 2017 Anna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, history, psychology

I wanted to read ‘Neurotribes’ as I didn’t really understand what autism was. It seems to be mentioned quite frequently in the media, yet never really defined. Silberman’s book explains why this is: the exact nature of autism is poorly understood, which is why the concept of a spectrum was adopted. The concluding chapter summarises this in the same eloquent style that characterises the rest of the book:

Most researchers now believe that autism is not a single unified entity but a cluster of under

Most researchers now believe that autism is not a single unified entity but a cluster of underlying conditions. These conditions produce a distinctive constellation of behaviour and needs that manifest in different ways at various stages of an individual’s development. Adequately addressing these needs requires a lifetime of support from parents, educators, and the community, as Asperger predicted back in 1938. He was equally prescient in insisting that the traits of autism are ‘not at all rare’.

As far as I could tell, it isn’t understood what makes a human brain autistic or not, so the condition is known entirely through its symptoms. Although genetic markers have been found, I very much doubt autism could show up in a brain scan. Apparently research has tended to treat it as a disease needing a cure, rather than as a different way of being that requires support. By recounting the history of autism as a concept, Silberman demonstrates how people on the autistic spectrum have repeatedly been caught up in wider social panics, especially in early childhood. This is linked with the wider problem that Western society has with mental illness. In fact, I would be very interested to read a cross-cultural comparison of attitudes to the autistic spectrum, in the vein of Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche.

Silberman tells the story of autism clearly and with great compassion. The early chapters of the book are horrifying, in particular the account of how Nazis systematically murdered children in medical institutions. Even after the worst brutalities of institutionalism ended, recent history is full of the tragedy of anti-vaccination hysteria. Yet overall the book is uplifting, as it demonstrates how understanding and sympathy for differences in perceptions of the world can be fostered. I found it fascinating. ...more

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Aug 05, 2015 Jane rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfiction, psychology, education

Some nonfiction books are groundbreaking. Some are engaging. This one is both. Using stories of historical figures, modern-day families, medical and psychological specialists, activists and autistic individuals, the book conveys the "history" of autism. What do we know? Is there really an epidemic? What works? Why is searching for a cure perhaps not the best strategy? Above all, though, it keeps the well-being of autistic children and adults at the center and in doing so raises tough questions a ...more

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May 07, 2018 Sylvia rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: asd-adhd-spd, authors-from-another-country, mental-health, new-to-you-author, non-fiction, psychology

As a parent of a child who is on the spectrum and has many challenges, I try to devour any book or information that comes my way about ASD. Anything new or old that will help me in assisting my child to develop and grow. So, when I stumbled upon NeuroTribes, I was very excited to say the least.

I appreciate the fact that this author took the utmost time and care to thoroughly research and put forth a book that is quite informative. It broke my heart and I was sick to my stomach upon reading abou As a parent of a child who is on the spectrum and has many challenges, I try to devour any book or information that comes my way about ASD. Anything new or old that will help me in assisting my child to develop and grow. So, when I stumbled upon NeuroTribes, I was very excited to say the least.

I appreciate the fact that this author took the utmost time and care to thoroughly research and put forth a book that is quite informative. It broke my heart and I was sick to my stomach upon reading about the atrocities that occurred during the Holocaust to those with special needs/disabilities, regardless of their ethnicity. I couldn't believe that even German families would offer up their children to the Nazi's without question, all because they were different and not capable of being part of Hitler's vision...ugh, I'm sickened by it. Also, the fact, that the prominent scientist of that time and in that region silently allowed it to happen and were willing participants in the experimentation and extermination i.e. basically signing off on the death warrants by transferring them to another facility, of hundreds of thousands, many of those just children on the spectrum, knowing full well what was to become of their fate. This author dared to mention it and I'm glad he did.

All in all, it was good read. However, I did find it too wordy and extremely long, not as smooth and fluid in collating a narrative that was readable and relatable. I guess it's difficult when you are dealing with history and facts to try to find some emotion. But as a parent of a child with Autism, that is what I look for i.e. being able to find that connection. I did with some stories but only up until a point.

The one thing I have to say on books about Autism is they rarely touch on those like my son. Those on the moderate to severe range who have many learning difficulties and intellectual disabilities, or have severe speech delay. My son would have been killed during WWII and that's the truth. Instead, the belief that all are Rain Man and are going to change the world through new scientific research and technical innovation, is something we are all forever and desperately trying to shed light on. It is called a spectrum for a reason and to please be aware and mindful of that.

Thank you to the author for writing this book as well as shedding light on Autism. If anything, it will bring forth understanding and change. ...more

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Feb 19, 2018 Isil Arican rated it it was amazing

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and recommend everyone who is interested in the history of medicine, cognitive science and autism.

A couple of years ago I had the chance to hear Silberman in a conference, he was a great speaker and the excerpts he read from this book intrigued me to read it. It turns out that the book was even better than his talk.

Neurotribes goes into the depths of autistic spectrum disorder, takes the reader to first to the life of well known historical figures, all the I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and recommend everyone who is interested in the history of medicine, cognitive science and autism.

A couple of years ago I had the chance to hear Silberman in a conference, he was a great speaker and the excerpts he read from this book intrigued me to read it. It turns out that the book was even better than his talk.

Neurotribes goes into the depths of autistic spectrum disorder, takes the reader to first to the life of well known historical figures, all the way back to 1600s ( Lord Cavendish, Lord Kelvin, Dirac and many more) to describe some ASD traits they had. Then tells the story of the first clinicians and how they discovered and defined this condition, moves to the sad story of Asperger and his connection with Nazis, how Eugenics movement defined how disabilities like these treated. After telling many horror stories, just like the fled scientists from Europe in the brink of WWII, he also travels to the US to describe the autism work sprouting there.

He goes into a great detail of how the diagnosis and the medical arena evolved around the moving perceptions and new information. Along the historical flow, he also provides glimpses of lives of some well-known people with ASD /Aspergers in the timeline. He brilliantly incorporates the birth of the geek culture into the rising numbers of people in the spectrum and the technology that helps them to live productive and fulfilling lives. The book contains a great detail on how the movie "rainman" was made and how big of a difference it made in society's perception and acceptance of the people with ASD.

Silberman is a very articulate writer, his storytelling is flawless. He provides enough details to provide a lot of information but keeps the story moving at an interesting pace at the same time. The book contains very detailed and thorough research on peoples biographies, medical and psychological documents. research and current day events.

Overall, this was one of the best books I read. ...more

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Jan 30, 2017 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2017, essential-reading, nonfiction

To date, this is the most thorough and inclusive history of autism ever compiled. It is, by far, the most respectful written by a non-autistic author. While I wouldn't say it centers autistic experience, exactly, it does honor that experience. That, in itself, is a rarity.

I love this book. At times, it was painful to read. But Silberman writes in a way that made me feel as though he were somehow supporting me through it. He documents dehumanizing practices without ever reinforcing that dehumaniz ...more

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Sep 03, 2015 Jennifer Hughes rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adhd-aspergers-autism-spectrum, favorites

Perhaps this is not so much of a book review as a life review as a result of this book's powerful affect on me. You decide.

I went to a school concert recently. As the teenagers leisurely tromped onstage, I idly scanned the crowd. My eyes stopped instinctively at one young man—then a second. Who knows, maybe everyone else in the audience was doing the same thing: something about these boys just caught the eye for some reason. Perhaps it's because it's such a strong part of our human nature to not ...more

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Feb 17, 2019 Peter Mcloughlin rated it really liked it

Shelves: 00002both, 1990-to-2019, 1960-to-1989, 1890-1959, american-history, biology, education, general-history, general-science, intellectual-history

Once in a while, I work with children who are on the Autism Spectrum at my job but I hadn't put much time in looking at the issue. This book explains the history of autism and its growth in the numbers of people diagnosed with it. The modern understanding of it started in a dark time when in Nazi Germany those deemed "useless eaters" were being euthanized (murdered) by the Third Reich. Asperger the man who gives his name to a type of autism studied the disease. He tried to steer clear of this p ...more

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Dec 14, 2015 Kate Vane rated it it was amazing

Neurotribes opens with a question – why is autism suddenly so visible? From popular culture to the children of the author’s contacts in Silicon Valley, he keeps hearing about autism. He sets out to discover why.

His quest takes in the history of our understanding of autism, the reasons for the increase in the diagnosis and the changing experiences and treatment of autistic people.

Neurotribes is written with the pace of a thriller, and vividly brings to life academic rivalries, tabloid panics and ...more

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Oct 02, 2015 Inder rated it it was amazing

Shelves: health, science, sensory, read-2015

This is extremely good nonfiction. Although other reviewers have noted that it is a very long book, packed full of details, I found it to be extremely engaging, with only a few very short dull parts (it is hard to make changes to DSM criteria riveting, but actually Silberman did better than you could ever imagine). Silberman's writing voice is upbeat and entertaining, and a dense topic is made readable with lots of wonderful and colorful personal details and anecdotes.

I don't know if this would ...more

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Dec 14, 2016 Juliette rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016, biography, history, law, nonfiction, science

The last two chapters of the book, which are about the movement for neurodiversity, are exemplary. The rest of the book is about the history of the psychologists who "discovered" autism in the early twentieth century, and the methods that parents and doctors thought would cure autistic people -- electroshock, corporal punishment, severe dietary restrictions (which is still trendy among "leaky gut" proponents). It was horrifying. Indeed, let others praise not-so ancient times, I am glad I was bor ...more

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Jun 30, 2018 Fernando del Alamo rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018

Libro que habla sobre el autismo. El autismo tiene un amplio espectro, desde los que no tienen relación alguna con los demás hasta los que llaman "genios idiotas" (de idiotas no tienen nada; el problema es que los "normales" no sabemos cómo debemos tratarlos).

El autor empieza tratando los casos de Cavendish y Dirac (ambos reputados científcos de los que seguramente tenían síndrome de Asperger) y va tratando con diferentes historias de personas autistas, los problemas para relacionarse con los de ...more

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Apr 27, 2016 Meepelous rated it it was ok

A bit of a bummer at times, this book has really helped give me some real reasons to view autism in a more positive light. Probably a bit redudant for people who already have any level of understanding about the history of this diagnosis, I really appreciated all the information in this book - even if it did feel a bit long at times.

In fact, I would really have loved to rate this book even more highly but for two major issue. This book lacks any scientific data (see end notes for update) and it A bit of a bummer at times, this book has really helped give me some real reasons to view autism in a more positive light. Probably a bit redudant for people who already have any level of understanding about the history of this diagnosis, I really appreciated all the information in this book - even if it did feel a bit long at times.

In fact, I would really have loved to rate this book even more highly but for two major issue. This book lacks any scientific data (see end notes for update) and it is lacking in everything but the most rudimentary of structures (still an issue). The book dragged on extra long in the middle mostly because I had little to no idea what exactly the author was trying to get at. OK, I was able ot parse out a lot of the positive message he finally stated at the very end of the book, but it did not come particularly easy and it ended up making the book feel rather unbalanced. I feel like he did cover other people's opinions that disagreed with him (although this was probably still in a rather biased way), but it was all sort of strung along in long (metaphorical) run on sentence, rather then presented in a coherent way to help people reach their own conclusions.

And despite the fact that most of my recreational nonfiction reading leans heavily in the direction of anecdotal I really felt like at least a few studies or charts should have been referenced at some point in the book. Surely they are out there. Even if the author then chose to speculate about the experiences that have likely fallen outside the purview s of official autism stats, it would have been nice if this book didn't all appear to be based purely on the author's own personal experiences.

I look forward to diving into some more books that cover this subject, especially any I can find written by autistics themselves. I do think this book has helped me understand better then I did, but it could have been so much better.

-Update: As pointed out in the comment below one plus to the physical addition is that it does have endnotes. So, as I suspected all along, Silberman did not pull all of this from thin air. That said, I would have appreciated some of that material being included in the audiobook (often attached as a PDF these days) and it still felt more like foot notes rather then something that helped bring the book to a conclusion. Ah well, such is life. ...more

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Sep 04, 2015 Lara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2015, audiobooks, non-fiction, medical-psychological, science-nature, history

This is definitely more a book about the history of autism than it is a book about autism itself, so if you're looking for the nitty gritty of what it means to be on the spectrum or how the brain works, it's probably better to look elsewhere. NeuroTribes seems to have mainly been written in response to all the hubbub in recent years by the contingent claiming that there is an autism epidemic and that it is being caused by vaccinations.

Silberman looks back at how long autism has existed (probabl This is definitely more a book about the history of autism than it is a book about autism itself, so if you're looking for the nitty gritty of what it means to be on the spectrum or how the brain works, it's probably better to look elsewhere. NeuroTribes seems to have mainly been written in response to all the hubbub in recent years by the contingent claiming that there is an autism epidemic and that it is being caused by vaccinations.

Silberman looks back at how long autism has existed (probably pretty much as long as people have existed), including looking back at a number of historical figures that were most likely autistic, like Henry Cavendish and Paul Dirac. Then he goes into all the details of how it's been diagnosed over the course of the last couple hundred years and why the fact that more and more people are being diagnosed with it now than ever before doesn't mean that more people are actually autistic than ever before; it's just that recent corrections in diagnostic guidelines have made it easier for people to receive "on the spectrum" diagnoses, and therefore more people are now able to gain access to the support and services they need.

Silberman goes through all of this in a very balanced way, and without demonizing anyone, recognizing that the data can seem misleading, and that parents on both sides just want what's best for their kids. But I love that he does bend the focus more towards working on gaining support and services for people with autism and their families than working towards finding a cure for autism. His opinion, and I think what a lot of his research shows, is that people on the autism spectrum have made and continue to make a lot of really important contributions, especially in the fields of science and technology, but in lots of other areas as well, not in spite of the ways their minds work, but because of it, and that we're all just working on different operating systems. I like that description a lot.

Anyway, this is a really good look through how our view of autism has changed throughout history, as well as how it's been diagnosed and treated. And definitely well worth a read if you're looking for a fairly balanced account of how and why the whole vaccinations-might-cause-autism debate began. ...more

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About Steve Silberman

Steve Silberman

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Steve Silberman is an award-winning science writer whose articles have appeared in Wired, the New Yorker, the MIT Technology Review, Nature, Salon, Shambhala Sun, and many other publications. He is the author of NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity (Avery 2015), which Oliver Sacks called a “sweeping and penetrating history…presented with a rare sympathy and sensitivit ...more

Books by Steve Silberman

NeuroTribù. I talenti dell'autismo e il futuro della neurodiversità

Una tribu propia (Edición mexicana): Autismo y Asperger: otras maneras de entender el mundo

AUTISMO Y ASPERGER. OTRAS MANERAS DE ENTENDER EL MUNDO

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Quotes from NeuroTribes: The ...

“By autistic standards, the “normal” brain is easily distractible, is obsessively social, and suffers from a deficit of attention to detail and routine. Thus people on the spectrum experience the neurotypical world as relentlessly unpredictable and chaotic, perpetually turned up too loud, and full of people who have little respect for personal space.” — 22 likes

“Our therapeutic goal must be to teach the person how to bear their difficulties. Not to eliminate them for him, but to train the person to cope with special challenges with special strategies; to make the person aware not that they are ill, but that they are responsible for their lives.” — 12 likes

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