Look Me in the Eye

My Life with Asperger's

De: John Elder Robison

Narrado por: Mark Deakins

Ever since he was small, John Robison had 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 - had earned him the label “social deviant.” No guidance came from his mother or his father. It was no wonder he gravitated to machines, which could, at least, be counted on.

After fleeing his parents and dropping out of high school, his savant-like ability to visualize electronic circuits landed him a gig with KISS. Later, he drifted into a “real” job, as an engineer for a major toy company. But the higher Robison rose in the company, the more he had to pretend to be “normal” and do what he simply couldn’t: communicate.

It was not until he was 40 that an insightful therapist told him he had the form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome. That understanding transformed the way Robison saw himself - and the world. Robison also provides a fascinating reverse angle on the younger brother he left at the mercy of their nutty parents - the boy who would later change his name to Augusten Burroughs.

Ultimately, this is the story of Robison’s journey from his world into ours, a strange, sly, indelible account - sometimes alien, yet always deeply human.

©2007 John Elder Robison (P)2007 Books on Tape

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Thoughtful and thoroughly memorable." ( Publishers Weekly)

Great book

Would you listen to Look Me in the Eye again? Why?

It was fascinating to understand the Asperger's syndrome

What about Mark Deakins’s performance did you like?

It was great

Any additional comments?

Great book I already recommended to many people

Honest Memoir

Any additional comments?

While I thought this memoir was well-done, it felt a little bifurcated for me. There are the parts of the memoir that deal with how the author sees the world and interacts with it through the prism of having Asperger's - those parts are illuminating and unique and absolutely fascinating. Hearing directly from the author about what he finds frustrating about "normal" people, about the hypocrisy of the majority of social interaction, and about how it felt to finally be diagnosed at age 40 are worth reading the entire memoir and would have garnered the book 4 or 5 stars. The remainder of the memoir follows every day activities, his career, etc. It isn't that these parts are completely wasted, but that they are not as engrossing as the other half. I can see why they are necessary as this is a memoir and no person is solely defined by any one aspect of their life; moreover, they prove that a normal and fulfilling life can be crafted even where you might differ from the majority. But these parts did not have the same force and impact as the other parts. Overall, the book is worth the time and I look forward to reading his most recent book, which covers some treatments he received in an attempt to gain a fuller emotional life.

Great book!

It is always good to have insight into human behavior. Most of us can learn to adapt our behavior to fit many social situations (like it or not). I loved towards the end where he talked about his family dynamic and memories. How we each lived through the same situations and took totally different things away. I'm glad he bridged the relationship with his parents. Once I understood life through others eyes it totally allowed me to let go of a lot of bad feelings I had towards others. For that reason alone people should read this book

Understanding aspie life

This is a must read/listen for someone who is an aspie born before 1980, as well as anyone related to an aspie.

Love it

A very fun book that shows how the gifts can sometimes outweigh the burdens. A truly inspirational story!

Great story telling

This book was a fabulous look into Asperger’s and the mind of great author. Truly a great book.

great book

Do like this book... Great honest way of telling ones story.
Love the joke about babyes and bowling balls!
it's worth a re read....

Excellent listen!

Loved this book. It was at times heart breaking and at others triumphant and fascinating throughout.

Insightful seeing things from John’s perspective

I recommend any one with AuDHD/ASD to read or listen to this book! If you have a family member or friend you don’t quite understand, but desire too, then this book could help open your mind! It was enlightening to hear similar characteristics, mannerisms and thought processes that John discusses in this book to be similar to what my teen son has tried to explain to me over the years.

Interesting autobiography; not autism-informative

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The author does not have any training in science, psychology, or logic; which is not a crime in itself, but he constantly uses "I'm autistic, so therefore I cannot help but think logically!" to explain away some very illogical lines of thought and fabricated narratives. As an autistic scientist myself, this drove me up the wall.

He comes up with a lot of mighty tempting narratives that sound pretty plausible, and states them as facts and logic (think: bad evolutionary psychology papers). Nobody is born with a solid grasp on logic or science, not even autistic people (although they might have a leg-up on the competition). This is why there is extensive coursework and schooling for these subjects.

I would have much preferred that the author frame this story as an interesting autobiography of somebody with a very weird and interesting life who happened to be autistic. Did his autism influence and affect his life and perception? Certainly it did, and that makes his accounts very interesting, but he should have left out his countless "autism teaching moments" where he pauses the story to say "now see, this is all because of my autism, clearly I had no choice and clearly I was the only logical one there."

I would have removed these parts, partly because they got repetitive and obnoxious, and mostly because there is no way to parse out how much of his reactions are due to his autism and how much are due to his traumatic and tumultuous childhood (or even some combination of both).

I love autism self-advocacy and I think it is very important, but he loves to make "scientific" and "psychiatric" evaluations of his actions post-hoc, when he doesn't have any training in these fields (and this is painfully obvious). Just as a woman is uniquely qualified to speak about her experiences and feelings as a woman, she cannot describe her own biology accurately unless she had received sufficient education in biology or performed sufficient biological studies and learned that way.

For these reasons, if you are interested in autism self-advocacy or you want to learn more about autism, I would suggest sticking to Rudy Simone or Temple Grandin instead. They are more scientifically-minded than John Elder Robison and are more versed in the nuances of autism and individual experiences. If you just want to read a fun autobiography from a man who had an incredibly unusual (even for an Aspergian) life and you don't necessarily need to learn anything about autism, then Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's will fit the bill. Because don't get me wrong, it was still a fun and exciting narrative.