Autism and Asperger Syndrome

This book may not be for those who have a limited medical vocabulary, but it is by far the best book on Autism and Asperger currently in print. I have a deep interest in both as a lay person with a chemistry career background. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in those topics, especially the parents of kids who have been diagnosed (or mis-diagnosed) as autistic. Ask your doctor.

I don't know what they were thinking about with those cover colors, but this is an excellent book with lots of INFO. Lots of information is always a good thing, Uta Frith's other book, Autism Explaining The Enigma, is also information - rich. If you're one of those people who like to study things to death, this one's a good start I think.

As a person with Asperger's syndrome myself, who only got properly diagnosed as a result of this thoughtful and erudite book, I have a life-long debt of gratitude to it. I've met several of the people who wrote it, and not only are they not bigots, as an earlier reviewer alleged, but they have a degree of respect for and appreciation of "abnormal" people (a term which simply means people who are different from the "norm") which I have rarely found elsewhere. The book is essentially an academic text - if you are looking for a more accessible read, try Tony Attwood's excellent "Asperger's Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals". However, no collection of books on AS would be complete without this as a work of reference. It's still the only place to find a translation of Hans Asperger's original paper, containing my all-time favourite quote:"Able autistic individuals can rise to eminent positions and perform with such outstanding success that one may even conclude that only such people are capable of certain achievements ... Their unswerving determination and penetrating intellectual powers, part of their spontaneous and original mental activity, their narrowness and single-mindedness, as manifested in their special interests, can be immensely valuable and can lead to outstanding achievements in their chosen areas."

+AH4-In writing a paper, I had a HARD time finding research delineating the differences between Asperger's and Autism--this book helped SO much. It is well written and thought provoking.Also interesting to finally be able to read Asperger's own paper! An important book, I hope more like it are released!+AH4-

The book which helped start the recent surge of research into high-functioning autism and Asperger's syndrome. Includes the first ever English translation of Dr. Asperger's original paper. A genuine classic.