John Elder Robison - Be Different: Adventures of a Free-Range Aspergian with Practical Advice for Aspergians, Misfits, Families & Teachers

Theres an endearing quality to Robison and his story. Look Me in the Eye is often drolly funny and seldom angry or self-pitying. Even when describing his fear that hed grow up to be a sociopathic killer, Robison brings a light touch to what could be construed as dark subject matter. Robison is also a natural storyteller and engaging conversationalist.

Boston Globe

Of course this book is brilliant; my big brother wrote it. But even if it hadnt been created by my big, lumbering, swearing, unshaven early man sibling, this is as sweet and funny and sad and true and heartfelt a memoir as one could find, utterly unspoiled, uninfluenced, and original.

A UGUSTEN B URROUGHS

Deeply felt and often darkly funny, Look Me in the Eyeis a delight.

People (Critics Choice)

A fantastic life story told with grace, humor, and a bracing lack of sentimentality.

Entertainment Weekly

Not only does Robison share with his famous brother, Augusten Burroughs (Running with Scissors), a talent for writing; he also has that same deadpan, biting humor thats so irresistible.

ELLE

Robison seems likable, honest, and completely free of guile, qualities well served by writing that is lean, powerful in its descriptive accuracy and engaging in its understated humor. Emotionally gripping.

Chicago Tribune

John Robisons book is an immensely affecting account of a life lived according to his gifts rather than his limitations. His story provides ample evidence for my belief that individuals on the autistic spectrum are just as capable of rich and productive lives as anyone else.

D ANIEL T AMMET , author of Born on a Blue Day:Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant

This is no misery memoir. [Robison] is a gifted storyteller with a deadpan sense of humor and the book is a rollicking read.

Times (London)

Robisons lack of finesse with language is not only forgivable, but an asset to his story. His rigid sentences are arguably more telling of his condition than if he had created the most graceful prose this side of Proust.

Chicago Sun-Times

I hugely enjoyed reading Look Me in the Eye. This book is a wild roller-coaster ride.

T EMPLE G RANDIN , author of Thinking in Pictures

Look Me in the Eyeis a fantastic read that takes readers into the mind of an Aspergian both through its plot and through the calm, logical style in which Robison writes. Parents of children with Aspergers or other forms of autism may find it inspiring that a fellow Aspergian overcame a difficult childhood to lead an exciting, fulfilling life like Robisons. But even if you have no personal connections with Aspergers, youll find that Robisonlike his brother, Burroughshas a life worth reading about.

Daily Camera (Boulder)

An entertaining, provocative, and highly readable story by a great storyteller who happens to have Aspergers By the time Mr. Robisons story is finished, you will rethink your own definition of normal, and it may spark a new appreciation of the untapped potential behind every quirky, awkward person who doesnt quite fit in.

T ARA P ARKER -P OPE , Well, NYTimes.com

Look Me in the Eye is a wonderful surprise on so many levels: it is compassionate, funny, and deeply insightful. By the end, I realized my vision of the world had undergone a slight but permanent alteration; I had taken for granted that our behavioral conventions were meaningful, when in fact they are arbitrary. That he is able to illuminate something so simple (but hidden, and unalterable) proves that John Elder Robison is at least as good a writer as he is an engineer, if not better.

H AVEN K IMMEL , author of A Girl Named Zippy

Look Me in the Eye

Copyright 2011 by John Elder Robison

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Archetype,
an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of
Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com

Crown Archetype with colophon is a trademark of
Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Robison, John Elder.
Be different : adventures of a free-range Aspergian with practical advice for Aspergians, misfits, families & teachers / John Elder Robison. 1st ed.
1. Aspergers syndrome. 2. Difference (Psychology) 3. Marginality, Social. 4. Individual differences. 5. Robison, John Elder. I. Title.

RC553.A88R63 2011
616.858832dc22

2010053205

eISBN: 978-0-307-88483-1

Jacket design by Whitney G. Cookman
Jacket photograph: Courtesy of the author

v3.1

For my son, Cubby,
the very embodiment of being different

M ADISON SQUARE GARDEN, 1979. The New York concert was the high point of KISSs Dynasty tour, and we kicked it off with a bang and a flash. The band played loud enough to make your ears bleed, and our pyrotechnics would burn your eyebrows off if you got too close. We were five songs into the set. Firehouse had just ended. We killed the spotlights and got to work. Buzzes and clicks from the sound system suggested activity up on the blackened stage. The applause was over, and low ripples of noise washed through the audience as they waited for the next song.

We had less than two minutes to make the change, and Id prepared all day so Id be ready to go when the lights went down. The crowd was calm; no one had started chanting. Yet. I had no intention of letting that mob of twenty thousand fans get restless, so I moved as quickly as I could. It was only a short jump for them to move from lighting matches and chanting to lighting the place on fire, so I finished up fast, before anything else could happen. I scampered off the edge of the stage as the musicians took their places in the dark.

I turned around just in time to hear a pop followed by a flash of hard white light from stage left. The opening chords of New York Groove barked out as Ace Frehley turned to face the crowd. The main stage was still dark; a single spotlight illuminated KISSs lead guitarist as he stood alone to play the opening riff. Hed been using an ordinary black Les Paul guitar for the past few songs. Now he held something differentsomething alive. The face of his instrument had transformed into a mirror glittering with a thousand lights. They moved and rippled in concert with the notes he played, a pattern of light that reached all the way to the back of the Garden.

It was a guitar unlike any other. Even the sound was different. It had a hard metallic bite; and the sound of the strings was punctuated by ticks as the lights flashed beneath them. No one had seen anything remotely like that before