"The Reason I Jump" by Naoki Higashida

  An upcoming book club choice is: "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time", a novel about a boy with autism.  
  In preparation for that discussion, a book club member recommended that I might be interested in reading a non-fiction account of a boy with autism : "The Reason I Jump: the inner voice of a thirteen-year-old boy with autism".  This teen lives in Japan and was diagnosed at age five. This book is a translation.   
  The format of the book is interesting.  He answers 58 questions about his experience of autism with short, insightful answers.

Naoki Higashida

   Although there is a wide spectrum in the autism disorder, mostly there is a communication problem.  Here is part of Naoki's answer to the question "Why can't you have a proper conversation?"
  "I can never say what I really want to. Instead, verbal junk that hasn't got anything to do with anything comes pouring out of my mouth.... But having started with text communication, now I'm able to express myself via the alphabet grid and a computer, and being able to share what I think allows me to understand that I, too, exist in this world as a human being".

I really had no understanding of autism.  But I discovered that it is a brain abnormality that shows up on a brain scan.  It is more common with boys and it may be genetic.

Another quote:
Question: "Why do you memorize train timetables and calendars?"
Answer: Because it's fun!  We get a real kick out of numbers, us people with autism.  Numbers are fixed, unchanging things.  The number 1, for example, is only ever, the number 1.  That simplicity, that clearness, its' so comforting to us...Invisible things, like human relationships and ambiguous expressions, however, these are difficult for us people with autism to get our heads around."

  The young man who wrote this book, only 13 years old, is very insightful and I learned a lot about autism.  Now I am ready to read a fictional story and I will be able to understand it better.