The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales

by Oliver Sacks

Rating: **** (4 stars)

Book Lenght: 243 pages

Genre: Psychology, Nonfiction, Neuroscience

Sacks is a neuropsychologist who through his career has seen a number of interesting cases. Sacks started in his field when there was so much unknown about the brain. While there is still so much for us to learn, case studies, like those found in this book, have increased our understanding.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales is a classic of psychology literature. It is a collection of case studies that have inspired research and even featured films. Nearly every introductory psychology textbook will include information on the man who actually did mistake his wife for a hat. Although, I found most of that reading more interesting than the actual story in this book.

The case studies themselves are pretty succinct. They do not give you a whole sense of the person behind them. Each patient could have an entire book written about them. Many times I was left wishing that I knew more about the individuals.

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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

by J.K. Rowling

Rating: ***** (5 stars)

Book Length: 320 pages

Genre: Children's Chapter, Fantasy

I remember the first time that I happened across the Harry Potter series. It was 1999, I was 19 years old and working full time in a bookstore. When the third book was released we had piles of them delivered to the store. In the interest of 'helping my customers' I read everything that was popular, and many more books that were not.

It did not take me long to catch up to the third book. I was hooked and attended the release of every book after. I single handedly sold hundreds of copies of her books. In reality they sold themselves. What parent does not want to hear about a book that is helping children to read.

This first book is one of the shorter books in the series. It introduces us to Harry Potter, Hogwarts, and a mass of characters which you will come to love and hate. The plot is fairly standard fantasy but the world that Rowling created is truly magical. 

If you have only seen the movies then I urge you to pick up this first book. The reading is not difficult and the journey is well worth it. 

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The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

by Naoki Higashida

Rating: ***1/2 (3 1/2 stars)

Book Length: 135 pages

Genre: Memoir, Autism, Psychology, Non Fiction, Japanesse

Have you ever heard the saying "Meet a child with autism, and you have met ONE child with autism"? This book reminds me of that saying. It is ONE child's answers on autism. It is a rare book, because that one child was a child who was non verbal. Unlike myself, who grew up with Asperger's, who was expected to intuitively know the world around me, yet I did not.

The book is written in question and answer format. In between answers, occasionally, Higashida's short stories are thrown in. The absolutely most annoying aspect of this book to me, is that questions are asked multiple times with only minor variations. Even more annoying is when different answers are given.

If you are a parent who is grasping for any understanding of what your non verbal child must be thinking, then I think that you should read this book. However, I think you should remember that it was written by ONE thirteen year old boy. Everyone's experiences and explanations are going to be different. Also, like a typical thirteen year old it is written like the author is the final authority on everything. For example, Higashida writes about how children with autism are attracted to water because of some sub-primal connection. While being way over dramatic I also completely disagree with his answer. I think children with autism are attracted to water because of the way light shines off it - I know this is why I am attracted to water. I also think that swimming can be a great sensory experience, water pressing on all aspects of the individuals body. This, to me, is a much simpler and more realistic explanation for while children with autism are attracted to water.

It is not that I disagree with anything that Higashida says in his novel The Reason I jump, it is more that I think it was a bit too dramatic. It also relates individuals with autism with the divine, and gives individuals with autism too much of an above society label. Based on my experience, both personal and professional, this is not the case. Individuals with autism, are just individuals that do not always fit the mold that society presents. I would think that a book that Higashida wrote now that he is a young adult would be much different then the one that he wrote when he was thirteen. Yet, that is one of the interesting aspects of reading this book. There are not many books on the market written by an adolescent with autism.

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