The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum

Temple Grandin · Richard Panek

Oct 2021 · HarperAudio · Narrated by Andrea Gallo

About this audiobook

A cutting-edge account of the latest science of autism, from the best-selling author and advocate

When Temple Grandin was born in 1947, autism had only just been named. Today it is more prevalent than ever, with one in 88 children diagnosed on the spectrum. And our thinking about it has undergone a transformation in her lifetime: Autism studies have moved from the realm of psychology to neurology and genetics, and there is far more hope today than ever before thanks to groundbreaking new research into causes and treatments. Now Temple Grandin reports from the forefront of autism science, bringing her singular perspective to a thrilling journey into the heart of the autism revolution.
Weaving her own experience with remarkable new discoveries, Grandin introduces the neuroimaging advances and genetic research that link brain science to behavior, even sharing her own brain scan to show us which anomalies might explain common symptoms. We meet the scientists and self-advocates who are exploring innovative theories of what causes autism and how we can diagnose and best treat it. Grandin also highlights long-ignored sensory problems and the transformative effects we can have by treating autism symptom by symptom, rather than with an umbrella diagnosis. Most exciting, she argues that raising and educating kids on the spectrum isn’t just a matter of focusing on their weaknesses; in the science that reveals their long-overlooked strengths she shows us new ways to foster their unique contributions.

From the “aspies” in Silicon Valley to the five-year-old without language, Grandin understands the true meaning of the word spectrum. The Autistic Brain is essential reading from the most respected and beloved voices in the field.

Ratings and reviews

I exist with a formidable combination of Autism Spectrum Disorder, High Sensitivity and Adverse Childhood Experience trauma, the latter which is in large part due to the ASD and High Sensitivity. Therefore, it would be quite helpful to have a book(s) written about such or similar conditions involving a tumultuous combination of ASD and/or ACE trauma and/or high sensitivity, the latter which seems to have a couple characteristics similar to ASD traits. I read The Autistic Brain, but it fails to even once mention the real potential for additional challenges created by a reader’s ASD coexisting with thus exacerbated by high sensitivity and/or ACE trauma. I then read a book on adverse childhood experience trauma that totally fails to even once mention high sensitivity and/or autism spectrum disorder. This was followed by a book about highly sensitive men, with no mention whatsoever of autism spectrum disorder or adverse childhood experience trauma. I therefore don't know whether my additional, coexisting conditions will render the information and/or assigned exercises from such books useless, or close to it, in my efforts to live much less miserably. While many/most people in my shoes could/would work with such texts nonetheless, I cannot; I need to know if I'm wasting my time and, most importantly, mental efforts. It’s no secret that ACE abuse/trauma is often inflicted on autistic and/or highly sensitive children/teens by their neurotypical peers, so why not at least acknowledge it in some meaningful, constructive way? The Autistic Brain fails to even hint at this very plausible potential.

About the author

TEMPLE GRANDIN is one of the world’s most accomplished and well-known adults with autism. She is a professor at Colorado State University and the New York Times bestselling author of several books, including The Autistic Brain, which have sold more than a million copies. Named one of Time's most influential people in 2010, the HBO movie based on her life, starring Claire Danes, received seven Emmy Awards.

RICHARD PANEK, a Guggenheim Fellow in science writing, is the author of The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality, which won the American Institute of Physics communication award in 2012, and the co-author with Temple Grandin of The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum, a New York Times bestseller. He lives in New York City.