Picking Up the Flute sets to music a former professor's musings on retirement, marriage, literature, and the natural world. From his home in historic Bristol, Vermont to Ireland's Connemara coast, travel through John Elder's exquisite topography and relish his explorations of nature, poetry, and geology.John Elder's memoir through music is permeated by his unique combination of prose and learning how to play the Irish flute. Elder revisits his time teaching at Middlebury Co...

Picking Up the Flute sets to music a former professor' s musings on retirement, marriage, literature, and the natural world. From his home in historic Bristol, Vermont to Ireland' s Connemara coast, travel through John Elder' s exquisite topography and relish his explorations of nature, poetry, and geology. John Elder' s memoir through music is permeated by his unique combination of prose and learning how to play the Irish flute. Elder revisits his time teaching at Middlebury Coll...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “deeply felt and often darkly funny” (People) memoir about growing up feeling different—and finally being diagnosed with autism at 40“Lean, powerful in its descriptive accuracy, and engaging in its understated humor . . . Emotionally gripping.”—Chicago TribuneEver since he was young, John Robison longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits—an...

"Set aside your Bella Tuscanys and Year in Provences for a different kind of travel book. Pilgrimage to Vallombrosa puts a walking stick in your hand and Marsh’s Man and Nature in your knapsack, exploring how Italians have managed their natural and cultural heritage in ways that sustain both. John Elder’s poetic meditations on land and life demonstrate that only by searching beyond our familiar boundaries can we discover better ways of living back at hom...

An extraordinary memoir about the cutting-edge brain therapy that dramatically changed the life and mind of John Elder Robison, the New York Times bestselling author of Look Me in the EyeNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POSTImagine spending the first forty years of your life in darkness, blind to the emotions and social signals of other people. Then imagine that someone suddenly switch...

The New York Times bestselling author of Look Me in the Eye shares endearing stories about his childhood, adolescence, and young adult years, offering a fascinating glimpse into an autistic mind and actionable advice for others struggling to fit in.“An essential guidebook that will help all the creative, quirky, geeky, and wonderfully different kids to become successful in life.”—Temple GrandinIn his bestselling memoir,

Ever since he was small, John Robison had longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits—an inclination to blurt out non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother in them)—had earned him the label “social deviant.” No guidance came from his mother, who conversed with light fixtures, or his father, who spent evenings pickling himself in sherry. It was no wonder he gravitated to machines, whi...

Desde que tenía tres o cuatro años, John Elder Robison es consciente de que es diferente de los demás. Era incapaz de establecer contacto visual con otros niños y, cuando era adolescente, sus extrañas costumbres —una fuerte inclinación hacia los dispositivos electrónicos, desmontar radios o cavar profundos hoyos— le habían otorgado el sello de «socialmente desviado». Sus padres no solo no lograron entender sus problemas de socialización, sino que fueron prácticamente tan disfuncionales com...

The “hilarious, poignant, weird, shocking, and inspiring” (Parents) memoir of an unconventional dad’s relationship with his equally offbeat son, from the New York Times bestselling author of Look Me in the Eye“[A] touching, sympathetic, and often insightful book . . . part parenting guide, part courtroom drama, part catalog of the travails and surprising joys of life with the high-functioning form of autism called Asperger’s syndr...

Als Ausdruck seiner ehrlichen Zuneigung tätschelt er andere Kinder mit Knüppeln, grinst erleichtert, wenn ein Unbekannter stirbt und hält Halloween mit kleinen Explosionen im Vorgarten kinderfrei: Verhaltensweisen, die immer ein strenges „Schau mich an!“ seiner Eltern zur Folge haben. John Elder Robison gilt in seiner Kindheit als „unnormal“ und wird häufig gemieden. Doch als er sein großes Talent für elektrische Geräte entdeckt, öffnet sich ihm ein...

An extraordinary memoir about the cutting-edge brain therapy that dramatically changed the life and mind of John Elder Robison, the New York Times bestselling author of Look Me in the EyeNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POSTImagine spending the first forty years of your life in darkness, blind to the emotions and social signals of other people. Then imagine that someone suddenly switch...

“I believe those of us with Asperger’s are here for a reason, and we have much to offer. This book will help you bring out those gifts.”In his bestselling memoir, Look Me in the Eye, John Elder Robison described growing up with Asperger’s syndrome at a time when the diagnosis didn’t exist. He was intelligent but socially isolated; his talents won him jobs with toy makers and rock bands but did little to endear him to authority figures and classmates, who w...