American Normal: The Hidden World of Asperger Syndrome - Hardcover

From the reviews:

"Osborne uses his considerable journalistic talents to interview a number of well-known ... and some not-so-well-known people diagnosed with an enigmatic disorder known as Asperger’s Syndrome. ... Recommended for readers at all levels." (K. M. Dillon, Choice Middletown, February, 2003)

"In the US, Asperger’s Syndrome - a psychiatric disorder ... has become a rallying point for a diverse and often incompatible range of interests. While the UK isn’t showing any signs of jumping on the Asperger’s bandwagon ... books and articles on the subject makes it hard to ignore. Osborne’s better than most because it takes the opposite tack, making the similarities between Asperger’s sufferers and unaffected people bigger than the differences. ... This is an accessible book that’s enjoyable and informative ... ." (Emma Thomas, Focus, November, 2003)

Thomas Jefferson may have had it. The pianist Glenn Gould almost certainly had it. There are even those who insist (probably incorrectly) that Albert Einstein had it. Yet whether it is called "geek syndrome," "high-functioning autism," or simply "Asperger's," it is not just one of the most poorly understood of all psychiatric diagnosis, but one of the fastest growing in America today.

In this highly personal first-hand report on the world of the "mindblind," Lawrence Osborne doesn't shy away from hard questions: Just how different from the "normal" are those with Asperger's, and is it possible that most of us have more than a few of its characteristics already woven into our psyches? Setting aside the humdrum pieties of medicine and rehabilitation, Osborne casts a skeptical and witty eye on the American psychiatric establishment and its tendency to over-diagnose, then over-medicate. And even more, he ventures into the elusive but essential realm where one has to question the difference between tolerating eccentricity- with all its potential for creativity as well as suffering - and pharmacologically enforcing normality, with its undertones of blandness, uniformity and mediocrity.