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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
informative
slow-paced
Good introduction and accessible for those not having much knowledge of neurodiversity. With this said I really feel like this author has written for people who are not neurodivergent, it seems to be making things more palatable to the masses. Despite this being published in 2020 the language is dated. Asperger’s has not been in the DSM since 2013. Instead of acknowledging that it was heavily used including chapters on it throughout. HSP is early neurodivergence studies that’s flawed as well. (And bias shows with how often it’s explained that she’s friends with Aron). But I get that those help people connect better with the topic… many I’ve encountered have a much easier time understanding “Asperger’s” or low support needs autism and high sensitivity than just using neurodivergent. The spectrum is wide and broad. This is why we use the neurodiversity paradigm to explain it. I agree with the conclusion that high sensitivity is key. Nervous systems are all diverse and unique. But enough already with HSP. It’s not a thing. Those brain scans showing it… are the same autistic brain scans in sensory processing issues. Stop trying to make it more palatable to the greater public by sounding more gentle with “highly sensitive person.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
I struggled a bit with this book. I really wanted to like it, as I think the topic is incredibly important. And I understand it is designed as an introduction to neurodivergence for those unfamiliar with it.
But it felt like it was trying to cover so much ground, and so it only superficially covered a lot of things. I was surprised at how few citations and references there were to other books or studies; as an introduction to this topic, I expected a lot more. The book relies heavily on Nerenberg's interviews with various folks and less on exploring the work itself in detailed, nuanced, and critical ways. While it's helpful to learn about these individuals, I was left feeling like I'd just taken a stroll through Nerenberg's own interests and priorities rather than getting a true introduction to the topics.
As other reviews have noted, many of the people discussed here are highly educated, outwardly successful women. I suspect Nerenberg's intention here is to combat some common stereotypes about neurodivergent folks, but it ended up feeling...skewed? Race, class, access to resources...there are a lot of complicating factors that Nerenberg largely glosses over. She mentions a couple times that the people she interviewed had to pay for private testing/diagnosis, but doesn't take the next logical step of discussing what life looks like for those who can't afford this kind of testing, or the ways that intersecting identities further complicate the process.
Given that this was published in 2020, that seems like a bit of an oversight. And Nerenberg is quite bought in to proposing a version of neurodiversity in which people's ultimate goals should still be productivity in a fairly capitalist sense. The two-page afterword offers a nod to racial and capitalist critiques, but those perspectives are definitely not centered in the rest of the book.
I appreciate the intent of this, and it was a fairly easy breezy read, but I don't know that I feel any better informed or with a deeper understanding of the types of neurodivergence she covers than I did before reading it.
But it felt like it was trying to cover so much ground, and so it only superficially covered a lot of things. I was surprised at how few citations and references there were to other books or studies; as an introduction to this topic, I expected a lot more. The book relies heavily on Nerenberg's interviews with various folks and less on exploring the work itself in detailed, nuanced, and critical ways. While it's helpful to learn about these individuals, I was left feeling like I'd just taken a stroll through Nerenberg's own interests and priorities rather than getting a true introduction to the topics.
As other reviews have noted, many of the people discussed here are highly educated, outwardly successful women. I suspect Nerenberg's intention here is to combat some common stereotypes about neurodivergent folks, but it ended up feeling...skewed? Race, class, access to resources...there are a lot of complicating factors that Nerenberg largely glosses over. She mentions a couple times that the people she interviewed had to pay for private testing/diagnosis, but doesn't take the next logical step of discussing what life looks like for those who can't afford this kind of testing, or the ways that intersecting identities further complicate the process.
Given that this was published in 2020, that seems like a bit of an oversight. And Nerenberg is quite bought in to proposing a version of neurodiversity in which people's ultimate goals should still be productivity in a fairly capitalist sense. The two-page afterword offers a nod to racial and capitalist critiques, but those perspectives are definitely not centered in the rest of the book.
I appreciate the intent of this, and it was a fairly easy breezy read, but I don't know that I feel any better informed or with a deeper understanding of the types of neurodivergence she covers than I did before reading it.
Not sure what the point was. It’s basically a collection of stories about people who said something that made the author figure something out about herself. Very little actually advice for the rest of us.
It’s more a collation of other literature than it is a book. Like a long, boring, annotated bibliography with some personal insights along the way. I’m not sure there was any real reason to publish this instead of just publishing a blog post with links to what other people have already said on the topic.
It’s a shame because the introduction was fantastic and really grabbed my interest.
It’s more a collation of other literature than it is a book. Like a long, boring, annotated bibliography with some personal insights along the way. I’m not sure there was any real reason to publish this instead of just publishing a blog post with links to what other people have already said on the topic.
It’s a shame because the introduction was fantastic and really grabbed my interest.
I felt so seen. I need to read it again and to go back and highlight and research. This is such a great resource, especially for the intelligent over achievers who got by because they were “smart” but lost it in adulthood as their neurodivergence intensified. Highly recommend if not to understand yourself, maybe to understand and empathize with others.