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A review by ladynigelia
Switched On: A Memoir of Brain Change and Emotional Awakening by John Elder Robison
5.0
I have been recommending this book to pretty much everyone I can. It took me a really long time to get through it because I started with the audiobook, but had to switch to the ebook. And there isn't really a plot so I didn't feel any urgency to find out what happens. However, the lack of plot does not mean lack of interesting or engaging scenes! I really enjoyed listening to Mr. Robison talk about prosody while being able to actively hear exactly what he means when he says he has significantly more vocal range than he did before TMS.
The whole book is really just explaining how his life is different before and after TMS in a variety of different ways. He needs to establish how things used to be in order to fully explain why it's such a big deal that it changed. I think that means I don't need to read his older book [b:Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's|454856|Look Me in the Eye My Life with Asperger's|John Elder Robison|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1320509615s/454856.jpg|2119898] but I might be able to be convinced.
The reason I suggest this to everyone is because it really causes me to think about how I interact with different people. I have my fair share of friends/family who are on the autism spectrum and I've really tried to take into account the different ways they evaluate the same situations as I do, but this book really highlighted many varieties of differences I hadn't considered before. It is an excellent exercise in empathy for everyone, regardless of their neurological patterns.
Throughout the book Mr. Robison is very careful to make it clear that this book is HIS experience. He does not speak for everyone with Autism, nor does he speak for everyone who received TMS treatments. He is simply relating his life, his memories, and his thoughts. I'm glad he does this because it really makes it clear that he wants to help as many people as he can, as best he can but he knows that what worked for him isn't the solution for everyone. A very compassionate stance from somebody who wouldn't necessarily considered that at all prior to the TMS treatments.
The whole book is really just explaining how his life is different before and after TMS in a variety of different ways. He needs to establish how things used to be in order to fully explain why it's such a big deal that it changed. I think that means I don't need to read his older book [b:Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's|454856|Look Me in the Eye My Life with Asperger's|John Elder Robison|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1320509615s/454856.jpg|2119898] but I might be able to be convinced.
The reason I suggest this to everyone is because it really causes me to think about how I interact with different people. I have my fair share of friends/family who are on the autism spectrum and I've really tried to take into account the different ways they evaluate the same situations as I do, but this book really highlighted many varieties of differences I hadn't considered before. It is an excellent exercise in empathy for everyone, regardless of their neurological patterns.
Throughout the book Mr. Robison is very careful to make it clear that this book is HIS experience. He does not speak for everyone with Autism, nor does he speak for everyone who received TMS treatments. He is simply relating his life, his memories, and his thoughts. I'm glad he does this because it really makes it clear that he wants to help as many people as he can, as best he can but he knows that what worked for him isn't the solution for everyone. A very compassionate stance from somebody who wouldn't necessarily considered that at all prior to the TMS treatments.