Scan barcode
A review by cameliarose
Switched On: A Memoir of Brain Change and Emotional Awakening by John Elder Robison
4.0
A man with high-functioning Asperger syndrome signed on for a TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Simulation) study lead by a Harvard scientist and this book is the memoir of his life and changes (the emotional awakenings) afterwards. The author himself and a lot readers compared him to the protagonist in [b:Flowers for Algernon|36576608|Flowers for Algernon|Daniel Keyes|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1510416245l/36576608._SY75_.jpg|3337594], except the author's story has a kind of happy ending. The book is repetitive at times, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.
What strikes me most is how intelligent, persistent and self-motivated the author is. A living example of Neuro-diversity. As a high school outcast and dropout, he became a successful self-taught sound engineering and later car mechanics. As a sound engineer, he worked with famous bands such as Kiss. He is also a self-taught photographer. Before Switched On, he had already published several books, including an eye opening memoir [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://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320509615l/454856._SY75_.jpg|2119898]. It was Look Me in the Eye that got him attention from scientific community which lead him to being recruited by Alvaro Pascual-Leon and his team for their TMS study on autistic patients.
While the author welcomed his emotional awakening, he was also aware of its dark side. Feeling too much is overwhelming. Feeling your loved one's depression can be life-crushing. To get an understanding of what happened in the past can turn good memories into sad ones.
The author had many thoughtful observations and questionings throughout the book, part from his own experiences, part from autism community. Let me list a few:
1. Does today's education system focus too much on paper-based course work instead of hands-on practices such as car mechanics, and is this the reason (partially at least) autistic children today having a harder time in school?
2. If you "cure" autism children of a young age, do you rid of their creativity too?
3. The emotional sensitivity and the people-reading instincts brought directly by TMS treatment faded after a period of time, but the author felt lasting changes. Is it because the "use or lose it" principle and the author tried hard to use it?
4. Why older adults (such as the author) get better outcome from TMS than younger ones (such as Nick)? Is it because older people have experienced more of the downside of being autistic therefore more motivated?
Nick is a very interesting case, a teen who almost recovered from his autism after several TMS treatment yet reverted back to his old ways. Worst (from his parents' point of view) of all, Nick refused to try any further treatment. Was he not able to or not wanting to? The author seemed to think that Nick wanted to his old way--dealing with emotions of his and people around him was overwhelming, therefore he was not motivated to achieve any long lasting changes.
What strikes me most is how intelligent, persistent and self-motivated the author is. A living example of Neuro-diversity. As a high school outcast and dropout, he became a successful self-taught sound engineering and later car mechanics. As a sound engineer, he worked with famous bands such as Kiss. He is also a self-taught photographer. Before Switched On, he had already published several books, including an eye opening memoir [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://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320509615l/454856._SY75_.jpg|2119898]. It was Look Me in the Eye that got him attention from scientific community which lead him to being recruited by Alvaro Pascual-Leon and his team for their TMS study on autistic patients.
While the author welcomed his emotional awakening, he was also aware of its dark side. Feeling too much is overwhelming. Feeling your loved one's depression can be life-crushing. To get an understanding of what happened in the past can turn good memories into sad ones.
The author had many thoughtful observations and questionings throughout the book, part from his own experiences, part from autism community. Let me list a few:
1. Does today's education system focus too much on paper-based course work instead of hands-on practices such as car mechanics, and is this the reason (partially at least) autistic children today having a harder time in school?
2. If you "cure" autism children of a young age, do you rid of their creativity too?
3. The emotional sensitivity and the people-reading instincts brought directly by TMS treatment faded after a period of time, but the author felt lasting changes. Is it because the "use or lose it" principle and the author tried hard to use it?
4. Why older adults (such as the author) get better outcome from TMS than younger ones (such as Nick)? Is it because older people have experienced more of the downside of being autistic therefore more motivated?
Nick is a very interesting case, a teen who almost recovered from his autism after several TMS treatment yet reverted back to his old ways. Worst (from his parents' point of view) of all, Nick refused to try any further treatment. Was he not able to or not wanting to? The author seemed to think that Nick wanted to his old way--dealing with emotions of his and people around him was overwhelming, therefore he was not motivated to achieve any long lasting changes.