American Normal

Rating:
Summary: Professional and mom
Review: I am a professional psychologist and also the mother of a 19-year-old son with Asperger's Syndrome. I found the interviews in this book with individuals diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome interesting, which is why I gave it two stars. However, the book is ultimately infuriating because I can't figure out what the author's ultimate point about Asperger's is. He seems to say: (1) this is a real disorder; (2) it is a neurological disorder; (3) these people are really just harmless eccentrics; (3) the disorder exists partly, and maybe primarily, because of American notions of what is and isn't normal. Interestingly, those he interviews or discusses who fit closest to his view of harmless eccentrics who should be left alone, such as pianist Glenn Gould, are those with either remarkable and marketable talents or independent incomes. Those who would have to cope with life unbuffered by either talent or income fare much less well.

Rating:
Summary: A Lively View of a Strange Disorder
Review: One of the syndromes medical students learn about is Medical Student's Disease: one thinks one has the particular malady being taught about. Symptoms are diverse, as all of us have some sort of ache or pain now and then; and certainly all of us have mental symptoms, too, whether these be just ups and downs, occasionally hearing ourselves being called when no one is calling, obsessive interest in an oddity that turns into a hobby, bursts of energy or self-esteem, and so on. Lawrence Osborne has taken on the task of reporting about Asperger Syndrome in _American Normal: The Hidden World of Asperger Syndrome_ (Copernicus Books) and has filled it with his own symptoms tending toward the condition: he is fixated on the television program _Iron Chef_, for instance, and he is fond of lingering in airports, and as a child he was nuts about playing the lute. He is willing to call these "Aspergerish" (and he has met people with the diagnosis that share this sort of trait), but he wisely withholds the diagnosis from himself. He gets along far too well; like so many other diagnoses, Asperger's can't apply if one is unimpaired socially or occupationally, and Osborne shows he can get along socially even with some very peculiar people, and he can write with wonderful clarity and vigor. His book goes a long way to illustrating the condition, even if the illness, and the philosophy behind diagnosing it, remain largely unexplained.

The illness is specific, with a definition of check-off symptoms in psychiatry's standard diagnostic manual. It is probably a high-functioning form of autism, but not as crippling. People with Asperger's are often highly intelligent, and although they are frequently preoccupied with one area of restricted interest in which they have sometimes astounding intellectual capacity, they can blend into society with bumbling facility. However, they can't do things that the rest of us take for granted, like looking at a human face and knowing what emotions are being shown. Osborne gets to interview or research patients who have, for instance, memorized all of _Babylon 5_, or every fact about hotels in their state, or about vacuum cleaners. It might be that Thomas Jefferson had the illness, and maybe Albert Einstein and Béla Bartók. The main Asperger poster boy is the famous pianist Glenn Gould, who gets a chapter here. Gould certainly had the concentration on a limited sphere of interest; his recordings, especially of Bach, are among the most famous of any classical records. Gould displayed (or perhaps harnessed) the social inability of Asperger patients in an unusual way; retiring from the concert hall, he tirelessly argued for the virtues of electronically recorded performances.

This is not a book of firsthand experience with the illness, although Osborne wisely lets us in on enough of his own idiosyncrasies to show how close to normal Asperger people are. And it is not a book by a medical expert or specialist. Osborne is simply a curious person and a gifted writer who had an opportunity to investigate something that took his fancy, an interesting illness, and was able to interview some interesting people who suffer, or who thrive, from it. (One of them told him, "Normalcy is highly overrated, you know.") _American Normal_ is mostly his personal observations, and it is very entertaining, as well as sympathetic and informative.

Rating:
Summary: A Lively View of a Strange Disorder
Review: One of the syndromes medical students learn about is Medical Student's Disease: one thinks one has the particular malady being taught about. Symptoms are diverse, as all of us have some sort of ache or pain now and then; and certainly all of us have mental symptoms, too, whether these be just ups and downs, occasionally hearing ourselves being called when no one is calling, obsessive interest in an oddity that turns into a hobby, bursts of energy or self-esteem, and so on. Lawrence Osborne has taken on the task of reporting about Asperger Syndrome in _American Normal: The Hidden World of Asperger Syndrome_ (Copernicus Books) and has filled it with his own symptoms tending toward the condition: he is fixated on the television program _Iron Chef_, for instance, and he is fond of lingering in airports, and as a child he was nuts about playing the lute. He is willing to call these "Aspergerish" (and he has met people with the diagnosis that share this sort of trait), but he wisely withholds the diagnosis from himself. He gets along far too well; like so many other diagnoses, Asperger's can't apply if one is unimpaired socially or occupationally, and Osborne shows he can get along socially even with some very peculiar people, and he can write with wonderful clarity and vigor. His book goes a long way to illustrating the condition, even if the illness, and the philosophy behind diagnosing it, remain largely unexplained.

The illness is specific, with a definition of check-off symptoms in psychiatry's standard diagnostic manual. It is probably a high-functioning form of autism, but not as crippling. People with Asperger's are often highly intelligent, and although they are frequently preoccupied with one area of restricted interest in which they have sometimes astounding intellectual capacity, they can blend into society with bumbling facility. However, they can't do things that the rest of us take for granted, like looking at a human face and knowing what emotions are being shown. Osborne gets to interview or research patients who have, for instance, memorized all of _Babylon 5_, or every fact about hotels in their state, or about vacuum cleaners. It might be that Thomas Jefferson had the illness, and maybe Albert Einstein and Béla Bartók. The main Asperger poster boy is the famous pianist Glenn Gould, who gets a chapter here. Gould certainly had the concentration on a limited sphere of interest; his recordings, especially of Bach, are among the most famous of any classical records. Gould displayed (or perhaps harnessed) the social inability of Asperger patients in an unusual way; retiring from the concert hall, he tirelessly argued for the virtues of electronically recorded performances.

This is not a book of firsthand experience with the illness, although Osborne wisely lets us in on enough of his own idiosyncrasies to show how close to normal Asperger people are. And it is not a book by a medical expert or specialist. Osborne is simply a curious person and a gifted writer who had an opportunity to investigate something that took his fancy, an interesting illness, and was able to interview some interesting people who suffer, or who thrive, from it. (One of them told him, "Normalcy is highly overrated, you know.") _American Normal_ is mostly his personal observations, and it is very entertaining, as well as sympathetic and informative.

Rating:
Summary: take it for what it's worth
Review: This book is not meant as a thorough investigation of autism, including different treatment methods and exploration of what may or may not cause it. Instead it takes a rather idiosyncratic approach to the disease, exploring mostly people who have Asperger's Disorder, a "less severe" form of the disease. I mean less severe as in being more able to "pass" for normal. People with Asperger's generally have high IQs and excellent verbal skills. Well, some do and some don't.

If there's anything this book shows, is that the line between Asperger's and normal is fluid. The author interviews many families whose children have the disease (or are believed to have it). Although at times, he does seem to imply that people with Aspergers are just harmless eccentrics, I don't think he is actually trying to make a case that Asperger's doesn't exist. But with the kind of approach the book takes it is hard to tell.

What is enjoyable is the subjects themselves, some of whom seem too impaired for everyday living, and others who that isn't true of at all. It is also interesting to see how the parents cope with their Asperger's child, many of whom here seemed to have learned to take the behavior in stride. Look for clinical information elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: A different angle
Review: This is a look at Asperger's from a different angle. If you know someone with the syndrome you'll find it helpful for understanding them. As the parent of a child with Asperger's I found it insightful, enjoyable, even amusing. It was interesting to see how others cope with this, and gave me lots to think about. We've chosen a different route for our child than the intensive therapy and medication regimes that are popular today. This book addressed the issue in a unique way that I found very helpful.

There are plenty of books available that give advice on treating Asperger's. Osborne writes about what it's like to actually live with it in a society that isn't always kind to those who are different.

Rating:
Summary: take it for what it's worth
Review: While I was reading American Normal, I kept asking myself, why is he writing this book. Someone finally asks the author the same question, and his answer is, "I don't know." I have a theory. Osborne started out to write a book showing that AS is an imaginary problem coined to put labels on eccentrics. When halfway through the book his research shows him that it's quite a lot more than that, in fact a real syndrome completely different from just "a little eccentricity", he is lost. He no longer knows why he is writing. He keeps mentioning drugs. There are no drugs in the treatment of AS itself. He keeps metioning psychiatrists. It's a neurological disorder, not a psychiatric disorder. He meets, casually, a few Aspies, and suddenly he's an expert. This book mostly made me angry, as it would anyone who knows someone with AS. He seems often to think the whole this is a joke. After all, he's eccentric, and he doesn't have it... Worst book I've read on autism yet. Pity

Rating:
Summary: Why are you writing this book? I don't know
Review: While I was reading American Normal, I kept asking myself, why is he writing this book. Someone finally asks the author the same question, and his answer is, "I don't know." I have a theory. Osborne started out to write a book showing that AS is an imaginary problem coined to put labels on eccentrics. When halfway through the book his research shows him that it's quite a lot more than that, in fact a real syndrome completely different from just "a little eccentricity", he is lost. He no longer knows why he is writing. He keeps mentioning drugs. There are no drugs in the treatment of AS itself. He keeps metioning psychiatrists. It's a neurological disorder, not a psychiatric disorder. He meets, casually, a few Aspies, and suddenly he's an expert. This book mostly made me angry, as it would anyone who knows someone with AS. He seems often to think the whole this is a joke. After all, he's eccentric, and he doesn't have it... Worst book I've read on autism yet. Pity