The autism described in The Reason I Jump is very different from the predominantly social disorder that I, as a researcher and clinician, find in textbooks and articles newspaper. The new bestselling book, which presents the extraordinary testimony of a Japanese boy suffering from severe autism, is a surprising and engaging memoir, full of paradoxes. Chief among these is the book's genesis: although it suggests a sense of direct and immediate access to the thoughts and ideas of the author, thirteen-year-old Naoki Higashida, the book's prose was in fact created by a sequence of processes involving several collaborators. Higashida finds spoken communication almost impossible, but he has learned to express himself by pointing to the Japanese hiragana letters printed on a piece of paper to write the words. In this way, he meticulously wrote the book over the course of months with his mother as scribe. The book then came to the attention of a married couple, perhaps the only ones qualified to make it accessible to English speakers: the famous novelist David Mitchell. (author of Cloud Atlas) and his Japanese wife KA Yoshida, who have an autistic son. Mitchell and Yoshida translated Higashida's work for an international audience. The result is a slim volume whose lucid prose led me to reconsider some of the most basic ideas I have about autism. Over a hundred pages of questions and answers, Higashida displays an originality of thought and a poetry of expression that elude most writers, let alone most 13-year-olds. For example, when you answer "Why do you ignore us when we talk to you?" writes: “A person looking at a mountain from afar does not notice the beauty of a dandelion in front of him. ...... half of the paper ...... h US Census Bureau, and not enough Moby Dick. The Reason I Jump serves as a reminder that the voices of people with autism must play a greater role in shaping general understanding of autism and should be more influential in shaping clinical services and the research agenda. Naoki Higashida is explicit about why he wrote The Reason I Jump. Speaking on behalf of people with autism he writes: "We are misunderstood and would give anything if only we could be properly understood" and "I hope that by reading this book you may become a better friend to someone with autism." .”His book became a popular success, selling out its first hardback print run and making the rounds on late-night television. It heartens me to think of readers around the world who fall under his spell and discover in themselves a compassionate curiosity about the world of people with autism..