The Pattern Seekers: A New Theory of Human Invention
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- Author：Simon Baron-Cohen
- ISBN：0241242185
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Reviews
Rick Wilson
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Not a fan。 The author makes a lot of bold proclamations without really any evidence to back them up。 Every time someone says “this is why humans are special” and then create an arbitrary list of things， I have red flags go up。 It used to be tool use。 Then it was language。 Now this guy thinks it’s systematizing。Saying other animals don’t point， and that’s evidence of a lack of theory of mind， is nonsense。 （https://www。smithsonianmag。com/scienc。。。） Anyone who’s played fetch with a dog who’s lost t Not a fan。 The author makes a lot of bold proclamations without really any evidence to back them up。 Every time someone says “this is why humans are special” and then create an arbitrary list of things， I have red flags go up。 It used to be tool use。 Then it was language。 Now this guy thinks it’s systematizing。Saying other animals don’t point， and that’s evidence of a lack of theory of mind， is nonsense。 （https://www。smithsonianmag。com/scienc。。。） Anyone who’s played fetch with a dog who’s lost their ball is able to communicate through gestures。 Seriously this book reads like a guy who is just spouting off nonsense to people who never call him on his shit。 I kept waiting for it to all tie together into more than a series of things that make humans special and i was disappointed。 By his estimate， no animals should ever be able to consistently find food because they don’t recognize patterns。 Hundreds of thousands of years of animal life contradicts this asinine theory。 。。。more
Wil Wade
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I was disappointed。 The premise of the book might be valid， but the author did it many disservices in this explanation and defense。Examples:- The author has the need to show that humans are different from animals， but the attempts to prove that are often mangled and not central to the idea that autism is human brain systematizing on overdrive。 It muddles the water and limits the author's ability to see the actions of animals as precursors of the changes seen in humans。- Cognitive cultural evolut I was disappointed。 The premise of the book might be valid， but the author did it many disservices in this explanation and defense。Examples:- The author has the need to show that humans are different from animals， but the attempts to prove that are often mangled and not central to the idea that autism is human brain systematizing on overdrive。 It muddles the water and limits the author's ability to see the actions of animals as precursors of the changes seen in humans。- Cognitive cultural evolution and social aspects are downplayed to such an extreme that the author doesn't even see it when they say it。 In an entire chapter （6） trying to prove that chimps don't have casual reasoning in contrast to humans who it is claimed have it genetically， we have this great quote: "It is interesting that chimps reared in human culture can learn some causal reasoning"。 Hmmm。。。 So perhaps human culture and social learning has something to do with causal reasoning？- Often the author would refer to something as "conservatively" we must acknowledge that ___ is true。 That is fine， but one should not consider things conservative when it supports your thesis。 The listed items were conservatively true in those fields， but being conservative inverts when you use it to support your thesis。- The diversion into male vs female brains is also a distraction。 The author says， look males tend to have larger brains， so they are different。 But then later says that Neanderthals had larger brains， but they didn't have the stuff that matters。 Irrelevant to the point of the book。- Confuses language recursion abilities with combination abilities。 :（I will give it reasonable points for the discussion of how to handle different expressions of autism （neurodiverse vs disorder etc。。。） and interesting studies described， but overall， a poor book。 。。。more
Ben Rogers
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Learned so much about autism spectrum disorder。 Also learned about asbergers。I really got a lot out of the systemizing thinking and how it places empathy lower。 For example， someone with autism may find it more difficult to identify sarcasm， reading facial expressions， or other social subtleties。I really liked the stories on inventing and testing things， as well as the stats on people in STEM having higher potential of autism。However， two thirds into the book， it suddenly turns into a reiteratio Learned so much about autism spectrum disorder。 Also learned about asbergers。I really got a lot out of the systemizing thinking and how it places empathy lower。 For example， someone with autism may find it more difficult to identify sarcasm， reading facial expressions， or other social subtleties。I really liked the stories on inventing and testing things， as well as the stats on people in STEM having higher potential of autism。However， two thirds into the book， it suddenly turns into a reiteration of the book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind。 I was not wanting a human history lesson。 I want to learn more about ASD。Some really shocking information about MIT not wishing to participate in a study that looks at STEM graduates having children with a higher rate of autism。 Because of how it will make them look。The science seems to point to upwards of 10% of children of STEM have autism， where the normal rate is around 2%I also really liked the parts on neurodiversity。Great read on disabilities。Really enjoyed this。Learned about some outstanding companies who hire and train autistic people specifically。 Very encouraging to hear， as the book outlines that only 16% of adults with autism have full time employment。 Very inspired by companies like Auticon。Some really great recommendations for education， how to better help and teach students with highly systimized minds。Touching read。 Learned a lot。Specifically thought that the book had excellent opening chapters。3。8/5 。。。more
Tim Wood
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Not a fan of this at all。 I’m the father of an （very） autistic son。 I guess the thing about autism is that it comes in many flavours。 The way this book is written you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s been written to represent all autistic people。 That their behaviour somehow all neatly conforms into the theory that the author tries to establish here。 He didn’t really land it for me， it never resonated， so I’ll hope he'll forgive me for not finishing this。 Hardly enlightening。 Constantly infuriati Not a fan of this at all。 I’m the father of an （very） autistic son。 I guess the thing about autism is that it comes in many flavours。 The way this book is written you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s been written to represent all autistic people。 That their behaviour somehow all neatly conforms into the theory that the author tries to establish here。 He didn’t really land it for me， it never resonated， so I’ll hope he'll forgive me for not finishing this。 Hardly enlightening。 Constantly infuriating。 Moving on。 。。。more
Mary Pat
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If you are new to Baron-Cohen's ideas （which I'm not）， then this would be a good place to start -- it's very clear & methodical in laying out the major portions of his theories。 The main value I got from the book was reading footnotes & seeing the new research or other research of which I was unaware。 There's an over-arching message that I agree with: please tolerate the weirdos， and include them in one's society/social circles in a way that's comfortable for them。 Being a weirdo myself， and hav If you are new to Baron-Cohen's ideas （which I'm not）， then this would be a good place to start -- it's very clear & methodical in laying out the major portions of his theories。 The main value I got from the book was reading footnotes & seeing the new research or other research of which I was unaware。 There's an over-arching message that I agree with: please tolerate the weirdos， and include them in one's society/social circles in a way that's comfortable for them。 Being a weirdo myself， and having an autistic son with very restricted language （& other behavioral abnormalities）， it would be nice if more people included my son into the wider world。 I take him with me， but it's better if it's not just people's family members who include that person。Separate from that， these theories leave a lot to be desired， because the "systematizing" seems to morph to fit different sorts of behavior， only some of which is problem-solving/inventing。 The core seems to be having the patience and attention to vary small details and to distinguish what me very small difference in results， and then persisting at it to get an optimized solution。 But in some cases， like music， what is being done isn't trying to get an optimal solution， or even a cause-effect chain， but creating something that's new --some of the exploration of the parameter space （aka， trying out different things to see what results） is just for the joy of seeing something new， not that one has a system。 Similarly， lining up figures or memorizing digits of pi isn't necessarily systematizing， but imposing order and comfort。 Repetition is part of making sure a solution is not spurious， but some find repetition calming for its own sake -- there's a dichotomy between those seeking that which is new， and those repeating that which is familiar。Finally， a big key in translating the results of the hyper-systematizers who are autistic into the wider world is communication （and marketing）， which， in general， does require more "normal" folks to translate between the brain types。。。 so maybe my bitchery is that I didn't see much new in this book （ah， there goes that novelty-seeking behavior）， and was hoping for extensions into how one could bridge between different neuro-cultures。 。。。more
Rachel
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Well， this was a hot mess of a book。 The first half seems to be going in one direction， the second half in another， and the conclusion （especially the concluding sentence） has nothing to do with either half or with the title。 I can't tell if Simon Baron-Cohen thinks highly or poorly of autistic people， but certainly he isn't convinced of his own premise that these "pattern-seekers" drive human invention or really have much of a place in society。 Also， apparently women don't have autism。 I mean， Well， this was a hot mess of a book。 The first half seems to be going in one direction， the second half in another， and the conclusion （especially the concluding sentence） has nothing to do with either half or with the title。 I can't tell if Simon Baron-Cohen thinks highly or poorly of autistic people， but certainly he isn't convinced of his own premise that these "pattern-seekers" drive human invention or really have much of a place in society。 Also， apparently women don't have autism。 I mean， some of us might， but obviously only those in STEM。 I'm particularly concerned that this book is getting so much attention and such accolades （and those on the back cover all from white males， by the way）， as it seems to be written for neurotypical folks and offers a pretty dim view of the ability of most autistic folks to live meaningful lives。 Also， it's just poorly researched in parts -- for example， referencing a study done in the Netherlands that surveyed schools for number of students with autism in a given population， Baron-Cohen makes NO mention of factors that may have contributed to variability in diagnosis rate rather than overall prevalence -- meaning that the author seems to be painting a picture to match his hypothesis， rather than seeking actual patterns。 （The irony。） I'm not impressed。 Books about autism remain far too reductive for my tastes。 I would suggest that perhaps more autistic people need to be writing books。。。 but maybe they're actually out driving human invention and not having time to write about it。 ;） 。。。more
Eric
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The Pattern Seekers is really comprised of two very separate books。 One is on the benefits of autism and how this expression of the systemising/empathy personality type - extreme systematising behaviour combined with a low empathy score - can suit researchers and technological innovators well。 This section seemed to be the crux of the book and really was the most interesting and practical。The second 'book' is about the history of human invention， and how invention sets humans apart from animals。 The Pattern Seekers is really comprised of two very separate books。 One is on the benefits of autism and how this expression of the systemising/empathy personality type - extreme systematising behaviour combined with a low empathy score - can suit researchers and technological innovators well。 This section seemed to be the crux of the book and really was the most interesting and practical。The second 'book' is about the history of human invention， and how invention sets humans apart from animals。 This section details the reasoning behind marking invention， tools， and forward thinking as unique to humans。 This part dragged on and seemed unimportant in the context of autism。Each section was well written， researched and compiled， but they didn't really mesh together well。 There was no spectrum disorder in primitive humanoids， so trying to argue that autism led to innovation in early humans was not going to be terribly effective。 I reckon it would have been a much better， more accessible book if Baron-Cohen had solely focused his energy on the link between autism and invention。 。。。more
Longie
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There are some great insights in this book that make it worth the read。 The author does work a little too hard， at times， at selling the reader on his theory， coming across a little fanatical， but he’s clearly convinced。 Pushing through the repeated theoretical basics does provide some very useful understanding。
Ali Najafi Sohi
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Not much on Autism， mostly about assumptions and theories of the author！
Ingrid
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Interesting starting premise （systematizing impulse as driving factor for aspects of human achievement） but goes a bit too far in dichotomizing this impulse as a polar opposite of empathy。 Lack of empathy is not a necessary feature of autism - many autistic people have plenty of empathy but difficulty expressing it in socially normative ways。 But， if you insist on dichotomizing and want to take the quizzes in Appendix 1 to see where you stand， note that they have two fairly substantial proofread Interesting starting premise （systematizing impulse as driving factor for aspects of human achievement） but goes a bit too far in dichotomizing this impulse as a polar opposite of empathy。 Lack of empathy is not a necessary feature of autism - many autistic people have plenty of empathy but difficulty expressing it in socially normative ways。 But， if you insist on dichotomizing and want to take the quizzes in Appendix 1 to see where you stand， note that they have two fairly substantial proofreading errors。 p 178 second paragraph for SQ-R-10 score: should read “if you slightly DISagree you get one point。。。” p 180 Calculating Brain Type quiz， if you use the formula given in the text above the chart you will get your “correct” D score but if you use the chart itself you will get the opposite （ex 7 vs -7）。 The axes have been flipped or mislabeled。 I guess the proofreader wasn’t autistic or this would have been caught :） 。。。more
Chet Taranowski
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This was written by one of the world's leading scientists studying autism。 There is a nice summary of the current state of the art regarding research on autism。 Perhaps there is a little excess here about inventors。 But still worth a read if you want to find out about what psychology is looking at today in the study neurodiversity。 This was written by one of the world's leading scientists studying autism。 There is a nice summary of the current state of the art regarding research on autism。 Perhaps there is a little excess here about inventors。 But still worth a read if you want to find out about what psychology is looking at today in the study neurodiversity。 。。。more
Larper
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Absolutely fascinating。A must read for anyone who feels like their social skills are underdeveloped， or they have a partner who they feel behaves in strange ways socially and emotionally， but has always been very bright in the analytical terms。
Tom Hunter
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This is a magnificent work of original research that is full of fascinating， enlightening information， such as the true meaning of autism and the important part it has played in the history of invention and， in fact， human history。 It focuses on the usual and tremendous ability of those with autism to concentrate and focus。 Baron-Cohen makes a convincing case that people born with these abilities and this brain type are a central reason why humanity has progressed as far as it has。Highly and ent This is a magnificent work of original research that is full of fascinating， enlightening information， such as the true meaning of autism and the important part it has played in the history of invention and， in fact， human history。 It focuses on the usual and tremendous ability of those with autism to concentrate and focus。 Baron-Cohen makes a convincing case that people born with these abilities and this brain type are a central reason why humanity has progressed as far as it has。Highly and enthusiastically recommended！ 。。。more
Micah
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This book has some interesting ideas but it seems a bit problematic with how it looks at challenging data。
Simon Jewell
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This is one of those books that shines a light into a dark corner， suddenly illuminating something you always knew was there。 Like doing Myers Briggs， or one of those psychometric profiles， Baron-Cohen's analysis and description of pattern seeking behaviour not only helped me understand myself as a 'systems analyst'， but why others see the world as they do， the way teams work， and lots besides。Baron Cohen asserts that the secret of our success as a species is that around 40-70，000 years ago we h This is one of those books that shines a light into a dark corner， suddenly illuminating something you always knew was there。 Like doing Myers Briggs， or one of those psychometric profiles， Baron-Cohen's analysis and description of pattern seeking behaviour not only helped me understand myself as a 'systems analyst'， but why others see the world as they do， the way teams work， and lots besides。Baron Cohen asserts that the secret of our success as a species is that around 40-70，000 years ago we humans evolved a natural trait for imagining expected outcomes by combining observed facts with decided rules， along the lines of IF [observed thing] AND [generalised rule] THEN [expected inference]。 This， with another evolved trait， empathy， or theory of mind， allowed people to develop technologies and other systems。 Empathising means we get a feel for when others' facts， rules and inferences can be trusted， expanding our access to facts and rules。 In other words， learning systems for thinking has become， for us humans， innate， and so has learning when to believe what others have learned。 I was intrigued to see the what I thought were early signs of this in the activities of macaques in Attenboroughs BBC series， Primates， as they carefully select sticks to poke into holes in the rock to get lizards out， and， over years， learn skilled techniques for bashing seed pods with selected rocks。 But Baron Cohen dismisses this as not systems thinking。 He's absolutely right of course， but it is here that I felt the theory is less than completely defined， and perhaps ignores other anthropological researchers such as Joe Henrich。 The real power of if-then-else systems thinking seems to be recursion， and this， surely， is the difference between us and those seemingly canny macaques。 We can thoughtfully observe observations and conceptualise conceptions and infer inferences， no problem。 They can't。 Their rules are neither general， which Baron Cohen explains， but nor are they recursive。A combination of the two traits of systemising and empathising is powerful。 And most people have both traits in some sort of bias or balance。 But as much as 4% of the population are way out of balance。 At one extreme， obsessed with how things work and lacking empathy， and at the other， wonderfully trusting and woefully unsystematic。 In this book Baron Cohen sympathetically asks us to treasure the natural abilities of the former group， a subset of whom will be genius inventors like Newton and Einstein， who seem to be able to tolerate the headaches that recursive systems thinking gives the rest of us。 。。。more
Will Cullen
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This is a fascinating， illuminating， and informative book。
sam
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I feared this book would be a neurodivergence nightmare， but those fears never came to be。 The first half spoke often and well about autism， often emphasizing it as simply a different neurotype and behaviors/though patterns which can be very valuable。 I enjoyed the "Brain Types" and "if-and-then" systemizing presented by the author as well as the neurology， development， and psychology concepts in the first half of the book。 I hoped more of the book would be about autism， considering the title。 T I feared this book would be a neurodivergence nightmare， but those fears never came to be。 The first half spoke often and well about autism， often emphasizing it as simply a different neurotype and behaviors/though patterns which can be very valuable。 I enjoyed the "Brain Types" and "if-and-then" systemizing presented by the author as well as the neurology， development， and psychology concepts in the first half of the book。 I hoped more of the book would be about autism， considering the title。 The second half of the book seemed to deviate from this and focus much more on anthropology， early humans， and animal behaviors。 I found some of the concepts in these areas frustrating because the author would state that things were a certain way because that's just how he defined them。 That doesn't feel like much of a reason to me。 Some of the examples for why animals are unable to systemize （use "if-and-then" concepts） felt like they could easily be reposed in if-and-then formats。 There was some sort of strange taste left in my mouth。 This book certainly presents a love for and a care to deeply understand the autistic mind and the way it has likely shaped human innovation for centuries and certainly will for centuries to come。 Autistic people don't need to invent the lightbulb or create something that will change the world to be important。 Their neurotype and interests and hobbies and behaviors are just right as they are， whether or not someone can make money off of them。 。。。more
Liz Etnyre
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Interesting premise， marred by a not particularly compelling， and imho somewhat over-reaching， presentation。 Main 'pet peeve': bit to much 'this clearly proves' when it clearly does not 'prove' - strongly suggests， maybe - but not 'prove'。 - nor is it always that clear。 2。5 stars， rounded up to 3 as I may not be target audience。 （More a 'skimmed most of it' than an actual dnf。） Interesting premise， marred by a not particularly compelling， and imho somewhat over-reaching， presentation。 Main 'pet peeve': bit to much 'this clearly proves' when it clearly does not 'prove' - strongly suggests， maybe - but not 'prove'。 - nor is it always that clear。 2。5 stars， rounded up to 3 as I may not be target audience。 （More a 'skimmed most of it' than an actual dnf。） 。。。more
Mike E
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This is an interesting read about neuro diversity being at the source of great achievements。
Gavin Felgate
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Simon Baron-Cohen （brother of Sacha） works at Cambridge University， as a Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry， in the Autistm Research Centre。This book is all about different types of autistic mind （mostly focusing on "hyper-systemisers"）， and the abilities of those with autism to recognise patterns， with an argument that people on the autism spectrum are largely responsible for many of our innovative and scientific discoveries。First off， I did find this to be quite a dense book， and I found m Simon Baron-Cohen （brother of Sacha） works at Cambridge University， as a Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry， in the Autistm Research Centre。This book is all about different types of autistic mind （mostly focusing on "hyper-systemisers"）， and the abilities of those with autism to recognise patterns， with an argument that people on the autism spectrum are largely responsible for many of our innovative and scientific discoveries。First off， I did find this to be quite a dense book， and I found myself reading it for about half an hour at a time， trying to focus on all the details， but I found it fascinating， particularly Baron-Cohen's evidence of how many famous inventors （Thomas Edison， for example） may have been on the autistic spectrum。 I was particularly intrigued by the theory that a child with parents who are both very intelligent， and good at systemising， was more likely to be autistic。The book also gave a fascinating insight into how the human brain has evolved， and how we are different from animals in our ways of thinking。As someone who has been diagnosed with aspergers myself， I found it quite an encouraging read， particularly as it encouraged the reader to change their way of thinking about people who have autistic traits。 。。。more
Henry Percy
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Page nos。 refer to the hardback version， which I borrowed from my library。 I sent these observations to Mr。 Baron-Cohen but have not heard back。 If he replies I will update this。Page 21Stonehenge was built 5019 years ago？ What’s the secret of such remarkably precise dating？ Page 33“Consider how Sir Isaac Newton inferred gravity as a cause from seeing an apple fall from a tree （in my college， Trinity， in Cambridge）。” This reminds me of professors who tossed off asides about their time at Harva Page nos。 refer to the hardback version， which I borrowed from my library。 I sent these observations to Mr。 Baron-Cohen but have not heard back。 If he replies I will update this。Page 21Stonehenge was built 5019 years ago？ What’s the secret of such remarkably precise dating？ Page 33“Consider how Sir Isaac Newton inferred gravity as a cause from seeing an apple fall from a tree （in my college， Trinity， in Cambridge）。” This reminds me of professors who tossed off asides about their time at Harvard or Yale。 “The Dante Society used to meet at Longfellow House …” When students returned blank looks， he would add， “That’s just off campus from Harvard。” The strength of your argument should stand on its own。Page 35“Last week … I noticed that someone had invented a different kind of seesaw … the plank could move in any plane in three-dimensional space。” My father installed one of those for me and my sisters in our backyard circa 1960。 He did not invent it but had seen the plans somewhere。 His consisted of a pipe， well greased， inserted into a slightly larger pipe that was set in concrete。Chapter 3， “Five Types of Brain”Type E， empathizing; Type B， balanced; Type S， systematizing; Type E Extreme， very empathizing; Type S Extreme， very systematizing。 But these 5 go back to a binary division: you’re an empathizer or a systematizer。 Why is it that grand schemes to explain everything always seem to rest on a simple binary foundation？I scored 15 on the Systematizing Quotient and 19 when I took it online。 An engineer I know scored 4 on the SQ。 She holds an MS in aerospace engineering from Churchill College， Cambridge， and an MS in aerospace engineering from Stanford （she dropped out of the PhD program because she was bored with the glacial pace at which university labs conduct research）。 She is now an analyst for an aerospace company， looking for patterns in rocket motor test data， and she’s good at her job。 She wrote， “The SQ test had questions like ‘When I look at a mountain， I think about how precisely it was formed。’ That’s a question for someone like you。 I don’t care， never think that。” I know that we are but two test takers; however， I’m left wondering what， precisely， the Systematizing Quotient Revised test tells us。Page 90General Electric’s profit “grew by more than $1 billion” when they implemented Six Sigma。 Yes， but since 2007 GE’s profits have shrunk from nearly $100 billion to less than $20 billion。 Was that also due to Six Sigma？ Post hoc ergo propter hoc， or， Six Sigma works until it doesn’t？Six Sigma has great tools， but they apply to manufacturing operations。 I worked at a Fortune 50 company in the 90s when Six Sigma was forced into white-collar jobs。 A large aerospace customer told us that their goal for our reports was 3。4 errors per million pages。 Why should a page be the denominator？ Why not paragraphs？ Sentences？ Words？ Characters？ Needless to say， we heard no more about that goal。Page 95Here appears the most masterful use of apophasis I've seen in some time。 After listing famous people who had many autistic traits （Thomas Edison， Nikola Tesla， Andy Warhol， Ludwig Wittgenstein， Hans Christian Anderson， Bill Gates， Henry Cavendish， Albert Einstein）， Baron-Cohen says， "Diagnosing someone—living or not—on the basis of fragmentary biographical information is unreliable and arguably unethical。" So are we to forget what we have just read in the pages and pages （“unreliable and arguably unethical”） devoted to the autistic characteristics of Thomas Edison， Bill Gates et al。？Page 117“If I take my ox， and castrate him， then he will be more obedient。” You’d have a hard time doing that。 Better start with a bull， or better yet， a bull calf。Page 118“The flywheel （to cast a fishing hook）”: A fishing rod has a reel， not a flywheel。 I looked up “flywheel” in Oxford’s Learner Dictionaries and Collins English Dictionary， both online， to see if this is UK usage and found no indication the word is used for fishing gear。Page 134“Although chimps make spears to stab their prey with， their hunting with sharpened branches is still just very simple tool use。” How can any of us know that the use of spears does not rest on an understanding of causality？ Because they haven’t improved them， attaching a flint？ Why would chimps use spears unless at some level they understand that the weapons make them more effective？Page 213， N37Did early farmers really plant potato seeds？ Or do you mean seed potatoes？ It is far more common to cut a potato into several pieces， each with at least one eye， and plant those。 That way the plants are all first generation， i。e。， the potatoes are the same type。 Plants grown from potato seeds （for research and hybridization） do not run true to type， resulting in a crop with exceedingly various tubers。Page 213， N38This note is a paean to hunter-gatherers。 Agriculture “led to babies developing more infections … [c]hild mortality increased … and because agriculture often failed as well as succeeded， this led to malnutrition。” Tell me， do game and wild fruits and berries never fail？“Agriculture also curbed the freedom of a nomadic lifestyle。” Why is it that students of early cultures are always enraptured by the joys of a hunter-gatherer lifestyle？ Have they ever sustained themselves for， let’s say， a year by hunting and gathering？ If the agricultural lifestyle was manifestly inferior， why did humans persist in it？ “Agriculture did not lead to working less—rather， humans now had to toil on the land and their quality of life became far worse。” We live in an agricultural civilization now， in which we work very few hours per day to put food in our mouths while enjoying clean water， heated water， running water， central heating， antibiotics， and myriads of other things that our ancestors would have killed for。Page 225， N21“There were some places on the planet that decided not to go into ‘lockdown’ [for Covid]， such as Sweden， but lockdown was effective across huge populations including India and China。” The implication is that Sweden was irresponsible， that its mortality rate must be terrible。 In truth， its rate per 100，000 is nearly identical to that of France and far better than 20 other countries， including the UK， which is still using strict lockdowns。 See the Johns Hopkins ranking of countries， https://coronavirus。jhu。edu/data/mort。。。As for China， with a mortality rate of only 0。35/100，000， i。e。， 454 times lower than that of the UK， do you find the statistics from China credible？ 。。。more
Otolith Library
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Autism is not a category， it's a continuum。 Baron-Cohen identifies different preferences: empathizers， balancers， and systemizers。 Learn from an expert on the value of systemizing versus empathy。 We have integrated this book in a bloghttps://www。otolith。be/2020/12/misfit。。。 Autism is not a category， it's a continuum。 Baron-Cohen identifies different preferences: empathizers， balancers， and systemizers。 Learn from an expert on the value of systemizing versus empathy。 We have integrated this book in a bloghttps://www。otolith。be/2020/12/misfit。。。 。。。more
Anne
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The author explains that inventors share traits that people with autism have。 Not all inventors are autistic， and not all people with autism are inventors。 I agree with the author's conclusion that people with autism do need to be more integrated fully into society， and that education can be adapted to realize an autistic student's strengths。 I am now thinking of my autistic nonverbal son and how I can help him discover his strengths。 The author explains that inventors share traits that people with autism have。 Not all inventors are autistic， and not all people with autism are inventors。 I agree with the author's conclusion that people with autism do need to be more integrated fully into society， and that education can be adapted to realize an autistic student's strengths。 I am now thinking of my autistic nonverbal son and how I can help him discover his strengths。 。。。more
Bruin Mccon
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The theory of Pattern Seekers is that a pattern-seeking brain， often seen in autistic people， was natural selection （a。k。a。， autistic brains were an advantage） encouraging innovation and invention。This is totally plausible and probably could have been a journal article vs。 an entire book。I’m giving it up at 27% because the whole male brain theory of the author’s is fairly lazy。 The point of the book is that autistic people can see complicated patterns in huge data sets。 Then the author falls bac The theory of Pattern Seekers is that a pattern-seeking brain， often seen in autistic people， was natural selection （a。k。a。， autistic brains were an advantage） encouraging innovation and invention。This is totally plausible and probably could have been a journal article vs。 an entire book。I’m giving it up at 27% because the whole male brain theory of the author’s is fairly lazy。 The point of the book is that autistic people can see complicated patterns in huge data sets。 Then the author falls back on a simple theory about male brain。 Did he consider having autistic people study this？ They could definitely come up with a better theory。 Also， not sure why the author needed 55 examples for every small bit of the theory， other than as filler for what could have been a 20-page paper。 。。。more
Andrew Miller
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An interesting read with some excellent points in support of neurodiversity but as an autistic person I disagree with the assertion that: "A diagnosis should only be restricted to those who are struggling as a result of their autism。" Society needs a true reflection of the extent of the abilities and achievements of autistic people across the entire spectrum to counter negative societal views of who we are and what we are capable of。 Myself and many autistic children and young people I have work An interesting read with some excellent points in support of neurodiversity but as an autistic person I disagree with the assertion that: "A diagnosis should only be restricted to those who are struggling as a result of their autism。" Society needs a true reflection of the extent of the abilities and achievements of autistic people across the entire spectrum to counter negative societal views of who we are and what we are capable of。 Myself and many autistic children and young people I have worked with in a professional capacity have taken great encouragement from the achievements of others who are like us and belong to our neurotribe。 Besides all autistic are entitled to know their true selves。 。。。more
Kay's Pallet
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This book was really interesting。 Definitely a different look on autism。
Suzie
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Fascinating research on how the human brain works。 Describes specific gifts that some， diagnosed as "autistic，" have that enable inventions。 Highlights inventors throughout history。 Fascinating research on how the human brain works。 Describes specific gifts that some， diagnosed as "autistic，" have that enable inventions。 Highlights inventors throughout history。 。。。more
Theresa
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While I don't think I have autism， I believe I am closer to that end of the spectrum。 So I tried to take the SQ and EQ tests on pages 178-9。 Unfortunately， I discovered a flaw in the scoring of the tests。 Perhaps the publisher should hire autistic people to the the proof reading as they would likely have caught this error。 （Do publishers even hire proof readers or do they rely on computers that just look for spelling errors？ Computers would not catch this error because it is not a spelling mista While I don't think I have autism， I believe I am closer to that end of the spectrum。 So I tried to take the SQ and EQ tests on pages 178-9。 Unfortunately， I discovered a flaw in the scoring of the tests。 Perhaps the publisher should hire autistic people to the the proof reading as they would likely have caught this error。 （Do publishers even hire proof readers or do they rely on computers that just look for spelling errors？ Computers would not catch this error because it is not a spelling mistake。）The 2nd paragraph of the scoring section for each test says if you "slightly agree" you get one point。 This should be "slightly disagree"。 I have checked at the Autism Research Centre's site which Baron-Cohen is associated with and have written the publisher。 If you own this book， maybe this error will make it more valuable。 :-）Otherwise， this theory seems quite plausible。 However， the complexity of the world today and even in the recent past may make it more difficult for people to reach others with their ideas。 A team may be needed for their discoveries to have an impact。 。。。more
Lee W
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 As a “successful” autistic man， I was attracted to the premise of this book。However， I found it both highly repetitive and extremely didactic。 In addition to the repetition， the fact that about a third of the book is essentially appendices， raises a few questions for me。I’d suggest reading some of the author’s other works and giving this one a miss。
MH
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