Book reviews of autism related books

Hello. Below I have posted a link to a spreadsheet of autistic experience/neurodivergence related books:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1N9A6SUxJPr2j03p5d48-Moxe9dKexfxdNgeOG007ayA/htmlview

As others have stated there are numerous other posts about book recommendation on autistic experience.

Thanks for the list. Some writers you haven't included are Katherine May, Robyn Steward, Fern Brady, Sarah Hendrickx, Charlotte Moore, Laura James, Sonny Jane Wise, Eva A. Mendes, Rudy Simone. 

Thanks for the list. Some writers you haven't included are Katherine May, Robyn Steward, Fern Brady, Sarah Hendrickx, Charlotte Moore, Laura James, Sonny Jane Wise, Eva A. Mendes, Rudy Simone. 

I definitely recommend revisiting Fingers in the Sparkle Jar when you are able to concentrate, it is great!

This Person (Ottilie) said:

I'm trying to prioritise since my diagnosis and immersing myself in other autists content is high on my list.

This is the best idea, we as autistic people are experts on our own experiences. We can learn so much from sharing our lived experience with other members of our autistic community.

As you are probably aware, there is lots of great autistic led content on autistic experience including this brilliant YouTube channel called Aucademy. There are some brilliant videos on this channel about autistic discovery.

https://aucademy.co.uk/

https://youtube.com/@aucademy6195

Six Common Reactions to Autistic Discovery:

https://www.youtube.com/live/oo34mppLMqE?feature=share

I hope this video and this autistic community helps you understand your own profile. We are here for you!

You are very welcome! Please do say if I am giving you too much information and it is overwhelming.

This Person (Ottilie) said:

But not only that, it's leading us to acceptance and that's something I realise now that I've rarely experienced. 

Exactly! I hope you feel accepted in this community, everyone needs to feel like they belong.

I started reading Fingers in the Sparkle Jar last year then stuff happened and I've been unable to concentrate much. I'm trying to prioritise since my diagnosis and immersing myself in other autists content is high on my list. Today I had the opportunity to wash, put pyjamas on and just be in my house without trying to achieve anything. Podcasts seem to be more easily accessible when I feel overwhelmed. I love being able to share what helps. Thank you for reminding me what great content there is! But not only that, it's leading us to acceptance and that's something I realise now that I've rarely experienced. 

This Person (Ottilie) said:

I love how Robyn and Jamie are openly themselves. 

So do I! I really like all the episodes but I think my favourites are ‘Neurotypicals are baffling’ and ‘Monotropism Changed My Life’. Robyn and Jamie make a very funny duo!

Have you listened to the most recent series? I definitely recommend it, Series 4 only came out a few months ago.

Have you read Chris Packham’s memoir -‘Fingers in the Sparkle Jar? It’s great.

Re: info for reviews. I think self-help, memoir, lifestyle, psychology, mental health, research, neurodiversity, LGBTQIA+, ethnic minorities, graphic novel, picture book tags could be a starting point, then further tags for adult, teen, child, women and girls, parents just because different groups experiences of autism are influenced by age and gender and relationship but also a group you don't identify with may not interest you (e g. may not be interested in parenting books if not a parent). So for example, you could have the title and author of the book, then tags of Psychology/Mental Health or another book could have the tags Memoir/Self-Help/Women and Girls. I think it would also help if the book review mentioned if there were references to self-harm, suicide or abuse because obviously that can be majorly dependent on the reader's current state of mind as to whether it's appropriate for them. 

I really liked the Chris Packham interview because he talked about neurodiversity in other species. The episode with Dr Wenn Lawson was great too. I don't know if I have a favourite, do you? All the episodes are informative and I love how Robyn and Jamie are openly themselves. 

Thanks for the Squarepeg podcast recommendation, it sounds great! What is your favourite episode of 1800 Seconds on Autism?

I really like the hosts, they’re very funny!

Yes I know 1800 Seconds on Autism. Another podcast you may like is Squarepeg, which is interviews with autistic women and non binary people hosted by Amy Richards. That doesn't exclude people that don't identify as female or non-binary from listening. All autistic voices contribute to our collective understanding and changing perspectives of what autism is. 

I was a librarian and would define myself as still being a librarian. Librarians categorise as follows:

Adult

Young Adult

Children

Then within those categories this is how a library is structured:

Fiction: Fiction is categorised by the authors surname alphabetically. Confusion occurs when it comes to the Mc/Mac section of fiction. Macs come before if you follow the alphabetical rule. Macs come before Mcs. An example is Alexander McCall Smith. He is filed under McCall, then Smith then Alexander. 

Non-fiction: Filed by subject defined by the Dewey decimal system. It's easy to find the Dewey decimal number for a particular book if you look up the ISBN of a book. International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique.

Dewy decimal numbers are grouped as follows:

000 – Computer science, information and general works

100 – Philosophy and psychology

200 – Religion

300 – Social sciences

400 – Language

500 – Pure science

600 – Technology

700 – Arts and recreation

800 – Literature

900 – History and geography

Children's picture books are generally in boxes that are easily accessible for pre-school children. Librarians don't categorise children's picture books. It's unreasonable to expect pre-school children to follow a system that they are unable to understand. Accessibility should be a priority for a good library. 

Within that structure a library would highlight books that are relevant or underrepresented to a community through attractive displays and grouping books together that may otherwise be lost in the general shelving or swamped by books that are current bestsellers for whatever reason. Contrary to popular belief librarians are not book nerds but passionate about assisting people in finding the information they need or want. That doesn't mean that we know everything. It means that we know how to find information from a structure that is easily understood if you know the methodology. That's why it's known as information technology. That's just a brief description of my area of expertise. 

I have not compiled this list, it was created by Neuropride Ireland. These authors are great additions! I am really looking forward to reading Sonny Jane Wise's book 'We're All Neurodiverse' which will be released in November. Robyn Steward hosts a brilliant podcast called 1800 Seconds on Autism, in case you are interested. It is very funny.

Thanks, that’s a great idea! It will be a brilliant resource for anyone in our autistic community, particularly those at the beginning of their autistic discovery journey,

I would definitely recommend Neuroqueer Heresies, Drama Queen, Fingers in the Sparkle Jar, Loud Hands, Untypical and many more that I can’t currently think of.

Here are some other reading lists of autistic experience books that might help you create your own version:

This list below is about 3 years old but still useful:

https://lizziehuxleyjones.com/#autbooks

The second link is a project to collate all autism books by autistic authors:

https://autismbooksbyautisticauthors.com/ 

More updated book recommendation list:

https://www.authenticallyemily.uk/resources

I hope this helps!

I'll try to put together my own version of the spreadsheet that Awesomely Autistic has linked to with the intention of using this as a starting point for our own library guide.

I will drop the fiction books for now, add the date published (as the older works are often lacking much recent research) and sideline the books on related topics for another time (eg ADHD, bipolar etc).

What sort of headline info do you want to see in this list?

I also would like to see what info you want any reviews to contain.

Bring on your suggestions please.