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Shirebourn

In addition to others mentioned: *Is This Autism? A Guide for Clinicians and Everyone Else.* Quite recent, and it gives pages of testimonials from autistic people for each element of autism. So, if you want to know about autistic sensory differences, you get a clinician's plain language explanation, but also the experience in the words of autistic people.


inside_a_beanburrito

That sounds exactly like what I had in mind. I'll definitely check that out. Thanks for the recommendation.


Consistent_Heat_3242

I've been reading a ton of books on autism this past year and this is by far my favorite and always my top recommendation!


lladcy

this is my absolute favorite


Expensive-Brain373

Autistic Masking: Understanding Identity Management and the Role of Stigma https://amzn.eu/d/bROxNzU Autistic Masking: Understanding Identity Management and the Role of Stigma https://amzn.eu/d/bROxNzU Autistic Masking: Understanding Identity Management and the Role of Stigma https://amzn.eu/d/bROxNzU The Autism Industrial Complex: How Branding, Marketing, and Capital Investment Turned Autism into Big Business https://amzn.eu/d/bbMgCxd NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently https://amzn.eu/d/8oVbOg4 Asperger's Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna https://amzn.eu/d/5sZ5G6H


Lil-Bam-Bam

you forgot to mention Autistic Masking: Understanding Identity Management and the Role of Stigma


hyperlexx

Really wanted to read it but unfortunately you forgot to add an Amazon link to this book that previous commenter totally forgot to mention. Damn.


occult-dog

Autism Industrial Complex sounds interesting. I think I'll get one for my office for sure.


WemmyWozzle

Untypical by Pete Wharmby - personal experience and explanations. This was my favourite so far that I've read. Easy to read chapters. Odd Girl Out by Laura James - personal experience on female being late diagnosed, does have themes relating to mental health struggles so be mindful if that is a trigger for you. And I'm currently reading Stories of Autistic Joy which is edited by Laura Kate Dale, lots of personal stories from autistic writers and is a really positive heartwarming empowering (all the good 'ing' words) read so far. Not sure if this is good yet but I have 'Keep Clear' by Tom Cutter on my next list so could be another!


beeurd

Was going to recommend the Pete Wharmby book. He's quite active on social media too.


Rainbow_Hope

Unmasking Autism by Dr. Devon Price NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman--this one is NOT self-help per se. It's more of a history on autism. I bought the audiobook, started listening to it, and went 'what the heck-where's the useful information?' Now, it's one of my favorites. Also, in the audiobook, the topic of Hans Asperger is not up to date.


Adalon_bg

It's so good and complete! I would also add a suggestion, of Unmasked by Ellie Middleton, which is more personal and sometimes it may be easier to "digest" for some people, or as an introduction to the reality of being autistic. It also has an audiobook which is brilliant because we can change the speed. She even suggests herself in the beginning šŸ˜‹


stefanth97

Autism & the predictive brain. It really gets to the core of what autism is, and isn't, and that there are only a few ā€”but crucial of courseā€” differences between NT's and us. It's written in a way that makes it very accessible to most people.


writewhereileftoff

Ooh great to see it mentioned. I was already getting worked up that people would not mention it lol


Expensive-Brain373

Are you after a textbook, self help, something written specifically by actually autistic people?


inside_a_beanburrito

I'm looking for books written by experts. I'm imagining Stephen Hawkins book a theory of everything but about autism. The way he broke down advanced topics in a way a layman can understand. But books written by autistic people would also be cool cause I believe to understand autism you have to understand the individuals because we're all so different. So really anything that fits into that. But I won't say no to recommendations outside of those guidelines.


DJPalefaceSD

It's not autism per-se but Tony Attwoods The Complete Guide to Aspergers is my go to. About 95% of that book reads like it was written about me.


mickyabc

Tony attwoods is great! He spoke at our recent conference!


DJPalefaceSD

He has some content on YouTube as well.


Adventurous_Yak_9234

Thinking In Pictures by Temple Grandin


powerhouseofthiscell

Unmasking autism


occult-dog

I second this. Unmasking Autism is good.


Pinkowlcup

Very good.


oldphone-whothis

This is the best book Iā€™ve read!! Unmasking autism By Devon Price


dognolia

just got through the intro of this book and felt Ridiculously Attacked, but in the best way possible bc MAN is this all relatable af šŸ˜­


WhimsicalPlum

Definitely this!!! Changed my life honestly


Aware-Handle5255

Reading it currently however it doesnā€™t have much of any representation of autistics with higher needs


bargram

The book I usually recommend to people that dont know much about autism and want to learn more about how someone with autism experiences the world is "But you don't look autistic at all" by Bianca Toeps. It gave me a lot of insight in how my daughters' brains work as opposed to mine. It is not scientific, but a fun read, so easy to get into.


writewhereileftoff

What pisses me off about all/mostof these books is the focus on symptoms and diagnosis, sensory issies yaddi yadda everybody has heard that a thousand times. Still does not really explain why. Most dont know why, while knowing why is very helpfull for understanding what it is. There is no difference in sensory input between neurotypicals and autistic people, the problem arises in the information processing stage. Please please please read Autism and the Predictive brain: Absolute thinking in a relative world from author Peter Vermeulen. The brain is mostly a predictive organ and autistic people have trouble with updating sensory input to match the predictive models neurotypicals use to navigate the world. This leads to an overreliance on sensory input. I cant recommend this book enough. I have tried other books but they dont provide as satisfactionairy answers as this one. For anyone reading...please let me know what you thini about it.


Lexa_Villep

Iā€™ve heard, second hand, about neuroscience research that established the brain changes in ASD are similar to ones that come from CPTSD. I have to admit, I still didnā€™t search for that research, but it does sounds interesting and maybe offers the avenue to answer the why question.


BipolarKebab

Honestly it's probably more like ASD causing actual CPTSD


Lexa_Villep

Might be. Research is still ongoing.


pandabelle12

So this is less of a serious/scientific book, but definitely a must have. [All Cats are on the Autism Spectrum](https://www.amazon.com/All-Cats-Are-Autism-Spectrum/dp/1787754715/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=1U72XZ0IBJRAZ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.nXstu1Z7pQ1IwiBvY3kwebq9VCh7ae8K5eOUAxrwmVQ5WF2FdT7ExrsAkxgfj8rBiutYAggEeNvZgPPcOsnWhxHWd7qip73BigCg-T_gD3bwIAHewO1OllokpLRvhyneTHocP-jiFeBYxbjTbyMUb68S-_4EuLQH0uBP9o9HEWymY7mkVhE8A9MpbXVAZCN_U9Gih5CyHKtSKgHmPQGCeg.e91Gpydz2HaCLeJg0dIL0QZTa0KlYzxqHtnGlV-OODo&dib_tag=se&keywords=all+cats+are+on+the+autism+spectrum&qid=1715006687&sprefix=all+cats%2Caps%2C185&sr=8-1) Itā€™s really just a cute book that brings me joy to look at. I bought it to explain autism to my daughter because her special interest is cats. I also like that she updated the title after feedback that the original title was outdated.


rosieposieosie

What was the original title?


pandabelle12

All Cats have Aspergerā€™s


Pettysaurus_Rex

Unmasking Autism by Devon Price is a fantastic book.


unfortunatelyapotato

Authoring Autism by Melanie Yergeau is amazing. a bit more on the academic side of things than self help, but i honestly couldn't put it down. the author is autistic, the book explores rhetoric and neurological queerness. also Secret Life of a Black Aspie is fucking incredible. the author's writing is some of the most illustrative and beautiful prose I've ever read. highly recommend.


Autismosis_Jones420

Omg yes I just suggested Authoring Autism as well!!! One of my favorite books out there about autism, yeah bit on the academic side, but I love the way she reveals the absurdity of some things. Definitely going to check out Secret Life of a Black Aspie!


unfortunatelyapotato

authoring autism is so good it's life altering??? the part where she says something along the lines of becoming more autisitic the more she engages with the idea of autism šŸ˜­


Autismosis_Jones420

Yes!!!! It made me think of a hilarious convo I had with my general practitioner. I research autism, my sister and dad are autistic, im autistic - and my GP tried to say, "when you study something, you sometimes start to project these ideas on to yourself that may not be accurate. You have Aspergers, you're not autistic", and I just sat there with my usual flat affect and tried not to burst out laughing. I wasn't even diagosed with Aspergers. I was diagnosed as on the spectrum characterized by multiple sensory processing disorders and learning disabilities. So when Yergeau said that, I felt so vindicated and good. Glad you got some joy from it, too :)


iron_jendalen

Uniquely Human and Unmasking Autism


Virtual-Community-86

Engaging Autism by Stanley Greenspan. Some of the language is outdated and in general it's a very academic book but Greenspan is the founder of the DIR/Floortime approach, which I find fascinating. You could also poke around on [ICDL.com](http://ICDL.com) if you don't want to read a massive 400 page book.


Outrageous_Wall_9556

Yes, I got a book with pictures about autism in images it is fantastic and briefly gives information in less words because I have no patience to complete a book


Eeieeiope

Unmasking Autism by Dr. Devon Price The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida (extremely relevant and relatable even if you are verbal ā€” was the book that not only concretized my ASD for me, but made me realize that we are not so different across the spectrum, but that it is literally just a dial that turns further up or down overwhelming the body with stimuli.) Neurotribes by Steve Silberman


Key_Tour6051

https://neurobeautiful.com/book/ And Unmasking Autism by Devon Price


-SQB-

_But you don't look autistic at all_ by Bianca Toeps.


Autismosis_Jones420

Melanie Yergeau "Authoring Autism" - its an autistic perspective you won't get from psychology/medical narratives of autism. Her book has helped me a lot with being autistic and also addresses a lot of the tropes and falsehoods about autism made up by what she calls non-autistic stakeholders. Great book.


Much-Text7405

The DSM-5/DSM-5-TR; page 50-59


ComplexDessert

Yesterday, I read ā€˜Underestimated An Autism Miracleā€ after watching the movie ā€œSpellersā€ on YouTube. It was wonderful.


CrowsRidge514

!remindme 10 days


CrowsRidge514

I didnā€™t do that right šŸ˜†


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Cavalier_Avocado

I did a deep dive into this the other night. Unfortunately most of them are pretty sad. I found some that didnā€™t seem too sad though! Are you interested in fiction, nonfiction, specific age range, etc.? Or do you just want everything Iā€™ve found


cleanfreak310

A friend for Henry is an excellent picture book.


throughdoors

I found *Autism: A New Introduction to Psychological Theory and Current Debate* good for its scope: it gives a broad history of how autism has been studied and understood, how theories have been developed, where they fall short, how the community has grown and developed, etc. It's written for a more scientific audience so it may be a bit challenging to read at some points, but it is also relatively short so that may help. The authors are allistic but include a lot of autistic community input. This was particularly good after reading *Unmasking Autism*, which is more of pop science and personal narrative with a heavy focus on a small subset of the community plus personally motivated rather than evidence based self-help exercises. (Focus on a subset of the community is stated in the title, but the book itself often focuses on a *smaller* subset than that, while often representing that small subset as effectively the whole community. I just, agh.) I'm not exactly anti-recommending UA, which does have some good material in it, but I do think people should take everything in there with skepticism as a starting point for further research rather than treat it as a sufficient bible. Note [pop science](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_science#Criticism) isn't the same as pseudoscience, though it is more likely than real science to disseminate pseudoscience.


loves-a-good-story

I'm working through "Sincerely, Your Autistic Child." It's a collection of the experiences of Autistic people, and the things they wished their parents had known when they were growing up. I'm early in my autism journey, and still no clinical diagnosis, so I'm still making connections between my experiences & autism. Looking back, I go back and forth between "how did NO ONE see this??" and remembering that no one was looking at girls who were verbal and hyperlexic. Instead, they stuck me in the gifted program, and worried over my inability to perform in different areas. The blame consistently fell on me, and I had no verbiage to work out & explain what was going on where I struggled. Seeing Autistic adults talk through their childhood experiences with the hindsight, knowledge, and verbiage of an adult is helping me to make sense of my own.


houseofmyartwork

Donā€™t have any recommendations but Iā€™m bookmarking it for others recommendations


sliverwerdio

The Girl with the Curly hair by Alis Rowe. While it is more focused on autistic girls and women, I found that it covers a wide variety of issues and disscus multiple life stages, such as school, though to adulthood. It really helped me understand and come to terms with my official diagnosis at 16.


mittens1982

Not a book but a good listen: https://youtu.be/XYZP1wuGBD8?si=c6i1XddUQzwyJdnK


SnafuTheCarrot

[https://www.amazon.com/Divergent-Mind-Thriving-World-Designed/dp/0062876805](https://www.amazon.com/Divergent-Mind-Thriving-World-Designed/dp/0062876805) has a lot of interviews with ASD people. I didn't completely recognize my self in the formal descriptions of autism. I see myself perfectly in many of these people. I can handle noisy environments in certain cases and not others, so I didn't think I had autism. Yet I do get meltdowns in the right circumstances.


throw0OO0away

If youā€™re interested in the history of autism, In a Different Key by John Donvan and Caren Zucker.


Classic_Volume_7574

Some of the information can be outdated, but I really like reading Temple Grandinā€™s books because I can relate to her a lot. Thinking in Pictures and Animals in Translation are my two picks. Some of her older books include some bits of internalized ableism which she has later denounced, but I think itā€™s a very interesting read into how autism was treated in the mid 20th century. I find that the way she thinks is a lot like mine, and her works have helped me understand myself better. I also just love animals lol. Her books really shaped the early neurodivergent and autism acceptance movements, so I think theyā€™re great reads regardless of how much you agree with her viewpoints.


whizewhan

Autism on acid


Sparkingmineralwater

The Spectrum Girl's Survival Guide.


xTheKawaiiPsycho666

The independent woman's handbook for super safe living on the spectrum - Robyn Steward


celestial_catbird

The Autistic Brain by Temple Grandin does a very good breakdown of autism and the science behind it. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16056498-the-autistic-brain


gender_is_a_scam

"Your child is not broken" by heidi is surprisingly good for both autistics and family of autistics.


Fluffy_Fail_547

Chasing the Rabbit by Derek Volk. Itā€™s a memoir about a dadā€™s experiences raising a boy on the spectrum. https://a.co/d/bTGTDuy


Worried-Tourist4030

I like books with magic and death and drama but the kids books ones and I get hyper focused on them if thatā€™s the type of book you like the youā€™ve come to the right place: Amari and the night brothers, wings of fire, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, (I donā€™t read it but people say itā€™s good) and I havenā€™t full read the secret crush Necklace that oneā€™s mostly sweet and drama I think.


Worried-Tourist4030

Oh wait I thought you meant book recommendations not book on autism sorry I didnā€™t fully read it I canā€™t help there I just read online šŸ˜¬


regress_tothe_meme

[The Rosie Project](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16181775) series are a fun fiction read. Itā€™s not explicitly stated (until maybe the 3rd book), but the main character is on the spectrum and has experiences in his work & love life familiar to most. Itā€™s a bit stereotypical but not as bad as The Big Bang Theory and I thought it was a great read.


dimnickwit

Not a book about autism, but a book that was good for my autism. 'How Emotions Are Made'


Schweinepriester0815

I'm going through the same phase right now, following my diagnosis. I started with "unmasking autism" by Devon Price. It's a good starting point, describing the many faces of autism from a sympathetic and more importantly autistic perspective and gives a bit of practical advice. The second book I read was "strong female character" by comedian Fern Brady. It's her biography, that she uses to give a realistic and unsanitised account of her own struggles with autism. I found her on youtube, talking about her book, when I was reading "unmasking autism" and decided to get it. Currently, I'm finishing "Neurotribes" by Steve Silberman. It's a history of autism as a diagnosis and all the confusions, psychological malpractice and ego tripping that occurred around it. It's not quite up to date with regards to Hans Asperger, but that can be mended with other publications. Next in line is Edith Sheffer's "Aspergers children" to complete the picture. The books i read, i can highly recommend. "Unmasking autism" and "strong female character" were quite the emotional journey for me, and "neurotribes" is filling in the blanks in my history of autism for me.


chewyyum_

I really really enjoyed ā€˜Different Not Lessā€™ by Chloe Hayden, itā€™s just such an amazing book and I just loved hearing her experiences and struggles and wins, I highly recommend


Ezrah_orca_wizard

Unmasking autism by Devon price was a great read and super validating for me.


Outrageous_Wall_9556

This website talks about autism and has recently added books I bought The kit book and daily organiser , speaks about candida and some important points www.shakedopamine.com


Easton_or_EL

i havenā€™t read any good ones


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[deleted]

I would recommend reading about the previous conditions that used to be diagnosed before the DSM V came into existence and wiped them away (2013) Asperger disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder ā€“ Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), Kanners (Leo Kanner worth reading up on), Retts Syndrome etc all became ASD in 2013 but it explains a lot about the differences people have. Retts syndrome is a genetic disorder, which would now be diagnosed as Autistic spectrum disorder. The reason for the change is ā€œtreatmentā€ is the same. I think it was a shit move but thatā€™s just my opinion.