Customer Reviews

Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism

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Dr. Grinker has written a book that is quite educational and simultaneously compelling and touching. This work helps us understand this phenomenon we call Autism today and how it came to be. I have spent the past twenty years treating individuals with Autism and teaching others to care for them as well, and this book is one that is truly a "must read!".
No doubt that Dr. Grinker will come under fire for his position that the increase in Autism diagnoses is more a reflection of improved awareness on the part of the public, and the medical and educational communities, and not primarily the result of unknown or evil forces in our world. The argument he makes is scientifically sound, and is really only one aspect of this wonderful book, that holds so many other treats for the reader. I recommend it to all and will make it required reading in my classes

This is an extraodinarily good book that works on many levels. It's a history of psychiatry's attempts to understand autism, a hard look at the idea that there is an autism "epidemic", and a genuinely compelling story of one man's journey to understand and deal with his autistic daughter. It is extremely well written, honest when honesty is called for and passionate and eloquent when simple honesty isn't enough. Grinker manages to treat autistic people with respect without romanticizing them or the struggles of autistic people and their caregivers to "fit in" to a social world that simply isn't put together the way they'd like it to be. If you are only going to read one book about autism, I strongly recommend this one.

This book had three main topics. One is the author's own daughter, Isabel, who is autistic. The second is addressing what many see to be an epidemic of autism, and deciding if that really is the case. The third is taking a look at how other cultures treat those with autism. All three topics were covered well, and were very interesting to read about.

I especially enjoyed hearing about Isabel's fascination with the book Linnea in Monet's Garden, and how the family used that interest to expand her horizons, rather than discouraging it. It reminded me of a time when my son was extremely taken with a certain episode of Mister Rogers, where Mister Rogers visits a trolley museum. We took a trip to the same trolley museum, and my son was just stunned and thrilled to be able to see and do the same things he saw in the episode. I think it's important to USE special interests to engage kids, rather than discourage them as often we are told to do.

I had often wondered if the uptick in autism diagnoses could be simply that it's more accepted as a diagnosis now. I am now convinced that is the case. In many cases, according to this book, it wasn't even AVAILABLE to use as a diagnosis until recently, so OF COURSE it's diagnosed more now!

I think my favorite part of the book was the chance to see how other cultures deal with autism today. It mostly makes me happy I live here and not in India or South Korea, although everyplace seems to be improving in the attitudes and care. I would love to hear about more countries and autism---what about China?

I want to thank the author for this thoughtful, well researched and very interesting book.

As a scientist, I was so impressed that this book was able to integrate both an easy to read history of how autism emerged as a popular diagnosis, and a moving memoir. Thirty years ago all I knew of autism was what I heard about just one type of person, but this book shows the big range of autism. This is a book that will help parents to advocate for their children. It will help advance philanthropy. It will also help researchers because good research depends on a better understanding of autism. Fear and panic about a disorder don't produce sustained research programs. Data, knowledge, and accurate analysis and reporting does, however. This book offers much more. In the memoir portions, Grinker helps you to see the positive side of so many things we parents struggle with. Buy two or three because you will want to share the book with your friends, and with family members or teachers who just never seem to understand your child or what you are going through.

Unstrange Minds investigates how autism has become a widely diagnosed and prevalent disorder in the United States during the last 15 years. Dr. Grinker persuasively argues that with broad criteria now used to make diagnoses, more children are being counted as autistic even though they present with milder cases such as Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Asberger's Syndrome, leading to what seems like an "epidemic." Dr. Grinker traveled throughout Africa, South Korea and India to examine how other societies integrate autism into their cultural frameworks. It is fascinating to read how each culture treats autism differently, from the Navajo who embrace their children as blessed to the South Koreans who hide their autistic children to protect siblings from being considered tainted and unmarriageable. It is books like Dr. Grinker's, which courageously explore autism and fearlessly take a position, that are helping to make readers of this disorder aware and better informed.

This is a must-read book - not just for those with an interest in autism but for anyone with a heart. It is full of information on the history, treatment, and prevalence of autism spectrum disorders but it is also the story of the author's daughter and the sons and daughters of others throughout the world who struggle with autism. Grinker shows us the love and devotion - and sometimes utter exasperation - of parents everywhere trying to meet the challenge of finding the best treatment, support, and education for their children. Anyone with a uniquely challenging child will be inspired and comforted. But the book should also strengthen our resolve as a society to find the tools we need to treat autism and improve the lives of individuals and families struggling with the disorder. This is an important book and I highly recommend it.

In this provocative and wide-ranging book, Grinker examines how culture influences our understandings of autism and the treatment of people with this diagnosis. The book has already become controversial, because Grinker sheds new light on complex debates about rising rates of autism. He shows that these rising rates actually reflect better ways to detect autism in the population, the changing climate for educating autistic children, and the successful integration of autistic people into community life. Grinker is both the father of an autistic child and an accomplished anthropologist, and the book documents his efforts to increase autism awareness in cultures where people with autism are still hidden from view. Some passages in the book are quite moving, such as -- Paul McEnroe's story, Maureen Fanning's heroism, and Merry Barua's dedication. The book weaves together many different facets of autism (child psychiatry, public health, neurology), and it taught me a lot about the controversies over the so-called epidemic of autism. The book is both as serious contribution to this debate and a moving personal chronicle.

Grinker's book is a wonderful, compassionate examination of the social constructions behind the "autism epidemic." He overviews the controversy of autism with a keen awareness of the ways in which society constructs "normalcy." More importantly for me, he treats his autistic subjects with compassion and dignity. He isn't trying to help parents or readers find "the normal child" hidden or locked away by autism. He respects his daughter and his subjects enough to respect their differences. Respect their ways of seeing and living in a world that often wants them to be "different." Wants them to be "normal." I applaud Grinker for his work. It's an enormous accomplishment.

When you are the parent of an autistic child (I am the parent of a 9 1/2 year old boy named Charlie), the professional, the political, and the personal, all meld together, and Grinker's Unstrange Minds does just this. The book combines memoir (of his daughter's life and, too, of his own) along with a well-argued case for why there is no autism epidemic (via careful analysis of the evolution of the DSM and of changing cultural attitudes towards autism, and of statistics on the prevalence of autism) and thoughtful accounts of autistic children in Korea, India, and South Africa and their families. Grinker summons his professional training as an anthropologist with his life with Isabel to write a book that ought to become an autism classic.

Kristina Chew
[...].

UNSTRANGE MINDS: REMAPPING THE WORLD OF AUTISM is a powerful survey of the parents of autistic children in South Africa, South Korea and India and how their societies view the disorder - and is written by an anthropologist and father of a daughter with autism. Contrary to popular belief there is no evidence for an 'autism epidemic' - just better diagnosis of the condition - and Grinker's focus on diagnosis processes, public awareness, social programs, and his own personal story blends into an unusual anthropological investigation hard to put down. Public libraries as well as health collections will find UNSTRANGE MINDS compelling and revealing.