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The Pattern Seekers: How Autism Drives Human Invention by [Simon Baron-Cohen]

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Simon Baron-Cohen

The Pattern Seekers: How Autism Drives Human Invention Kindle Edition

by Simon Baron-Cohen (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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A groundbreaking argument about the link between autism and ingenuity.
Why can humans alone invent? In The Pattern Seekers, Cambridge University psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen makes a case that autism is as crucial to our creative and cultural history as the mastery of fire. Indeed, Baron-Cohen argues that autistic people have played a key role in human progress for seventy thousand years, from the first tools to the digital revolution.
How? Because the same genes that cause autism enable the pattern seeking that is essential to our species's inventiveness. However, these abilities exact a great cost on autistic people, including social and often medical challenges, so Baron-Cohen calls on us to support and celebrate autistic people in both their disabilities and their triumphs. Ultimately, The Pattern Seekers isn't just a new theory of human civilization, but a call to consider anew how society treats those who think differently.

Print length

298 pages
Language

English
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On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Basic Books
Publication date

November 10, 2020
File size

23477 KB
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Jaclyn Hunt
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Temple Grandin
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Steve Silberman
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Simon Baron-Cohen
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A fascinating account of the mechanisms underlying the related capacities of both autistic individuals and innovators."

-- "Brian Josephson, professor emeritus of physics, University of Cambridge, and director of the Mind-Matter Unification Project"

"Based on massive research, Simon Baron-Cohen argues that most of us are specialized in how we perceive the world around us. There are those who focus on people and those who focus on things. The author makes a compelling case that the second kind of mind--the pattern seeker--is at the root of modern human civilization."

-- "Frans de Waal, New York Times bestselling author" --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

Simon Baron-Cohen is a professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of books including Mindblindness: An Essay on Autism and Theory of Mind and The Essential Difference: Male and Female Brains and the Truth About Autism. A recipient of the McAndless Award from the American Psychological Association, he is a vice president of the National Autistic Society (UK) and was president of the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) for 2009. Simon lives in the United Kingdom.

Jonathan Cowley is a British actor based in Los Angeles. He is an accomplished audiobook narrator, having recorded over fifty audiobook titles and he has received AudioFile Earphones Awards for his narration of The Science of Evil by Simon Baron-Cohen, The Tower, the Zoo and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart and The Angry Chef's Guide to spotting Bullsh*t in the World of Food by Anthony Warner. He is also an active TV/film actor having appeared in TV shows including Criminal Minds, Grey's Anatomy, Veep, and WestWorld, and films including Notorious Nick and Backseat. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B083J1G9PY
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books (November 10, 2020)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 10, 2020
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 23477 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 298 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #269,075 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #51 in Archaeology (Kindle Store)
- #58 in Autism
- #127 in Children's Health (Kindle Store)

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4.4 181 ratings

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Daniel Franklin, Ph.D.

Thought provoking and enjoyable

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 14, 2020

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I have worked in special education for over 30 years and I am thrilled by the publication of two new excellent books on autism, Uniquely Human by Barry Prizant and The Pattern Seekers by Simon Baron-Cohen, the subject of this review. The Pattern Seekers is a very enjoyable read. It is an excellent balance of science, anthropology, anecdote, and education. More importantly, The Pattern Seekers is a celebration of neurodiversity. Baron-Cohen focuses on the wonderful gift of systematizing; a characteristic that he believes is the result of the same trait that causes autism. Indeed, Baron-Cohen contends that a “Systematizing Mechanism evolved in the human brain, between 70,000 and 100,000 years ago,” (p. 17) making humans distinct from all other creatures and capable of extraordinary levels of creation. An important theme in Baron-Cohen’s book is the notion that there are “five types of brains” ranging from highly empathic to highly systematic. For the purposes of science, classification is critical, but in the classroom, we teachers do well by avoiding rigid classification (e.g., brain types, auditory learners, visual learners, etc.). In doing so we run the risk of fixating on an instructional approach that may not be optimal for the student. In the final chapter of his book, Baron-Cohen offers the excellent suggestion that we reform education such that students who want to be specialists have the benefit of a “narrow curriculum” and students who prefer to be generalists have access to a “broad curriculum.” As an educator, I am encouraged by Baron-Cohen’s book. I have always striven to celebrate differences and leverage each student’s interests and strengths. I am eager to know more about how Baron-Cohen views the role of relationships in learning and the creative process. It has long been my observation that teaching and learning, at their best, are the outcome of social interaction and that great achievements of humans are the product of both remarkable levels of systematization and of successful collaboration. I am now convinced that systematization may have set humans apart from all other animals but I also believe our natural ability to learn and teach at a very high level, may ultimately prove to be our most significant defining characteristic.

26 people found this helpful

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Alan Maupin

Presents Autism from a positive perspective

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 11, 2022

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The authors presents a positive aspect of autism relating to innovation. The explanations and descriptions of autistic behaviors help parents of autistic children better adapt to their child’s different way of thinking. Gives parents a deeper sense of understanding their child and appreciation for their special abilities.

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Fascinating and Important Book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 10, 2020

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I greatly enjoy reading books by scientists brave enough to venture out onto an intellectual limb and put forward new theories. In this book, psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen proposes a new theory of how the human mind "invents" new ideas, tools, machines ,etc. Drawing upon his studies of autism, Baron-Cohen describes a "Systemizing Mechanism" in human brains which evolved 70,000 to 100,000 years ago, marking a dramatic leap in human invention and creativity which decisively separated homo sapiens from our homolid ancestors. This book bristles with challenging ideas, including details about how the Systemizing Mechanism works, discussions about human genetics, descriptions about differences among human brains (systemizing vs. empathy), and thoughts about human evolution. In addition, the author describes various autistic individuals while making the case for their value to our society. I suspect that some (or perhaps most) academics will react with hostility and suspicion toward the author's ideas, but I found his arguments persuasive.

12 people found this helpful

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Paul D. Sonkin

Excellent and very well written - I highly recommend

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 1, 2021

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Ive read several papers of Baron-Cohen’s papers and was excited when this book came out. While autism is not my primary area of focus, a lot of portfolio managers on Wall Street appear to have it, so I wanted to learn more. I was looking for a non-technical book, written by a serious academic which explains the mechanisms behind the condition and this book is perfect. The Pattern Seekers explains the systemization process in a very easy to understand way with interesting little vignettes which makes the book a joy to read. I have already recommended this book to several colleagues and am happy to give this book a glowing review. Paul D. Sonkin - author of Pitch the Perfect Investment

5 people found this helpful

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Paul Cozart

Thin and disappointing

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 17, 2023

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This read more like an advertisement in favor of autism than anything else, to me. I was not impressed. I put it aside half way through, convinced no revelations were to be missed.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 20, 2022

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Minds are so varied and it’s fascinating and horrifying how humans have dealt with unproven but obviously true brain differences. Science cannot prove everything and should keep an open mind for everyones sake.

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Jonathan Mitchell

Few interesting tidbits, simplistic view of autism

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 12, 2020

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Though the book was well-written and had a few interesting things about early man and evolution and inventiveness (or lack of) in our forebearers, the book gives a very simplistic view of autism. There are hundreds of genes and genetic mutations associated with autism, implying all of them could lead to inventiveness is a very simplistic view. Claiming there are easy ways for autistics to be able to work and use these alleged hidden talents is farfetched and the author does not provide specific evidence for what genes would lead to inventiveness.

Also, the book really contained no new or novel information. The authors same old simplistic view of "neurodiversity", and facts about the endhoven study which is 9 year old news

We need more novel information about autism which hopefully will lead to treatment breakthroughs and perhaps even a cure that this author opposes

36 people found this helpful

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Animelee

Important read for autistic adults

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on November 25, 2020

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Simon Baron-Cohen once again displays a comprehensive understanding of what autism means, how it works and who may be likely to exhibit signs that point toward systemized behaviour. His if-and-then model accurately depicts the thought process of Type S and Extreme Type S personality types. I received this yesterday and could not put this book down, finishing it within a few hours. Now I have the further reading, notes and references to go through to seek more accounts and the underlying neuroscience of it. Highly recommend, especially if you have autism.

2 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Not bad

Reviewed in the Netherlands 🇳🇱 on February 27, 2021

Verified Purchase

Good ideas, would be helpful for people who have autistic friends/family.

But the content of the book is shallow. Could be shorter actually.

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