$1.1 million for Asperger’s memoir
People want information about autism, or at least they want to know about it—autism ranked 8th in the Top Ten 2006 Google news searches. And $1.1 million is how much John Elder Robison, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, is getting to write his memoir, to be published by Crown. (One suspects it helps that Robison’s brother is Augusten Burroughs, author of Running with Scissors.) Today’s Gawker describes the book-to-be as a “memoir of growing up with Asperger’s Syndrome and emerging as a fully-realized adult” and wonders if it will be called “Running with Autism”?
One can’t know what the book will be about before it is published, but it does seem to me that there are already some quite good accounts of “growing up with Asperger’s Syndrome”—such as Dawn Prince-Hughes’ Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey Through Autism, to name only one out of many.
Added 8.30pm EST: Please be sure to read John Robison’s comment below and to check out his website, JohnRobison.com.
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POSTED IN: Adulthood, Autism Lit, Books, Money
8 opinions for $1.1 million for Asperger’s memoir
Daisy
Feb 12, 2007 at 6:24 pm
We’ve contemplated writing about our journey through the public school system. Of course, then I’d lose my job with the same system. Scratch that idea.
Rochelle
Feb 12, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Gosh… what would my book be called?
“Adventures in OCD”
“Charlie Brown, Blue’s Clues, and Spiderman, Oh My”
“No, Poop is not Playdough”
Somehow, I don’t see ‘em selling. Maybe it’s just me though…
John Robison
Feb 12, 2007 at 7:34 pm
I am John Robison, older brother of Augusten Burroughs and author of Look Me In The Eye, my memoir of life with Asperger’s Syndrome. My brother and I are very close – we live next door to each other – and he did encourage me to write my story, but I’d like to assure you this is not “Running With Autism,” as you have suggested.
I’m eight years older than my brother, and my childhood was very different - both because I see the world differently and because I am quite a bit older. I didn’t really have any of the shocking experiences my brother talks about, although I did do interesting and unusual things.
My book describes my experiences trying to fit in as a child, and my ultimately unsuccessful struggle to graduate from school. I talk about how I was welcomed into the world of professional musicians where eccentricities like mine were commonplace.
I talk about moving into a “real job,” as an engineer for a toy company, and how, the higher I rose, the harder it was for me to fit into the corporate world as an Aspergian. I was pretty good at passing for normal, but I eventually reached my limit.
I quit my job to fix cars in my driveway, and I built the company, J E Robison Service, that I own and run today in Springfield, Massachusetts.
I am aware that there have been a number of stories about Asperger’s and autism in recent years, and I know people will ask why mine is different. I’ve had different experiences, for one, and the things I’ve done – tour with KISS, be a game designer, and work on Land Rover, Rolls Royce, and Bentley cars – are things many kids dream of.
Well, I did them, and my story is ultimately a triumphant tale given my start as an Aspergian loser (loser being my teacher’s words, not mine) and high school dropout
In addition, my story is told in a different way. My family has a history of story telling, from my distant ancestors to my mother to my brother and me. I hope people enjoy it; all I can say right now is that my book won’t read like any of the others you’ve read.
I didn’t learn about Asperger’s until ten years ago, when I was forty, so my story is a tale of life more than of Asperger’s. It is my hope that my story of struggle and success will prove inspiring to others, and I hope this proves to be my opportunity to give something back to society.
I have a web site, http://www.johnrobison.com and a blog http://jerobison.blogspot.com/ where I will be posting more information on the book.
At this moment, all I’d ask is that people give me a chance for myself and my story to stand on its own. It is most assuredly NOT Running With Scissors redux, and I am not my brother.
John Robison
Kristina Chew, PhD
Feb 12, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Dear Mr. Robison,
Thank you so much for writing here about yourself and about your book, and please note that I took the “running with autism” phrase from Gawker.com. I look forward to reading your book and more than appreicate your commenting here.
David N. Andrews MEd
Feb 12, 2007 at 10:03 pm
I only got 200 quid for mine :(
Even then, I forgot to cash the bloody cheque!
Rochelle
Feb 13, 2007 at 1:53 am
I look forward to reading your book, Mr. Robison, and hope you didn’t take my attempt at brevity and humor as an insult. It’s been a long day in “autismland.” (A sinus infection, strep throat, and mono does not make one happy, content autistic child.)
(And, I actually just finished Running with Scissors this weekend–it seems the cosmos is lining up a bit. Fate?)
Kristina Chew, PhD
Feb 13, 2007 at 2:31 am
Daisy, how ’bout writing that book after you retire……???…..
Brett
Feb 13, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Another good book on these lines is “Freaks, Geeks & Asperger’s Syndrome” by teen-aged Luke Jackson. As the parent of a teen-aged autistic son, I really appreciated the point of view of a teen-ager and how he experiences the things we as parents can only try to understand.
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