Reviews for Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey Through Autism

The average rating for Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey Through Autism based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2007-04-24 00:00:00 Rick Ferrara I grew up knowing I was different, but, thanks to my classmates, my extent of understanding of myself was that I was a "freak." In eighth grade, I was diagnosed with Aspergers, but never really understood any of what that meant. In eleventh grade, I discovered this book in my school library. For the first time in my life, I finally understood who I was and WHY I was different. [return]Though we'll never meet, and you'll probably never read these words, thank you Dawn for helping me feel not so alone in the world.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-05-06 00:00:00 Stephen Mcdermott I found this book really remarkable. Dawn Prince-Hughes has a form of autism called Asperger's Syndrome, which is a less noticeable form of autism. You might know someone with Asperger's and merely think they are eccentric or sometimes uncommunicative, and barely sociable, fascinating in their detailed interest in something or other descriptions that can describe peculiarities. She is a wonderful writer, and even if you don't think you are interested in autism, if you like memoir's, I very highly recommend this book. I have read other books on Asperger's written by authors who have it, but because of Dawn Prince-Hughes' close observation of gorillas and her ability to truly understand them and communicate with them, she is able to clarify many aspects of Asperger's that "neurotypical" people just simply cannot grasp. One reason neurotypicals cannot grasp and empathize with people with Asperger's is that those who have it don't experience the world the way we do and often can become adept at imitating neurotypicals much of the time. When they don't we think they are "being difficult" in some way they really could control. Not so. It is really sad that the people with Asperger's and the neurotypicals cannot just sit down and listen and talk. After reading this book, I strongly believe that people who put labels on others in an attempt to describe them, or call them various things which mean mentally off are really missing out in developing human understanding and wisdom.