Neurotribes (Audiobook)
The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity
By Steve Silberman
Read by William Hughes
Review by Arnold Solof, MD – Pediatrician
I just finished listening to this audiobook. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the title accurately condenses the content of the book. The audiobook is 18 hours long, and this reflects the depth to which the author’s study and analysis have gone to research the subject.
Steve Silberman is a journalist. Given he is a journalist, I am very impressed with how accurately he has described the medical topics related to autism. I did not find even one instance where he fumbled there. On the other hand, I think not being a medical professional helped free his analysis from being encumbered by the limitations medical models, which to this date, fail to understand and explain the autism condition and its causality.
This book reviews the history of autism from its first descriptions through to modern-day thinking and the competing theories that have occurred along the way. It analyzes it from the psychiatric, parental, and the affected person’s points of views.
The book concludes by considering autism more as “neurodiversity” rather than a disease and recommends a more inclusive approach of society to individuals with autism; benefiting from the associated strengths and abilities of autistic people and accommodating their special needs.
After reading (or listening) to this book, you will not be an expert on autism, but you will come away with a much deeper understanding of the evolutionary history of this diagnosis, why we are seeing so many more individuals with autism nowadays and where we are (or should be) heading with this subject in the future.
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