Review of "The complete guide to Asperger's syndrome" on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
The missing manual many have probably been looking for, though like most manuals a bit out of date and it can't substitute for actual experience.
I've had the notion to find and read something like this for several years, primarily to understand friends, family and colleagues better, and I shouldn't have waited so long. Of course reading it is like starting in an abyssal mirror and it has as much you say about my own behaviour as everyone else's. It is exactly what it sells itself as, and so it can be a bit repetitive but that's probably to its merit.
It's big weakness is really a reflection on the state of autism diagnosis at large: DSM5 collapsed Asperger's and autism together into a broader Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis which better reflects the reality of current research, but the book keeps using the previous terminology as that transition had only …
The missing manual many have probably been looking for, though like most manuals a bit out of date and it can't substitute for actual experience.
I've had the notion to find and read something like this for several years, primarily to understand friends, family and colleagues better, and I shouldn't have waited so long. Of course reading it is like starting in an abyssal mirror and it has as much you say about my own behaviour as everyone else's. It is exactly what it sells itself as, and so it can be a bit repetitive but that's probably to its merit.
It's big weakness is really a reflection on the state of autism diagnosis at large: DSM5 collapsed Asperger's and autism together into a broader Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis which better reflects the reality of current research, but the book keeps using the previous terminology as that transition had only just begun. At this point a lot of water has gone under the bridge and there is both a dated understanding of what autism is in the popular culture and an extremely nuanced and complex understanding among the autistic community, which this book is at best stuck in the middle of.
That said it is still a great resource, and perhaps there will be a successor that better reflects cutting edge research and sentiments in the future.
