Look Me in the Eye, My Life with Asperger’s, by John Elder Robison is a memoir about growing up different from everyone else, but not knowing why.

Robison wasn’t diagnosed with Asperger’s until he was 40. Until then, he was told all sorts of reasons why he was different. That he was a deviant sociopath seemed to be a recurrent theme, because he was percieved as being rude, and he would never look people in the eye when talking to them.

He grew up thinking something was very wrong with him and this led him to fail out of school when he was 15 even though he tested in the 99th percentile. From there, his life takes all sorts of interesting turns, including designing smoking guitars for KISS.

This memoir is written with humor and honesty, and gives great insight into the life of people with Asperger’s. It was a wonderful book. Highly recommended reading.