NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “As sweet and funny and sad and true and heartfelt a memoir as one could find.” —from the foreword by Augusten Burroughs

Ever since he was young, John Robison longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits—an inclination to blurt out non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother, Augusten Burroughs, in them)—had earned him the label “social deviant.” It was not until he was forty that he was diagnosed with a form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome. That understanding transformed the way he saw himself—and the world. A born storyteller, Robison has written a moving, darkly funny memoir about a life that has taken him from developing exploding guitars for KISS to building a family of his own. It’s a strange, sly, indelible account—sometimes alien yet always deeply human.

Desde que tenía tres o cuatro años, John Elder Robison es consciente de que es diferente de los demás. Era incapaz de establecer contacto visual con otros niños y, cuando era adolescente, sus extrañas costumbres —una fuerte inclinación hacia los dispositivos electrónicos, desmontar radios o cavar profundos hoyos— le habían otorgado el sello de «socialmente desviado». Sus padres no solo no lograron entender sus problemas de socialización, sino que fueron prácticamente tan disfuncionales como él. Pero, alentado por algunos maestros a arreglar sus equipos audiovisuales averiados, el pequeño Robison descubrió un mundo más familiar y cómodo de máquinas y circuitos, luz suave y perfección mecánica. Esto recondujo más tarde su vida laboral hacia sectores donde la conducta extraña se considera normal, desarrollando las guitarras eléctricas de KISS o juguetes computerizados para la compañía de Milton Bradley. No fue hasta los cuarenta años que le diagnosticaron una forma de autismo llamada síndrome de Asperger. Entender lo que le ocurría transformó la forma en que se veía a sí mismo y al mundo.

Mírame a los ojos es la historia de cómo creció con el síndrome de Asperger en un momento en que el diagnóstico simplemente no existía, con el objetivo de ayudar a quienes están hoy luchando para vivir con Asperger y mostrarles que no es una enfermedad, sino una forma de ser, que no necesita más cura que la comprensión y el aliento de los demás.

The slyly funny, sweetly moving memoir of an unconventional dad’s relationship with his equally offbeat son—complete with fast cars, tall tales, homemade explosives, and a whole lot of fun and trouble 
 
John Robison was not your typical dad. Diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome at the age of forty, he approached fatherhood as a series of logic puzzles and practical jokes. Instead of a speech about the birds and the bees, he told his son, Cubby, that he'd bought him at the Kid Store—and that the salesman had cheated him by promising Cubby would “do all chores.” While other parents played catch with their kids, John taught Cubby to drive the family's antique Rolls-Royce. Still, Cubby seemed to be turning out pretty well, at least until school authorities decided that he was dumb and stubborn—the very same thing John had been told as a child. Did Cubby have Asperger’s too? The answer was unclear.

One thing was clear, though: By the time he turned seventeen, Cubby had become a brilliant and curious chemist—smart enough to make military-grade explosives and bring federal agents calling. With Cubby facing a felony trial—and up to sixty years in prison—both father and son were forced to take stock of their lives, finally accepting that being “on the spectrum” is both a challenge and a unique gift.