Random House Inc</br></br>Product Description</br></br><b>One of the most remarkable books Ive ever read. Its truly moving eye-opening incredibly vivid.Jon Stewart <i>The Daily Show</i></b><br><br><b>NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY</b><br><b>NPR  <i>The Wall Street Journal "?Bloomberg Business "?Bookish</i></b><br><br><b>FINALIST FOR THE BOOKS FOR A BETTER LIFE FIRST BOOK AWARD " <i>NEW YORK TIMES</i> BESTSELLER</b><br><br>Youve never read a book like <i>The Reason I Jump</i>. Written by Naoki Higashida a very smart very self-aware and very charming thirteen-year-old boy with autism it is a one-of-a-kind memoir that demonstrates how an autistic mind thinks feels perceives and responds in ways few of us can imagine. Parents and family members who never thought they could get inside the head of their autistic loved one at last have a way to break through to the curious subtle and complex life within.<br> ?<br> Using an alphabet grid to painstakingly construct words sentences and thoughts that he is unable to speak out loud Naoki answers even the most delicate questions that people want to know. Questions such as: ??Why do people with autism talk so loudly and weirdly???""hy do you line up your toy cars and blocks??? ??Why don??t you make eye contact when you??re talking??? and ??What??s the reason you jump??? (Naoki??s answer: ??When I??m jumping?? it??s as if my feelings are going upward to the sky.??) With disarming honesty and a generous heart?? Naoki shares his unique point of view on not only autism but life itself. His insights?into the mystery of words?? the wonders of laughter?? and the elusiveness of memory?are so startling?? so strange?? and so powerful that you will never look at the world the same way again.<br> ?<br> In his introduction?? bestselling novelist David Mitchell writes that Naoki??s words allowed him to feel?? for the first time?? as if his own autistic child was explaining what was happening in his mind. ??It is no exaggeration to say that <i>The Reason I Jump</i> allowed me to round a corner in our relationship.?? This translation was a labor of love by David and his wife?? KA Y""o share that feeling with friends?? the wider autism community?? and beyond. Naoki??s book?? in its beauty?? truthfulness?? and simplicity?? is a gift to be shared.<br><br><b>Praise for <i>The Reason I Jump</i></b><br><br>??This is an intimate book?? one that brings readers right into an autistic mind.??<b>?<i>Chicago Tribune </i>(Editor??s Choice)</b><br><br>??Amazing times a million.??<b>?Whoopi Goldberg?? <i>People</i></b><br><br>??<i>The Reason I Jump</i> is a Rosetta stone. . . . This book takes about ninety minutes to read?? and it will stretch your vision of what it is to be human.??<b>?Andrew Solomon?? <i>The Times </i>(U.K.)</b><br><br>??Extraordinary?? moving?? and jeweled with epiphanies.??<b><i>?The Boston Globe</i></b><br>?<br>??Small but profound . . . [Higashida??s] startling?? moving insights offer a rare look inside the autistic mind.??<b>?<i>Parade</i></b><br><br><br><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i></br></br>Amazon.com Review</br></br><div class=""ne: David Mitchell and Andrew Solomon</p> <div class=""rightImage""></div> <p><strong>David Mitchell is the international bestselling author of <em>Cloud Atlas</em> and four other novels.<br>Andrew Solomon is the author of several books including <em>Far From the Tree</em> and <em>The Noonday Demon</em>.</strong></p> <p><strong>Andrew Solomon: </strong>Why do you think that such narratives from inside autism are so rare--and what do you think allowed Naoki Higashida to find a voice?</p> <p><strong>David Mitchell: </strong>Autism comes in a bewildering and shifting array of shapes severities colors and sizes as you of all writers know Dr. Solomon but the common denominator is a difficulty in communication.  Naturally this will impair the ability of a person with autism to compose narratives for the same reason that deaf composers are thin on the ground or blind portraitists.  While not belittling the Herculean work Naoki and his tutors and parents did when he was learning to type I also think he got a lucky genetic/neural break: the manifestation of Naoki's autism just happens to be of a type that (a) permitted a cogent communicator to develop behind his initial speechlessness and (b) then did not entomb this communicator by preventing him from writing.  This combination appears to be rare.</p> <p><strong>AS: </strong>What in your view is the relationship between language and intelligence?  How do autistic people who have no expressive language best manifest their intelligence?</p> <p><strong>DM: </strong>It would be unwise to describe a relationship between two abstract nouns without having a decent intellectual grip on what those nouns are.  Language?? sure?? the means by which we communicate: but intelligence is to definition what Teflon is to warm cooking oil.  I feel most at home in the school that talks about 'intelligences' rather than intelligence in the singular?? whereby intelligence is a fuzzy cluster of aptitudes: numerical?? emotional?? logical?? abstract?? artistic?? 'common sense' ? and linguistic.  In this model?? language is one subset of intelli"