An exceptionally haunting memoir that also shows us what it is to be really human. In a hardware store, Joe sits on a display toilet amidst the throng of customers and wees, smiling serenely. He thumps crying babies. He is amazed when the car he runs in front of actually hits him. Joe is ten and mentally disabled. He's funny, fascinating and maddening, and this memoir tells his moving story, but also argues that until we know Joe's life, we can't understand our own. Through philosophy, psychology and medical research, the author explains how we are mind-readers, how we make sense of other people and how we understand guilt and innocence, and shows that Joe sets our humanity in sharp relief. But in that case, is Joe part of it? The author who asks that outrageous question is Joe's father.
An exceptionally haunting memoir that also shows us what it is to be really human. In a hardware store, Joe sits on a display toilet amidst the throng of customers and wees, smiling serenely. He thumps crying babies. He is amazed when the car he runs in front of actually hits him. Joe is ten and mentally disabled. He's funny, fascinating and maddening, and this memoir tells his moving story, but also argues that until we know Joe's life, we can't understand our own. Through philosophy, psychology and medical research, the author explains how we are mind-readers, how we make sense of other people and how we understand guilt and innocence, and shows that Joe sets our humanity in sharp relief. But in that case, is Joe part of it? The author who asks that outrageous question is Joe's father.
"No less than a voyage into the deep places of the human spirit and a vision of what lies beneath conventional notions of sanity and aberration" Ruth Rendell "Blastland has performed a remarkable service in baring his family life for us" Simon Baron-Cohen (author of The Essential Difference), Guardian "An uncompromising philosophical inquiry...stands out as a work of rare enlightenment" Sunday Telegraph "Vividly engaging. If you want to know what classic autism is like, close-up and personal then read this book" Uta Frith, PhD, University College London and author of Autism: Explaining the Enigma "Compelling. Read it. Enjoy it. Learn from it. It will haunt you." Bernard Rimland, PhD, consultant for Rain Man"
Michael Blastland makes current affair programs for UK radio. He lives in Hertfordshire, often with his daughter Cait, and less often and less quietly with his son Joe.
This is the best written, most thought-provoking book on autism I
have read in years, suitable for anyone with an interest in
humanity. Go out and buy it!
*Autumn 2006 issue*
It's certainly my book of the month
*The Bookseller*
A far superior piece of non-fiction, both poignant and amusing, and
instructive without ever becoming preachy
*Scotland on Sunday*
Blastland is likeably honest
*Daily Telegraph (Books)*
A moving story... Blastland has performed a remarkable service in
baring his family life for us.
*Guardian (Review)*
It is a brave and frightening book in several ways.
*New Scientist*
An engaging book
*Evening Standard*
Michael Blastland has written a beautiful and deeply thoughtful
book about his 10-year-old son Joe.
*The Lancet*
Joe is a book that deserves to be read. It will speak loudly not
just to those interested in autism, but to anyone who is fascinated
by the full range of what it means to be human.
*Catholic Herald*
From this careful, serious book emerges a man with a quick wit and
far-seeing eye for what makes life so peculiar... Joe...stands out
as a work of rare enlightenment.
*Seven*
If you read just one book about an autistic child this year, you
would do well to make it this one.
*Times Educational Supplement*
His honesty is in keeping with a compelling, brave and highly
readable book that never verges on the sentimental.
*Independent*
I can't think of anyone who shouldn't read this book.
*Daily Express*
Joe, the Only Boy in the World is an affecting book. Blastland
invokes the ancient African saying that "it takes a whole village
to raise a child" and, with this book, he has widened the village
to include potentially every reader.
*Sunday Business Post*
Deeply personal and moving ... [Blastland's] beautifully written
book offers us a glimpse of the torments endured by the growing
number of children born with their cerebral pathways wrongly
wired.
*Daily Mail*
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