100 Books Like Is This Autism?

This tiny book taught me how to be more self-compassionate in some very practical ways. On the surface, this book is about housekeeping and chores, but it’s much more than that. When I read this book, I was in burnout, and “doom piles” of unfinished tasks were building up in my home.

KC reminded me that I could unhook from the unrealistic expectations I had of myself, see this mess as “morally neutral,” and understand that my home being messy did not mean I was a failure. She gave me practical strategies to show “kindness to future me,” and I still love how the book has a shortcut way of reading it, with all the key points highlighted, so I can jump back in at any time and find something useful.

Right after I was diagnosed Autistic, this book opened my eyes to what being Autistic really meant. It started to make sense to me: how I’d been suppressing my true needs, how I’d fallen into people-pleasing habits, how much social situations can wear me out, and how I’d had episodes of Autistic burnout across my life but never known why.

As I read, I began to recognize my true self and understand what I needed to feel comfortable and content. This was a pivotal book for me and launched me into my new neurodivergent identity.

I find Chloé Hayden inspirational, and when I read this book, it felt like she was talking to me. Chloé was diagnosed Autistic in her childhood and an ADHDer in adulthood. At the time, there wasn’t anything available for neurodivergent women that helped us discover and embrace who we are.

Chloé jumped online and started a YouTube channel, and she still creates videos that are just so incredibly authentic and joyful to watch. In her book I enjoy her practical, no-nonsense writing style, and how she wove good quality information with personal stories in a way that made this book a pleasure to read.

This beautiful book makes offering yourself compassion simple and achievable. I have been recommending this book for a long time because I love how Laura captures all the key skills of self-compassion and explains them in a way that is practical and easy to follow.

So many books about self-compassion are very long, theoretical, and unnecessarily complex, and I find them hard to read. This book is grounded in what researchers have shown can help (it’s evidence-based), but it doesn’t get bogged down in theory.

Instead, Laura’s simple worksheets, written exercises, mindfulness, and visualization scripts gave me new skills to tackle self-criticism and put self-compassion into action. I have even used exercises in the book with my clients and they’ve loved them too.

What I love about this book is that Christopher is such an unusual child and sees the world in ways that most of us do not.

In reading this bizarre and disturbing mystery story, we begin to see the world differently ourselves. I like, too, the fact that what is different about him is never named – it’s not some specific diagnosis or categorization – he is just Christopher, the odd, mathematically gifted, strangely reacting, teenager.

When he becomes terrified of what we might take as quite ordinary events and places, I begin to feel some of his difference – to feel what it might be like to be so much an outsider. It helped me to remember that we are all different.

I read Jory Fleming's book in just one day, profoundly moved by his insights as the first autistic Rhodes Scholar. This book explores an issue that my patients encounter each day: Namely, how to navigate the nuances and complexities of a world that is designed for neurotypical brains.

Jory’s approach to emotional understanding and social interactions has inspired me to approach life with greater empathy and curiosity, examine the limitations of neurotypical thinking, and further explore the richness of the autistic experience. This book isn't just enlightening; it's a heartfelt reminder of the strength in our differences and the pressing need to bridge those differences with understanding.

There are now many excellent books on the market written by people with autism about living with autism. Donna Williams might be considered one of the pioneers in this regard. I love the way that this book gives insight into ways of being which would not traditionally be considered ‘neurotypical’.

Reading first-hand accounts of autism is a must for anyone who is interested in neurodiversity. Williams’ death in 2017 represented a great loss to autism communities and, indeed, to the world in general.

We live in a world that all too often pathologizes autism and sees autistic people as broken and in need of fixing. In this book, Dr. Barry Prizant sees neurodivergent people through a strengths-based lens.

I appreciate the importance he places on listening to and understanding the experiences of autistic people and how he uses those experiences to illustrate the unique gifts that autistic people bring to the world. Dr. Prizant has helped to inspire the continued evolution of our Cortica clinical care model, and his book highlights the importance of amplifying neurodiverse voices.

Ellen Outside the Lines is the book I wish I had when I was a young person. Ellen is autistic and A.J. Sass writes her experience with authenticity and compassion.

I was completely drawn into the ups and downs that Ellen faced during the school trip: from the change in routine to friendship drama and questions of identity. I didn’t want the book or the adventure to end! 

Obviously, some of us are more aware of patterns than others. Simon Baron-Cohen—a psychologist at Cambridge, and one of the world’s leading authorities on autism—has found that a facility for pattern recognition is strongly correlated not only with gender (males predominate) but with autism.

He led a survey of 600,000 Britons aimed at determining if they were primarily empathizers, adept at connecting with other people, or systemizers, more interested in detecting patterns and learning how things work. Those at the extreme end of systemizing were considerably more likely to be autistic.

Baron-Cohen’s empathizer/systemizer questionnaire is included at the back of the book. Taking the bait, I found myself on the cusp of extreme. Which may explain a lot.