I read Robison's more famous work, Look Me in the Eye, before I was diagnosed and fell in love with his writing style. He is a highly engaging writer and clearly wants to give insights and advice to those on and off the spectrum.

 

This is a bit different in that he shows how his strengths were used to help him gain the success he did. This is very different from his last book, where he mostly talked about his life and experiences. In doing this, I found this book to be far more compelling and helpful for me as an Aspergian.

 

I would highly recommend this book for anyone who has relatives with Asperger's syndrome, for teenagers and adults with Asperger's syndrome, and for teachers, coaches, or other adult leaders who mentor young Aspergians. In fact, he devotes a whole quarter of the appendix to just adults who deal with Aspergians.

You probably don't know this if you're not a knitter (or a bookseller), but the craft of knitting has a long tradition of literature. Not only how-to books, although there are certainly plenty of those. But even the most basic learn-to-knit book contains rumination on the craft, the art, the tradition. Most knitting books don't merely tell you how to knit: they also examine why we knit and what it means. No silly, not what the knitted product means; there are only so many ways to dissect a muffler or a sweater or a pair of mittens. Rather, knitters love to chew over what it means that we knit, the near-universality of the craft (Do you know how many cultures make garments by weaving threads together with the use of two sticks? Do you know how long humanity has been clothing itself in this manner? How's this for an answer: a way, way lot of them and since the days of yore. So there.) And not only is knitting a near-universal among cultures, there is also something so, well, so zen about the whole thing. It's a meditative, be-here-now kind of activity, one which soothes and calms (when it's not inciting and infuriating, that is). No wonder knitters write so much about knitting! Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the creator--she would probably say the perpetrator--of the Yarn Harlot blog, is one of the brightest, most original voices currently writing about knitting. All of her books contain stories, anecdotes and light philosophical musings; her latest, Free-Range Knitter is no exception. The essays in this collection are grouped loosely by subject matter, gathered together into chapters with headings such as "Yarn Over: Stories of Challenging People, Projects, and Knitters," and "Cast Off: Stories of Ends, Giving Up, and Living to Knit Another Day." Pearl-McPhee is at her best and funniest when telling stories of her own failures. Sweaters with arms long enough to make a straitjacket, mufflers that are 6 inches wide at one end and 12 at the other, hats that start life as a ski cap and end as a three foot long stocking cap because she didn't know when to finish. She's also wonderful when giving knitting instruction--the one thing missing from this collection; her patterns are simple, easy-to-follow, and--of course--hilarious. Definitely recommended for knitters...and who knows, if you're not a knitter this collection might make you want to pick up needles and start.

This is Stephanie in full flight, each chapter has a few sections and there are several descriptions of how other people knit and the why of their knitting along with some descriptions of juggling motherhood and knitting. The stories are quite short and filled with the usual Yarn Harlot humour. There are moments in it where you go "yes that explains stuff" but ultimately it's a book that preaches to the choir. If you're a knitter you'll understand, if not you'll really not get this.

Free-Range Knitter: The Yarn Harlot Writ... I loved this essay collection :) It's the first book I've read by the Yarn Harlot (although I've read some of her blog), but it definitely won't be the last. I've only knitted "for real" for two years, but already I could see far too much of myself in it, and she gave me a lot of new ideas for how to 'knit on the go'.It's a cozy read whose only fault was that it kept making me want to put down my Kindle and pick up my knitting instead.