Wasted Talent:Musings of an Autistic
by Krishna NarayananUnable to speak or write and filled with a tension that manifested itself as autism, he was seen as retarded. In 1994, at the age of 23, he substituted a word for its synonym in an article he was copying. His parents were thrilled, and he began to communicate. The dialogue between himself and his parents as reproduced in this book is a long shot from his writing ability here in this book. This is about how his autism has affected, and how he has gotten relief from the anxiety that plagues him. As he says, he is probably that only autist(he uses autistic to mean autist, but I don't) to have experienced ten years of Ayurvedic therapy along with taking westtern medication. He is therefore able to write about a therapy not well known to most. Of this eleven-chapter book, two or three chapters are musings, mostly on how Autism has hindered Krishna, three are spent on his travels and world history, three are autobiographical bits not easily generalized, and four are about Krishna's experiences with therapies and his hopes for autists. Photographs and illustrations are on every page, and I'm not sure who did the illustrations, as the author's co-ordination is not good enough for the detailed drawings. Krishna calls for a cure for autism, which he sees as his prison and a hell on earth. This book closes on his four dreams: that he will learn more math, that the US will allocate more money for research on autism treatments from the east and west, that the world will not abandon him when his parents die, and that an angel would come to marry him.
Krishna generalizes too much. What he attributes to all autistics are not traits all autistic shares; the views he claims for all autists are not shared by all autists. Changing "the autistic" to "me" everywhere in this book would make it a more compelling narrative. Reading this narrative as that of a
person will make it a better read than reading for the narrative of an autist. If you are trying to read up on autism, I suggest only reading chapter six: Ayurvedic Treatment, and chapter twelve Future From the Past.
Solemn/Philosophic reading.
