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(as of Sep 18, 2024 22:01:22 UTC – Details)
‘This book isn’t a memoir. It is a love letter to the phenomenon of autistic hyperfixation.’
A fascinating exploration of the autistic experience from leading advocate, Pete Wharmby.
In What I Want to Talk About, popular autism advocate Pete Wharmby takes listeners on a journey through his special interests, illuminating the challenges of autistic experience along the way. Funny, revealing, celebratory and powerful in equal measure, this is an audiobook that will resonate with many, and which should be required listening for anyone who wants to understand autism with more accuracy and empathy.
4.5
Reviewer: J. Dill
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Helpful reminders for late diagnosis and relatives
Review: I think this book could be very helpful for people who are seeking late diagnosis, and possibly sympathetic relatives who may open to recognizing that they may have missed certain behaviors. There are a lot of details from my childhood that I still remember, but that I hadn’t thought much about in recent years. For example, my parents recognized that I could read some words as a toddler and was reading books on my own before primary school. I had problems with gross motor skills, having problems like tripping on stairs, but unusual fine motor skills. I had a proclivity for taking things apart, like removing the nuts from the base of a metal typing table that, thankfully, was still held together by paint. I removed pins from some curtains that my mom was hemming and relocated them to the back of the sofa, but unfortunately for my parents, they thought that I had eaten them. My mom had a divided chocolates box full of buttons and I could spend hours spilling out the buttons and then sorting them back into the box by color and other criteria. I informed my first grade teacher that it is rude to interrupt people when they are reading while I sat there reading my dinosaur book having already finished the basic addition that we were supposed to be working on. I pointed out mistakes that teachers made, which was definitely not appreciated. Other kids feigning that they would give me acceptance if I did certain things that I didn’t understand were inappropriate and then reporting these activities to the teacher so that they could laugh at my punishment. Having meltdowns at school that my parents never knew about. None of these were exactly stories from the book, but it sort of jogged my memory by helping me to think back on times from my life before I had learned to mask my autistic behaviors. When I was getting my diagnosis, books by autistic people seemed oriented toward helping non-autistic people understand autism. It’s exciting to see a new generation of books from autistic people written for autistic people to help us to better understand ourselves.
Reviewer: Morgan Harper Nichols
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Relatable and timely
Review: I am so grateful for this book. Not only did it resonate with me on a personal level (I’m a late-diagnosed autistic), but it’s given me language to help communicate my experiences. I will definitely be returning to this book again. A great resource.
Reviewer: Twin Mum
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Very insightful!
Review: As a mom of two children on the autism spectrum, I found this book to be extremely enlightening. It has helped me better understand the importance of my kidsâ special interests and has provided me with additional insight into how their minds work. Thank you for sharing your story.
Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Beautiful and Insightful Celebration of Autistic Special Interests
Review: I have been looking forward to this book since I’ve been an avid follower of Pete’s social media presence, having first discovered him a few months ago during my own formal (late) autism diagnosis process.Suffice to say, it did not disappoint. Using Special Interests as a starting point to discuss various aspects of the autistic experience, and his own self discovery, is an ingenious device. The author doesn’t shy away from how difficult and disabling autism can be, but Special Interests are a perfect entry point into looking at some of the positives of the autistic experience. It is a celebration of autistic joy, underlining how comforting they can be, how crucial they are to our understanding of the world, how they can be a source of pride and connection to our fellow human beings (across neurotypes).The tone is well considered, balancing humour with the seriousness some of the material deserves, as well as some rather touching moments too. Far from the monologue about his own interests some might expect (Wharmby is rather self aware and self deprecating, he points out consciously avoiding overindulging his need to share too many details a few times throughout the book), it feels more like an invitation to share in the love of these topics, an affirmation that Special Interests are beautiful, and a permission to embrace one’s own obsessions as a force for good.This is undoubtedly one of the best personal accounts of autism I’ve read, and will be recommending it to others in the hope of spreading this love and understanding of autistic Special Interests.
Reviewer: Bizzy
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A nuanced exploration of the author’s interests
Review: First of all, Iâm glad the author got the opportunity to talk about the things he wants to talk about! I strongly relate to his feeling of how you hardly ever find others who are as interested in your interests as you are, so itâs great that he got this opportunity to share his interests with others who will (hopefully) be just as interested.This book is a perfect illustration of how special interests (or hyperfixations, as the author calls them) intertwine themselves with everything else in your life. In my experience, thatâs been one of the most difficult aspects of special interests to explain to non-autistic people: how my brain wants to relate everything back to those interests, and how it finds connections between my interests and seemingly unrelated things. I loved how Wharmby was able to describe various important events in his life through the lens of his interests. It was cleverly done, and helped me share in his enthusiasm.Every time I read a book by another autistic person, Iâm amazed by the experience of reading about thoughts and experiences like mine, which is not something Iâm used to. Even when weâre different in significant ways, there are still core feelings and experiences that so many of us share.I recommend this book to autistic readers wanting to share common experiences. I think itâs also a good book for helping non-autistic people look past the stereotypes and get to know an autistic person in a more nuanced way.
Reviewer: K R
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Lovely
Review: I received this for Christmas, having had it on my wishlist with âhighestâ priority. Iâm so glad I did. Itâs a lovely book that was a joy to read. I found it very comforting and identified with much of the content. Perhaps most importantly, it has inspired me to revisit some of my special interests that had fallen away. I very much recommend it and suggest keeping an eye out for his newest book as well.
Reviewer: Rebekah L. O’brien
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: As a late diagnosed Autistic adult, there’s just something really special about finding community. Autistic twitter/reddit have given me far more support and context for my experiences than the Autism industry ever has (or has tried to, even). This book feels like the very best twitter thread and the very best reddit meme about being Autistic that makes you go “oh my god, there’s a WORD for that? Other people experience that??”A lot of us know there’s nothing like a good info dump and this book is such a well-structured info dump with so much context, it’s like finally finding your version of the fantasy world the characters in the books you loved got to go to and finding our you’re already a member there.Highly recommend for late dx Autistics looking for more information/context about ourselves, for parents of Autistic kids who should know how important special interests are, and for anyone who works in Autism and is starting to realize the industry has not been accomplishing help/support for Autistics at all.
Reviewer: Nina Danon
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I couldn’t recommend this book enough! Pete Wharmby has a way to describe his autistic experiences with humour and simplicity, finding exactly the right words to capture the essence of the feelings he discusses.It’s a very satisfying and comfortable read, which feels like a gentle conversation with a good friend. I knew I would be captivated by the topic (autistic special interests), but I wasn’t expecting this book to be so moving and funny at the same time – it literally had me laughing!The way Pete Wharmby writes about his experiences is so vivid, he finds exactly the right words to bring a whole multi-sensory world to life. And as a late-identified autistic myself, so much of it really resonated with me. Pete focuses on small details of the autistic experience, the floating feelings which are so important yet so hard to describe. Reading this book brought back many childhood feelings, it made me re-experience the small ineffable joys of growing up with my own special interests!Definitely an essential (and very pleasant) read for anyone wanting to understand autistic experiences!
Reviewer: J&J Kampes
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: There are a lot of books about autism. Not enough by far of those are written by autistic adults, and even less are about adults. This is the kind of book we all really, really need.I noticed myself nodding and humming at about everything I read. From having a stim that is not often recognized (for me it’s knitting instead of Lego blocks) to having more empathy than is good for me, I knew it all. I love how it is all tied to special interests, and how those special interests can help us get through life as guides, examples, and also safe havens. I learned how to recognize that feeling when I have been reading for hours on end and life seems so far off and unreal, and that I am not the only one feeling that way. I sight when I read about teaching and the fear before every lesson – as I stopped my teacher training in the last year as my trainer in apprenticeship predicted an outcome like Pete experienced. I am still thankful she steered me on a different course, although it still took six years and another burn-out before I knew I was autistic.All in all I highly recommend reading this book to anyone who wants some true and experienced insights in how autistic brains can work.
Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Diagnosed six months ago aged 57. In my head I live in the universes of two sci fi writers that they have created over years and many books.Astronomy,cosmology and the fundamental forces of nature rule my world and are on constant visual display in my head (as is, much to my ongoing surprise, WWII)I am never, never lonely but have always been alone. And I didnât think that was a problem.Whilst reading this book, I now see there is a place to go without fear. Not a location, but with others that are in the know.
Reviewer: Devin Hogg
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This is an excellent book that really captures the critical role Special Interests play in the life of the neurodiverse. The author writes in an accessible manner and doesn’t shy away from the nuances of Special Interests, the good AND the bad. As an autistic myself, I resonated with much of what the author shared, even if my specific Special Interests are different than many of those the author listed. I highly encourage giving this a read if you are neurodiverse and don’t want to feel alone, or are neurotypical and want greater insight into the neurodiverse experience.
