Switched On

February 29, 2016
Robison's second memoir is honest, scientific, personal, and full of rock and roll. It follows his life after the years recounted in his 2007 memoir, Look Me in the Eyes, and reads in many ways like a coming-of-age novel. After Robison was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, he participated in an experimental transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) study, which changed his life. Robison reflects on what he learned while delving into the science behind autism treatment and celebrating the people who were with him through truly difficult moments along a path of self-discovery. He emphasizes that the TMS treatment is new and experimental, and though his experiences are mostly positive and the treatment has real potential, not everyone who undergoes it responds the same way. Robison's memoir contains as much vulnerability and honesty as it does discussions of neuroscience and autism.

December 15, 2015
The bestselling author shares his experience as a participant in a cutting-edge study of the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation on the brains of people on the autism spectrum. A team of Harvard neuroscientists hoped that stimulating the outer layer of the brain might induce it to rewire itself and increase its emotional IQ. Robison (Raising Cubby: A Father and Son's Adventures with Asperger's, Trains, Tractors, and High Explosives, 2013, etc.) explains that those on the autism spectrum are not unemotional or uncaring but rather lack self-awareness and the ability to read and respond empathetically to the emotions of others. They miss cues such as tone of voice and facial expression. Because of this, their responses may be inappropriate. Robison relates how, despite his success in a number of fields, he was frustrated by his social disability, which hampered his social relationships. In his youth, he engineered sound and lighting systems for leading rock groups, and he went on to a corporate job designing electronic games. Currently, he owns a business restoring high-end automobiles. In the past decade, the author has also gained recognition as a writer and consultant on autism. For six months, Robison received TMS on a weekly basis. Before and after, he was tested at the lab and also discussed his experience of the treatment with the scientists. He had always loved music but in an abstract way; now, when listening, he felt intense emotions. The author writes movingly of how his response to other people developed a depth previously lacking, and his own responses became more expressive. Within this new mindset, his wife's chronic depression induced a painfully depressed feeling in him, and for the first time, he recognized subtle mockery from someone he thought to be a friend. Although his emotions flattened out somewhat after the sessions ended, he has experienced a lasting emotional sensitivity. He is optimistic about the direction of the research. A fascinating companion to the previous memoirs by this masterful storyteller.

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March 1, 2016
Robison, who shared his late-life diagnosis and life as an Asperger's patient in Look Me in the Eye (2007), continues with his experiences as a volunteer in a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) experiment. Like most Asperger's patients, he struggles to move beyond the literal in conversation and read emotional nuances in social interactions. In the TMS experiment, researchers attempt to rewire the brain by pinpoint electrical shocks to carefully selected locations in the hope of stimulating those abilities. Robison's reactions are eye-opening, if temporary. The music-technician-turned-car-mechanic is suddenly able to detect emotion within the music. Reading brings him to tears. His wife's depression becomes overwhelming to him. His carefully controlled world is suddenly rocked, and he finds himself reexamining his life and relationships. Robison has an uncanny ability to describe his thoughts and feelings and is painfully honest about the pluses and minuses of the experience. Fascinating for its insights into Asperger's and research, this engrossing record will make readers reexamine their preconceptions about this syndrome and the future of brain manipulation.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2015

Robison's New York Times best-selling Look Me in the Eye memorably allowed us to understand what life is like for someone with autism. Now he takes us further, explaining what happened after he agreed to undergo an out-there new brain therapy known as TMS, or transcranial magnetic stimulation. The therapy allowed him to experience others' feelings as he hadn't before yet left him troubled about his past life and current relationships. Both memoir and neurological study--and, no doubt about it, neurology is a trending new reading topic.

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