John Elder Robison

John Elder Robison is one of the most visible advocates for people living with Asperger’s syndrome. He grew up with Asperger’s at a time when the diagnosis didn’t exist, and with no inkling of how to pass for normal. Robison overcame enormous odds to lead a fulfilling life - from an anti-social ... (more)child to a successful father who has now raised an Aspergian son. He is the brother of Augusten Burroughs, author of Running With Scissors. John Elder Robison will be signing copies of his upcoming book, Be Different: Adventures of a Free-Range Aspergian, after his talk. This lecture will be interpreted in American Sign Language (ASL). For more information please contact the Programs Department at programs@rom.on.ca or 416.586.5797.

Best selling author John Elder Robison will be with us at Books Inc. in the Castro to read from his Autobiography "Look Me in the Eye".

Ever since he was young, John Robison longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits--an inclination to blurt out non ... (more)sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother, Augusten Burroughs, in them)--had earned him the label "social deviant." It was not until he was forty that he was diagnosed with a form of autism called Asperger's syndrome. That understanding transformed the way he saw himself--and the world. A born storyteller, Robison has written a moving, darkly funny memoir about a life that has taken him from developing exploding guitars for KISS to building a family of his own. It's a strange, sly, indelible account--sometimes alien yet always deeply human.

About the author:
John Elder Robison lives with his wife and son in Amherst, Massachusetts. His company, J E Robison Service, repairs and restores fine European automobiles.

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Books Inc. is a locally owned and operated independent bookseller with 10 locations in California. Books Inc.'s origin dates back to the Gold Rush Days of 1851 when Anton Roman struck it rich in Shasta City, California and set himself up in business selling books. That small bookstore was moved, bought, sold, burned, rebuilt, renamed and became Books Inc., as we know it today, in 1946.

Today, with 10 Stores and 200 employees, Books Inc. serves as a shining example that independent bookselling can survive and prosper, even if we must dance among the elephants.

This Event is Free at Books Inc. 2275 Market St., San Francisco 94114
For Questions: 415.864.6777 or on the web at www.booksinc.net and
www.myspace.com/booksinccastro

John Elder Robinson will speak and sign LOOK ME IN THE EYE.