I also gleaned some wisdom for myself as someone who has ADHD and is highly sensitive, particularly from his final chapter about managing emotions with mindfulness and self-acceptance. Harry’s self-described negative behaviors in schools (OMG did he really pee on the classroom bunnies?) were much more outlandish than my son’s but the reasons for his behaviors very likely similar. It reminds me a bit of the beatnik era books, as Harry is quite adventurous and was given many and desperate opportunities by his parents and also via his own sometimes outlandish choices such as his short-lived experiment with military school. Harry’s insights, wisdom and humor make it an enjoyable book. Very likely has Pathological Demand Avoidance (which is fundamentally an anxiety-driven need for control and a subset of behaviors specifically pertaining to autism.) Unfortunately it’s not an official diagnosis in the US. This book was very helpful to me as the mom of a newly diagnosed autistic son who I listened on audible and the narrator Elliot Chapman does an excellent performance sounding very like Harry Thompson himself (as seen on his YouTube channel.) The entertainment value is really low (more cringe-worthy than anything), so I wouldn't recommend it for that. On the other hand, I wouldn't because it doesn't paint the picture of a responsible human whom I'd like to give as an example to other humans. On the one hand, I would because there are too few first-person accounts of what it's like to be autistic in a complex world. I don't know if I should recommend this book to anyone. There's only a telling of the very stupid decisions of a teenager who could know better because he has the intellect and resources for it (and who, in any other setting, would have been held responsible for his own actions). What I'm trying to say is that, while it may be entertaining to read about a person deliberately destroying their own lives because they think they can't control themselves (although the author does state that by now he has some systems in place that help him stay safe, mindfulness and meditation being those mentioned), there is no real lesson learned here about PDA, about autism, about any way to manage either and to have a decent life (both for the person involved and those around). I'm pretty sure you know the answer to this or can imagine. What if they lived in a less "developed" country, where autism isn't even recognized and there are no special and independent schools for kids who don't fit in the general school system. What would have happened if it was a female? Or a non-Caucasian person? Or someone with fewer resources? Would they have been bullied, punished, beaten by their families and entourage? By their teachers? By their "friends". Read this book and then imagine how things would have gone for the same person with PDA who had only one inverted value for these "labels". I learned about another way of being autistic (one that is completely opposite to my way of being) and about the things that privileged people can get away with - by privileged I mean British white males from wealthy families. It was not amazing, although with some editing and maybe some structure it could have been better.
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