The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida

 The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida is a book written by a young Japanese autistic person who answers about 58 questions about autism and what it is like to be autistic. All these answers are based largely on his own experience or in his own opinion meaning he tries to cover the questions for as many autistic people as possible. Furthermore, throughout the book are various illustrations and short stories written by Higashida, many of which are about what it is like to be autistic.

I really liked this book as it gave a real good impression of the world from the perspective of an autistic person, what it is like to be autistic and how people around an autistic person can help. This is so important as much of the other literature in this area is by professions, largely psychologists and psychiatrists, but how can they honestly report on some of the most important issues or offer the best advice if they themselves are not autistic and can not understand what it is like to be autistic! I further like this book because although this is not relevant to every aspect of the book, much of the book is written in a way where at least small parts of it will be relevant to a number of autistic people.

I cannot say there is anything I dislike about the book. It was a nice easy read, and I loved how the author made use of different pieces of literature and the arts, from the pages which just answered the questions, to the illustrations throughout and the short stories. The last short story in the book I found particularly interesting and great to read! Higashida is clearly an extremely talented writer in both fiction and non-fiction! My one word of warning, mainly to those people who are not autistic and largely neurotypical, although many parts of this book are relevant to a large number of people on the autistic spectrum, not everything will apply to each person, and so I may advice that if you know someone who is autistic, try to bring up some of your questions or ask them how you can best support them.

Altogether, I must rate this book 4 stars because it is a very good book which made use of a variety of different methods which helped to make this a very gripping book. It also had some great imagery, particularly to nature which provided a great insight into how Higashida sees the world. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who knows someone in their lives who has autism, whether this is a friend, partner, child or family member.