i'm reading
The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger's Syndrome, and One Man's Quest to be a Better Husband by David Finch.
Five years into his crumbling marriage, David Finch learns that he's got Asperger's syndrome... and along with it comes a great big "AHA!" moment. He drops the guilt and anger that comes with the fear of "not being a good enough husband," and instead concentrates on learning specific behaviors to fill in some of the gaps in his blind spots.
In true Asperger's fashion, he throws himself into identifying and categorizing these "normal" behaviors with the zeal of a Trekie at a sci-fi convention, and comes up with a list of social protocols that should, as the "Best Practices" part of the title suggests, be a part of any relationship's quality management system.
But don't let the QC reference throw you off. This book is anything but dry. It's funny and engaging, and, okay, I admit it...it's enlightening. More than a few friends and exes have described me as "Asperger's lite," and this book pretty much confirms it. As Finch spells out the Dos and Don'ts of social interaction, I keep bursting out laughing with self-recognition ("It's not okay to walk away from a conversation just because you're bored", "It's better to fold and put away than to take only what you need from the dryer").
Even for more intricate social situations, his advice goes straight to the core: "Just listen", "When necessary, redefine perfection", "Get inside her girl world and look around." Seems to me that it's not just the Aspies that might benefit from this book.
