Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Be Different

  • Adventures of a Free-Range Aspergian with Practical Advice for Aspergians, Misfits, Families & Teachers
  • By: John Elder Robison
  • Narrated by: John Elder Robison
  • Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (29 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Be Different cover art

Be Different

By: John Elder Robison
Narrated by: John Elder Robison
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The PDA Paradox cover art
Understanding Autism in Adults and Aging Adults: 2nd Edition cover art
Pass the Jelly: Tales of Ordinary Enlightenment cover art
What Your Childhood Memories Say About You cover art
Raising My Rainbow cover art
Raising Ryland cover art
You Have a Brain cover art
The Straight-A Conspiracy cover art
How to Be Yourself cover art
Get Off Your 'But' cover art
Parenting Your Powerful Child cover art
Crashing Through cover art
Love Anthony cover art
Out of My Mind cover art
The Noticer cover art
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens cover art

Summary

The author of the New York Times best-selling Look Me in the Eye returns to help Aspergians, and even ordinary geeks, embrace being different and fix the things that hold them back in life. 

With his usual honesty, dry wit, and unapologetic eccentricity, John Robison argues that Asperger's is about difference, not disability. In this book he offers stories from his own life and from the lives of other Aspergians to give the listener a window into the Aspergian mind. 

Equally important, he offers practical advice - to Aspergians, their parents, and educators - on how Asperians can improve the weak communication and social skills that keep them from taking full advantage of, or even recognizing, their often remarkable gifts.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio. 

©2011 John Elder Robison (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"An essential guidebook for anyone who has difficulty fitting in. It will help all the creative, quirky, geeky, and wonderfully different kids to become successful in life. This book is fantastic." (Temple Grandin, author, Thinking in Pictures)

More from the same

Author

Narrator

What listeners say about Be Different

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    16
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    11
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Heartwarming and empathetic in its own way

I found this book heartwarming and empathetic in its own way, many times I had to laugh thinking, how true maybe it would be a more straight forward world to live in with people if we were all a bit on the AS spectrum. As a psychotherapist working with AS I found it very insightful and helpful in my work as well as to recommend to some of my clients. Thank you John Elder!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Apsie narrator is what you'd expect

Liked the story, enjoyed the ASD style tangents with too much detail on a meta level.

I think if this is your first book on autism you'd struggle.

That being said, loved the core of the book. I'm listening to it to help my mother struggling with the my nephews Autism. Seeing how special Autistic people blossom is not described enough to counter the narrative.

Also tone wise, if you don't like dry sarcastic humour; you'll find this book a bit flat.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Returned as found offensively elitist

As someone with a more modern diagnosis of ASC, and a significant level of disability only some of which being due to my undiagnosed ASC, I found this rhetoric offensively ableist and elitist. Perhaps this book is now just outdated and medical related titles should be removed from the catalogue when the science has moved on. However, I think, even if the classification of ASC had not changed since this book was published, the insistent significance placed on how important it is to a person’s identity to not be disabled would still be offensive and the author’s determination to segregate those whose diagnosis had been classified as “Asperger’s Syndrome” from the rest of the autistic spectrum would still feel elitist.
Unless you have a diagnosis of Asperger’s rather than autism/ASD/C and are happy to keep that term and have, like the author, had significant successes in your life already, I would advise you to skip this title.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent promotion of acceptance of differentness

A personal and intense promotion of the need for acceptance of differentness in people, ranging from 'normal' (typical) through eccentric, geeky, nerdy, weird, to full-on different world autism. The author reads with intensity and conviction (in an American accent this Brit soon got used to). As the grandfather of an teenage girl going through a bad patch I found the practical approaches thought-provoking in a "how can we use this?" way as she is a very different character from the author.
Thank you Mr Robison, I hope many more people in all walks of life read or listen to your book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

insightful

very interesting. gives an understanding from a lay persons view into what is a complex range of behaviour.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not for me

I expected something different. I always had troubles fitting in and felt different from others so I though that maybe this book could speak for me as well but is does not. At least I understood that I don’t have Asperger. Besides, I’m not particularly fond of this kind of writing, completely missing any kind of humor and irony.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great

Simply great. Thank you very much John for sharing your insights. It's nice to see how passionate you are about the subject and about helping others.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!