Fans pick 100 books like Child of Prophecy

I never knew there was a name for what medical doctor Joel Salinas described in this fascinating book: Mirror Touch.

If you are one of those people who flinch/touch your own cheek when you see someone slapped in a movie or physically redden or cringe when another person is embarrassed—you, yourself, may have the “mirror touch” capacity that the doctor describes.

As Dr. Salinas explains, all of us have “mirror neurons,” which allow us to feel empathy with other people going through physical or emotional pain. However, some of us, mirror-touch synesthetes like Dr Salinas, can have twice the usual number of mirror neurons, causing them to feel, in their own bodies, the pain of another person upon seeing or even hearing it described.

The book tells of how the doctor’s gift makes him “feel the pain” of his patients and his struggle to find boundaries that allow him to… show more.

I was awe-struck by author Daniel Tammet’s first-person account of his experience as both an autistic savant and a synesthete!

He can do complex mathematical calculations in his head, thanks to his ability to “see’ numbers as three-dimensional colored objects. Tammet describes his amazing ability to “see” and recite mathematical pi to 22,514 decimal places!

What’s more, he experiences words and days of the week as colors, which helps him visualize periods of time and learn different languages (Tammet knows 11, including Icelandic, learned in one week).

As a person on the autism spectrum, the book also tells of the author’s social and emotional struggles to relate to other people. A moving and inspiring personal story.

I was bowled over by Maureen Seaberg’s book, which brings together recent research that shows our human sensory capacity is much greater than we believed before!

In these days of rising AI, when we are taking a hard look at the limitations of our human capacities, Seaberg’s book shows that we human beings have much amazing sensory potential that remains undeveloped and can know first-hand the blended sensations of synesthesia or out-of-body experiences.

No wonder the book was included in Malcolm Gladwell’s “Next Big Idea Book Club”! I stayed awake an extra two hours one night because I could not put the book down. This book gave me a jolt of wonder about the world and our place within it.

The Spoon Knife anthology series is the seminal place to find short neuroqueer fiction: fiction that explores what neurodivergent minds have to offer, how we see the world, and what our lives can be like, usually via speculative or sci-fi elements.

Spoon Knife 2: Test Chamber is loosely themed on the idea of the “test chamber,” a space in which one’s every move, choice, and outcome is scrutinized, and its 36 essays, poems, and short stories all approach this idea from different directions.

Several of its essays deal directly with neurodivergent and queer experience without the interpretive lens of science fiction and can help readers understand people like us and people like us to feel seen and comprehended.

I found this book while I was researching for my own book and have been recommending it regularly to families ever since. It promotes a positive view of neurodiversity without being ‘PollyAnna-ish’–I would call it positive realism.

It was written over thirteen years ago now, so not all the language will be perfect for everybody by today’s standards. However, the concepts are still very current, and they are expressed sensitively. Clinical conditions such as autism, ADHD, and dyslexia are described in a very accessible way, demonstrating how symptoms are on a continuum, and many of us can relate to at least some features of most of the conditions.

Chapters on depression and anxiety are included, and while these arguably fall under mental health rather than neurodiversity, I was really glad of their inclusion in this book, as the overlaps between mental health conditions and neurodiversity are many, and clinical distinctions… show more.

I’ve always been fascinated by the question, “What is personality?”

Is there someone we’re hardwired to be or do other factors so affect us that we’re who we are because of our experiences? What about extreme traits—are they an aspect of our personality or something more external? 

This book tackles these questions in such an interesting way, by focusing on mild forms of traits that might be diagnosable at higher levels. For example, if you’re quick to anger, is it possible you have a mild form of a rage disorder, or are you simply an angry person? 

One of the chapters is about adults with very mild traits of autism. It opens the door to our thinking more deeply about autism as an inherent part of someone’s personality, rather than something separate from them.

There’s something affirming and positive about that to me. I think any parent with a neurodivergent… show more.

Right after I was diagnosed Autistic, this book opened my eyes to what being Autistic really meant. It started to make sense to me: how I’d been suppressing my true needs, how I’d fallen into people-pleasing habits, how much social situations can wear me out, and how I’d had episodes of Autistic burnout across my life but never known why.

As I read, I began to recognize my true self and understand what I needed to feel comfortable and content. This was a pivotal book for me and launched me into my new neurodivergent identity.

This is more literary than crime but Chandler has at the heart of her book a woman with serious mental illness; she captures the soul of a troubled woman and the rippling effects of past and psychosis, as well as the vagaries of memory. And there is a mystery to work out; it was short-listed for the Sisters in Crime Davitt’s award.

This beautiful book makes offering yourself compassion simple and achievable. I have been recommending this book for a long time because I love how Laura captures all the key skills of self-compassion and explains them in a way that is practical and easy to follow.

So many books about self-compassion are very long, theoretical, and unnecessarily complex, and I find them hard to read. This book is grounded in what researchers have shown can help (it’s evidence-based), but it doesn’t get bogged down in theory.

Instead, Laura’s simple worksheets, written exercises, mindfulness, and visualization scripts gave me new skills to tackle self-criticism and put self-compassion into action. I have even used exercises in the book with my clients and they’ve loved them too.

To my knowledge, no one has written a main character like Don Tilman before. A tall, handsome genetics professor who’s never had a second date, he approaches his need for a wife with typical precision and the use of a complex spreadsheet. Don navigates the unfamiliar world of feelings and unplanned activities with his customary efficiency, but what is this strange new emotion he’s feeling?

I simply adore this book and often read it twice a year. It’s an absolute delight, funny, poignant, and so incredibly life-affirming. You’ll be cheering Don and Rosie on and hoping that everything works out for them. I do every time, and I know what happens!