The Pattern Seekers: How Autism Drives Human Invention

*A New York Times Editors' Choice Pick* 
An "ambitious work" (Washington Post) tracing the links between autism and ingenuity 

 Is the ability to invent things unique to humans? In The Pattern Seekers, Cambridge University psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen argues that it is, and proposes that autistic people have played a key role in human progress for seventy to one hundred thousand years, from the first complex tools like the bow and arrow and the first musical instrument to the digital revolution.  

He presents the science that the same genes that contribute to autism enable a special kind of pattern seeking that is essential to our species' inventiveness. However, these abilities come at a cost for autistic people, including social and neurological challenges. Baron-Cohen calls on us to support and celebrate autistic people in both their disabilities and their talents. Ultimately, The Pattern Seekers isn't just a new theory of human evolution, but a call to reconsider how society treats those who think differently. 

ISBN-13: 9781541647152

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Basic Books

Publication Date: 01-24-2023

Pages: 272

Product Dimensions: 8.00(w) x 5.40(h) x 0.70(d)

Simon Baron-Cohen is professor of psychology and psychiatry and director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University. He is the author of over six hundred scientific articles and four books, including The Science of Evil and The Essential Difference.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Born Pattern Seekers 1

Chapter 2 The Systemizing Mechanism 17

Chapter 3 Five Types of Brain 51

Chapter 4 The Mind of an Inventor 75

Chapter 5 A Revolution in the Brain 97

Chapter 6 System-Blindness: Why Monkeys Don't Skateboard 125

Chapter 7 The Battle of the Giants 139

Chapter 8 Sex in the Valley 151

Chapter 9 Nurturing the Inventors of the Future 161

Appendix 1 Take the SQ and the EQ to find out your brain type 177

Appendix 2 Take the AQ to find out how many autistic traits you have 181

Acknowledgments 183

Notes and Further Reading 187

Figure Notes and Credits 233

Index 237