Joe: The Only Boy in the World

A little boy sits at the top of the slide, oblivious to the restless queue snapping behind him. He stares into space . and sings. In a hardware store, he plonks himself on a display toilet amidst the throng of customers and wees, wearing little more than a serene smile. He thumps crying babies. He is amazed, as he hurtles skyward, when the car he runs in front of actually hits him. Joe is ten and mentally disabled. He exists in a lonely bubble of misunderstanding and occasional calamity. He's funny, fascinating and maddening. He has strange, unexpected talents and his life is a catalogue of the bizarre. The book tells his moving story, but it also argues something more, something brazen, preposterous even: that Joe is a profound lesson in our own humanity, and that until we get to know his unusual, eventful life, we can't fully understand our own. Drawing on philosophy, developmental psychology, evolutionary theory, literature and medical research, the thought-provoking inquiry shows how we, in contrast, to Joe, are equipped to negotiate life. The Only Boy in the World, by his oddity and isolation, makes luminous so much that we take for granted: how we are instinctive mind-readers, how we perceive the physical world around us, how we make sense of other people, how we understand guilt and innocence. Running throughout is an unsettling question: if Joe sets our humanity in such sharp relief, can we still say that he is part of it? If he shows by what he lacks all that is most remarkable in us, is he still one of us? The author who asks that outrageous question is Joe's father. In confronting it, the Only Boy in the World finally suggests an answer to what truly makes us human.

About the Author :
Michael Blastland was born in Glasgow. A journalist all his professional life, he started on weekly newspapers before moving to the BBC where he makes current affairs programmes for Radio 4, such as Analysis, more or Less and the historical series Why Did We Do That? He lives in Herfordshire, often with his daughter Cait, less often and less quietly with his son Joe, when he's at home.

Review :
This is the best written, most thought-provoking book on autism I have read in years, suitable for anyone with an interest in humanity. Go out and buy it! It's certainly my book of the month A far superior piece of non-fiction, both poignant and amusing, and instructive without ever becoming preachy Blastland is likeably honest A moving story... Blastland has performed a remarkable service in baring his family life for us. It is a brave and frightening book in several ways. An engaging book Michael Blastland has written a beautiful and deeply thoughtful book about his 10-year-old son Joe. Joe is a book that deserves to be read. It will speak loudly not just to those interested in autism, but to anyone who is fascinated by the full range of what it means to be human. From this careful, serious book emerges a man with a quick wit and far-seeing eye for what makes life so peculiar... Joe...stands out as a work of rare enlightenment. If you read just one book about an autistic child this year, you would do well to make it this one. His honesty is in keeping with a compelling, brave and highly readable book that never verges on the sentimental. I can't think of anyone who shouldn't read this book. Joe, the Only Boy in the World is an affecting book. Blastland invokes the ancient African saying that "it takes a whole village to raise a child" and, with this book, he has widened the village to include potentially every reader. Deeply personal and moving ... [Blastland's] beautifully written book offers us a glimpse of the torments endured by the growing number of children born with their cerebral pathways wrongly wired.