The Reason I Jump – Naoki Higashida
Like many others, I heard about Naoki Higashida’s The Reason I Jump on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I was moved by David Mitchell’s emotional praise of the book, so I picked it up on my Kindle that day and read the introduction. Sure enough, Mr. Mitchell’s passionate endorsement of the book won me over, but it didn’t prepare me for the way that Naoki Higashida’s captivating words, the depth of his understanding, and the conversational delivery of his incredible pain. The book is structured as a series of straightforward questions (“Why do people with Autism do ________?”) followed by a short answer . Many of the questions are similar to one another, and the answers end up feeling identical to others from time to time, but there is a constant thread that binds them; it is tremendously moving. Naoki is fully aware of his condition. He is aware that
