What I Want to Talk About cover art

What I Want to Talk About

How Autistic Special Interests Shape a Life

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What I Want to Talk About

By: Pete Wharmby
Narrated by: Pete Wharmby
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About this listen

'This book isn't a memoir. It is a love letter to the phenomenon of autistic hyperfixation.'

A fascinating exploration of the autistic experience from leading advocate, Pete Wharmby.

In What I Want to Talk About, popular autism advocate Pete Wharmby takes listeners on a journey through his special interests, illuminating the challenges of autistic experience along the way. Funny, revealing, celebratory and powerful in equal measure, this is an audiobook that will resonate with many, and which should be required listening for anyone who wants to understand autism with more accuracy and empathy.

©2022 Pete Wharmby (P)2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited Children's Health Mental Health Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Relationships Autism Funny Inspiring Thought-Provoking

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I loved this audiobook. it really helped me understand myself better as an autistic person. Some of the things I do I didn't realise was because I'm autistic but this book helped me realise that. Read it if you wnat ti know more about yourself ie someone you love with autism :D

loved it

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Everyone should read/listen to this book! It breaks down so many myths and outlines a number of things that are still hidden or misunderstood about autism

Fantastic book!

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Thank you for this journey thru your life via special interests. It’s made me think of all my special interests over the years. This will also help me in seeking connection with my autistic 14yo. A must read for everyone. Autistic and Neurobiring.

Fascinating

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I chanced upon this book the day after receiving my autism diagnosis in the last days of my 30s. I saw a quote from the introduction in an article that took my eye and led me to the book. This is the first book on autism I have read. I feel such kinship with the author and such is the similarities in the role and topics of our special interests. Every chapter helped me understand a little more about my self.

I desperately want to contact the author to thank them - and if I’m being completely honest - indulge my special interest - and show them pictures of my exceptional (if I do say so myself self) Eldar collection.

Thank you so much!

I have never felt so seen

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1st, I loved hearing the author talk about his special interests. It's great to hear someone talking about things like that.
2nd, the interests and their link to autism were revealing, or more precisely, adding more "ticks in the box" for me, in a way that moved me.
Thank you Pete Wharmby for writing this.

Interests, part of an autism language

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Brilliant writing that wonderfully explains the ups and downs of living a life autistically!
Wharmby describes the many shared experiences that autistic people have through his own special interests and in so paints an accurate picture of the richness special interests bring to life and the challenges, misunderstandings and discrimination of being autistic in a neurotypical world.
Wharmby does this with huge reference and respect to the 'autistic community' rather than the common narrative of books about an autistic individual of how we go through life alone and disconnected.

Brilliant

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A very interesting listen that helped me understand more about autistic people in general and myself.

Honest and insightful

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Pete Wharmby has compiled a superb journey into the mind and experience of an autistic person. As an autistic person myself, I was warmed by how much I could identify with, and the book certainly has a place in a growing body of autistic texts that are helping autistic people understand each other and therefore themselves. However, the real potential of this book is with the non-autistic readers. If there is one book I would recommend to non-autistic people to understand the lived autistic experience, this would be it.

Brilliant

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As a late diagnosed audhd female I loved your book. I am able to relate to a lot of your experiences. Especially loved the chapter on inanimate objects! but I admittedly have no interest in games 😊 yet my young son loves them! whether nd or nt each of us is unique and I love that in our community we have crossovers that make us feel less alone... I followed a recommendation on a Linkedin post to your book! so glad I did. I believe your book is beneficial to both the Neurodiverse and Neurotypical communitues 😊


Brilliant - well written and read, thank you

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I always struggle to finish autistic memoirs. I'm autistic; my kids are autistic; my mom is (undiagnosed) autistic; and so on and so on, throughout my family and friends. Autism and ADHD and other types of Neurodivergence occur throughout my past, present, and foreseeable future to an almost comical extent, and that makes it exceptionally difficult to read about all the relatable trauma and pain of an ND life.

This book wasn't like that.

Despite reminding me of some of my lifelong trials and tribulations, this book primarily gave me the opportunity to recall (and thus relive) some of my fondest life experiences, and even a few of my successes.

It also gave me a much-needed example of another autistic adult (also a parent, as I am; late-diagnosed, like me; born only a couple of years before me) who, against all odds, hates neither himself nor everyone else. Many of us are (understandably, justifiably) bitter, after decades of active bullying and the less intentional (but sometimes more devastating) being misunderstood. This book makes a good argument that the world can change and maybe that it even IS changing, and I came away from this feeling at least somewhat hopeful.

I think it was an inspired choice to craft this book around the author's special interests. This accessible, enjoyable structure makes the entire work hang together beautifully, so that it reads as something between a collection of related essays or vignettes, and a novel (my favourite type of book). The use of special interests as the framework also helps infuse the book with a positive, uplifting tone, so that even when a particular chapter or section is emotionally fraught, the reader feels confident that this too shall pass.

Finally, the narrator (the author himself) reads the book brilliantly. Autistic people (in my experience) use pauses, inflections, and other aspects of speech slightly differently to our Neurotypical counterparts--and it can be downright painful to hear NTs trying to voice-act as autistic people. It's wonderful to hear the words read as intended, and while I know not all authors want to read their own works aloud, I'm very glad this one did.

In short, listening has been an absolute joy. I would recommend this well-written, deeply interesting work to any teen or adult who wants to know more about what autism is/what autistic people are like, and I'm eager to explore this author's next book.

Equal Parts Poignant and Exhilarating

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