Look Me in the Eye is about growing up with Asperger’s syndrome — a high functioning form of autism — overcoming my limitations, and ultimately becoming a successful adult.

It’s a lonely story at first, because I didn’t have many friends. I didn’t know how to act, or how to respond. As a child, my best friends were all machines. When I got bigger, my understanding of machines led me into a career in electronics, and I found myself on the road with Pink Floyd’s sound company, and then the musical group KISS.

I’ve told how I moved into a real job, as a designer for a major toy company — an Aspergian passing for normal in polite society. But then it fell apart. I couldn’t pretend anymore. I quit my job and started fixing cars in my driveway.

But something happened when I started my business. I started to understand people, too. And one of the people was an insightful therapist, TR Rosenberg. TR told me about Asperger’s and that knowledge changed my life. Listen to John read an excerpt from the book.