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  • Published: 1 May 2017
  • ISBN: 9780241958179
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 688
  • RRP: $37.99

In a Different Key

The Story of Autism




The astonishing story of autism as it has been discovered and felt by parents, children and doctors

The first child to be diagnosed with autism, Donald Triplett, was born more than eighty years ago in Mississippi, and in the years that followed, autism remained a rare condition, limited to the eleven children mentioned in the article announcing the disorder's discovery. Today physicians, parents and politicians regularly speak of an epidemic of autism.

In a Different Key is the extraordinary story of the quest to understand autism. By introducing an unforgettable cast of children, families and clinicians, award-winning journalists John Donvan and Caren Zucker unearth the humanity at the heart of the scientific effort to treat this condition.

  • Published: 1 May 2017
  • ISBN: 9780241958179
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 688
  • RRP: $37.99

Praise for In a Different Key

A magnificent opus . . . extraordinary, spellbinding . . . this book does what no other on autism has done

Ann Bauer, Washington Post

Sweeping in scope but with intimate personal stories, this is a deeply moving book about the history, science, and human drama of autism

Walter Isaacson

Remarkable, gripping . . . a riveting tale about how a seemingly rare childhood disorder became a salient fixture in our cultural landscape

Richard J. McNally, Wall Street Journal

In a Different Key is almost as much a history of coping with ignorance and uncertainty as it is a voyage of discovery. It is the great achievement of this book to show how this happened in an exciting and poignant way

David Aaronovitch, The Times

Passionate, insightful . . . a heartbreaking story of extraordinary perseverance

Kate Chisholm, Daily Telegraph