Lyrically drawn portraits ... The ensemble of nine represents a dedicated effort by Mr. Tammet to bring nuance and sympathetic insight to his subjects’ experiences of being cognitively different and misunderstood ... A skilled writer, Mr. Tammet frequently drops the stance of detached narrator to adopt the perspective of his subjects.
Startling and often beautiful ... I found each story in Nine Minds so moving that they became, in my mind, a series of Joseph Campbell-like Hero’s Journeys, where each character traveled through a series of adventures, trials and temptations and emerged from the narrative somehow changed.
The strength of Tammet’s Nine Minds: Inner lives on the spectrum lies not only in his personal perspective, but also in his simple strategy of asking people who live with autism, or people who know them, to tell him frankly what it’s like ... Matter-of-fact.
Tammet himself grew up before the neurodiversity movement gained steam, and at times his book reads like a long letter to his younger self ... This is a useful corrective to the history of prejudice against autistic people, and the lack of appreciation of their talents, though a focus on exceptional brilliance seems a fragile foundation on which to build a plea for tolerance. For all that his subjects are neurodiverse, their preoccupations and desires seem all too typically human: to be seen, loved and understood by others. I enjoyed most those chapters that paused to dwell on their relationships with friends, family, doctors and colleagues; the networks of care on which we all rely, autistic or not.
Vivid ... Throughout, Tammet remains clear-eyed about the systemic challenges autistic people face in a neurotypical society. The result is an intimate and illuminating glimpse into the neurodivergent mind.
