Review by Booklist Review
As someone learning to navigate the world through the lenses of her autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and general anxiety disorder, Pang has felt like an outsider her entire life. Growing up, she "felt like a stranger within my own species: someone who understood the words but couldn't speak the language; who shared an appearance with fellow humans but none of the essential characteristics." Wishing there was an instruction manual out there to help, Pang--who has a PhD in bioinformatics--decided to write one herself. In this book, Pang uses her extensive scientific knowledge to help readers understand the world of humans. With topics like thinking outside the box, forgetting about perfection and finding harmony, learning from your mistakes, and cultivating empathy and connections, readers can analyze their lives as a scientist would. Pang encourages readers to embrace their true selves and not apologize for it, explaining she is proudly a product of her "failed experiments." Pang's Outsider's Guide will help readers embrace their individuality while also finding their place in the greater humanity.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
First-time author Pang draws on her expertise as a scientist and on her experience as a person with autism spectrum disorder and generalized anxiety disorder to create an enlightening hybrid of popular science, memoir, and self-help. She begins by describing how, when younger, she found negotiating the world around her--and particularly the behavior of other people--baffling. Science, she writes, was "the key to unlocking a world whose door was otherwise closed to me," and she believes the neurotypical and neurodiverse alike can benefit from looking at human nature scientifically. In tying scientific phenomena to human behaviors, she posits, for instance, that understanding thermodynamics can ease perfectionism, writing: "our efforts to create order in our lives do not exist in isolation, but in a messy context of people and inanimate objects, all with their own energetic needs"; and that cellular evolution offers a useful perspective on relationships, because, "like a stem cell, every relationship essentially begins as a generic, unspecialized entity." By leavening scientific theory with personal anecdotes, Pang draws up a life guide that's accessible and entertaining if not entirely applicable to all. Nevertheless, this is a unique take on life's big questions. (Dec.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Pang, a scientist with autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, was frustrated as a child to find that there was no how-to guide for life. After realizing that she could mathematically explain the relationships between the characters in Of Mice and Men, she set about explaining other things in the same way, thus creating the how-to guide she dreamed of. Her debut is an experiment in describing societal expectations in a concrete, mathematical way, in order to reduce the misunderstandings and messy nuances that make up human interaction. Her story is friendly to anyone who finds social norms a little confusing at times. Each exploration starts with familiar scenarios about interacting with others. Pang fully explores life as a box thinker, and how that relates to her interacting with others and understanding human behavior. Her personal narrative blends seamlessly into scientific concepts, such as machine-learning, with the author's hand-drawn illustrations to guide readers along. Throughout, Pang remains a calming voice, sharing why she was drawn to the field of science. VERDICT An informative memoir for scientifically minded readers, and readers looking for personal stories on living with Autistic Spectrum Disorder.--Cate Triola, Washington County Library, MN
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
An exploration of human nature from the perspective of a scientist with Asperger's syndrome. Pang, who holds a doctorate in bioinformatics, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder when she was 8. At the mild end of the spectrum, individuals with Asperger's have difficulty picking up social cues, but they are often intelligent and creative. Recounting her childhood and teen years, she describes how she was "immune from peer pressure" and eagerly observed the strange "ecosystem" of playground cliques and subcultures. Fascinated by science, she excelled at the university level and discovered that familiarity with natural phenomena gave her unique insights into human behavior, which she generously shares with readers. Though scientists generally don't compare the brain to a computer anymore, Pang likes the idea. She points out that humans think in simplistic patterns, whereas a computer algorithm can draw conclusions from unstructured, complex data. "It's time to admit that your computer thinks outside the box more readily than you do," she writes. On the outside, humans interact with clumsy inefficiency; the proteins making up our body get it right. They know their role, respect their peers, and work as a team despite entirely individual capabilities. A dip into thermodynamics reveals that "everything you do in your life to create order…gets undone sooner or later, and you have to do it all over again." Probability theory does not reveal the future but easily separates the inevitable from the unlikely. Readers will enjoy Pang's parallels between scientific principles and social behavior, although her forays into mathematics are less successful in the absence of clear explanations of propositions such as Bayes' theorem. Whether readers will draw practical advice is uncertain, but they will encounter a vivid picture of how an individual with Asperger's views the world. As the author writes, "we need to understand, and embrace, our differences--our weirdness--to benefit from the kind of efficiency that biological creations enjoy by design." Ingenious pop psychology. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
