The Human Rubric: A Memoir of Life in a Neurotypical World - Paperback

by James P. Manning (Author), Reyhane Hoseyni (Illustrator)

"A vibrant addition to the literature on the oft-misunderstood subject of autism." - Kirkus

Why would a person learn to treat love, safety, and belonging as a problem to solve?

Again and again, he misreads social situations and learns the rules only after the punishment: exclusion, embarrassment, lost chances, distance. Can he break down human behaviour piece by piece, to reverse-engineer a life that might lead to belonging?

His search shapes everything - friendship, love, work, and ambition - and eventually leads him to professional training as a clinical psychologist.

He spent decades trying to fix something, only to realise that what he was looking at was never broken in the first place.

In trying to be normal, he loses himself. What he finds instead is that love is still love, even when it is shown and felt differently.