Senator Andrew Bartlett
Monday, November 01, 2004
 
Following a suggestion from a reader of this Blog, I've just finished reading "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time". I'm fairly sure this was the book I remember hearing about a little while back that caused some controversy winning a literary award, because some people suggested it was a children's book.

Certainly the author is known for writing children's books and the book could easily be read by young people, but it also deals with 'Adult Themes' (such a great term that - it encompasses so many possible things). In any case, it's thought provoking and I liked it, so I think it was right for it to win whatever award it was that it won (unless my memory is all wrong, in which case ignore most of what I've just written). Of course this may also mean that my literary nous is akin to a 15 year old's – maybe that's why I found it thought provoking.

The book is written from the perspective of a 15 year old autistic boy, but it clearly shows how hard it can be for parents (and their relationship) to raise such a boy. As someone who tends to be more attracted to and comfortable with the rational rather than the emotional, it had a few other echoes for me too.

Conditions like autism (not that I profess to be very knowledgeable about it) and other conditions that affect the mind or the personality are challenging and disturbing to most people. People are just always going to be more uncomfortable and apprehensive about illness and disabilities that are mental than they are about the physical. I guess no one really likes to feel like what seems to be our entire essence is really just dependent on the mix of chemicals in our brains, and it can be fundamentally changed by changing that mix or changing the electrical patterns and pathways in our brain.

Still, every living creature is always something more than just the sum of its components - yet another reason why being more considerate of how we treat animals is so important.

posted by Andrew Bartlett @ Monday, November 01, 2004
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