Fall Down 7 Times, Get Up 8: A young man's voice from the silence of autism

Naoki Higashida met international success with The Reason I Jump, a revelatory account of life as a thirteen-year-old with non-verbal autism. Now he offers an equally illuminating insight into autism from his perspective as a young adult.

In concise, engaging pieces, he shares his thoughts and feelings on a broad menu of topics ranging from school experiences to family relationships, the exhilaration of travel to the difficulties of speech.

Aware of how mystifying his behaviour can appear to others, Higashida describes the effect on him of such commonplace things as a sudden change of plan, or the mental steps he has to take simply to register that it's raining. Throughout, his aim is to foster a better understanding of autism and to encourage those with disabilities to be seen as people, not as problems.

Fall Down 7 Times, Get Up 8 also includes a dreamlike short tale from Naoki Higashida, written exclusively for this edition, and together with his wife K.A. Yoshida, author of Cloud Atlas (and Waterstones alumnus) David Mitchell provides the translation and introduction.

'Once again, the invitation to step inside Higashida’s mind is irresistible… Higashida challenges the common belief that people with severe autism are exclusively literal-minded.' – The Evening Standard