Bad Animals: A Father's Accidental Education in Autism

Joel Yanofsky tried for years to start this memoir. &quot;It's not just going to be about autism,&quot; he told his wife, Cynthia. &quot;It's going to be about parenthood and marriage, about hope and despair, and storytelling, too.&quot; <p>&quot;Marriage?&quot; Cynthia said. &quot;What <i>about </i>marriage?&quot; </p><p>A veteran book reviewer, Yanofsky has spent a lifetime immersed in literature (not to mention old movies and old jokes) , which he calls <i>shtick</i>. This account of a year in the life of a family describes a father's struggle to enter his son's world, the world of autism, using the materials he knows best: self-help books, feel-good memoirs, literary classics from the Bible to Dr. Seuss, old movies, and, yes, <i>shtick</i>. Funny, wrenching, and unfailingly candid,<i> Bad Animals </i>is both an exploration of a baffling condition and a quirky love story told by a gifted writer.</p>