Nine Minds

A Japanese researcher in psychology sets out to measure loneliness while drawing on her own experience of autism. A quirky boy growing up in 1950s Ottawa sows the seeds of his future Hollywood stardom. In the US, a nonverbal man explores body language, gesture by eloquent gesture, in his mother’s yoga classes.

Nine Minds delves into the extraordinary lives of nine neurodivergent men and women from around the globe. From a Fields Medal–winning mathematician to a murder detective, a pioneering surgeon to a bestselling novelist, each is remarkable in their field, and each is changing how the world sees those on the spectrum.

Exploding the tired stereotypes of autism, Daniel Tammet—acclaimed author and an autistic savant himself—reaches across the divides of age, gender, sexuality, and nationality to draw out the inner worlds of his subjects. Telling stories as richly diverse as the spectrum itself, this illuminating, life-affirming work of narrative nonfiction celebrates the power and beauty of the neurodivergent mind, and the daring freedom with which these individuals have built their lives.