Morgan Collins is three years old when we first meet him: he spends his days reading anything within reach—medical texts, old newspapers his father has saved—playing with elaborate numerical programs on the computer (he already knows how to do arithmetic), and discovering new combinations in the countless card decks his parents buy him whenever he spots one in a shop and claims it as his own.
He is a happy child, loved and cared for by his mother and father, and by an old family friend who spends nearly every afternoon with him.
Yet Morgan calls no one by name, not even his closest relatives. He doesn't return a glance, doesn't respond to requests, doesn't speak his wishes aloud. He interacts with others only when he chooses to. Exceptional for his age in cognitive ability, but clearly delayed in communication and social skills.
In short: Morgan is autistic.
Paul, his father, is an accomplished writer with an unusual method. He hunts down forgotten books and traces interesting subjects or figures through rigorous historical research in a journalistic style. When he discovers his son's autism, he is already deep into one such project—the forgotten case of a real historical figure who captivated eighteenth-century Europe: Peter, the Wild Boy. Peter becomes the first of many encounters with the "inhabitants of this mysterious and fascinating continent," a history Paul weaves together with the story of Morgan's life at home and in school. These encounters stretch into our own time—engineers at Microsoft, for instance, who turn out to need an employee to organize their leisure, because left to themselves they would think of nothing but work.
These interwoven stories offer us a new perspective on this continent, with fresh and compelling insights—supported by a rich and carefully chosen bibliography. Paul writes as a father sometimes bewildered by his son's behavior, rightly anxious about his future, yet always present and tender. He tells his story, his family's story, with honesty and depth.
Cristina Tersigni, 2006