The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Man, I loved this book. Written from a fifteen year-old autistic boy's perspective, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-timeby Mark Haddon is Christopher Boone's history of the death of Wellington, a neighbor's dog, and the detective stylings that uncover the story behind two deaths, one that happened and one that did not.

Christopher likes prime numbers, thus chapters are numbered 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, etc. Christopher has a flawless memory - drawings, schematics, and sketches accompany most passages. Christopher hates yellow and brown. Christopher is extremely logical. Christopher is very literal. Christopher doesn't like being touched. Christopher's mind can be overwhelmed when there is too much information to digest. Christopher is great at maths and physics, and loves machines and computers.

There are themes that apply universally - conquering fear, pushing oneself outside of routine, and unrelenting effort to achieve a goal. And moral could be drawn. But for me, the book wasn’t about all that. The book was about Christopher and Christopher’s mind.

And it was delightful to live in Christopher's mind. The story moves very quickly. An interest byproduct of Christopher's perspective is that any overly emotional act appears intensely irrational. Conversely, logical people, those who always mean what they say and say what they mean, are preferred. You learn very quickly that Christopher never lies.

I loved this book. Please note, a few characters use strong language, but the book is free from adult situations and is a worthy endeavor for anyone looking for a different perspective on life and a different perspective on autism.