Hello, I am Jim

"Truth and I have brokered what I would describe as a fragile and uneasy truce over the years." Jim Gaffney, author and voice of Hello, I am Jim, recounts years of hard truths, painful memories, and fond nostalgia as he chronicles his lifelong journey with Asperger Syndrome. Born in 1970 among the quiet suburbs of Youngstown, Ohio, Jim always knew the truth-that he was different, but he didn't know why. From the frustrated vigilance of his parents at home, the hostile classrooms where his peers bullied him, to the unforgiving walls of his own self-esteem, he could not escape a constant sense of isolation during his childhood and adolescent years. Now, he shares his thoughts as a 48 year-old man looking back on his younger self with a totally new perspective. With stunning clarity of his inner world as a child, teenager, and young adult, Jim reflects on everything that shaped him: the tough love of his father, his struggle with obesity, his perseverance as a distance runner, and eventually the gentle, guiding current of fatherhood. With an introduction by his best friend and running companion, Greg Realmuto, this autobiographical memoir widens conventional understanding of autism, explains the value of "fire in the blood", and ultimately explores what it means to live a "neurotistic" life.