John Elder Robison

John Elder Robison is the author of the New York Times Bestseller "Look Me in the Eye", (Crown Publishers, 2007) a memoir about living with Asperger's syndrome. He is the elder brother of Augusten Burroughs, who also wrote about his childhood in the memoir "Running with Scissors".

Early Years

Robison was born in 1957 in Athens, Georgia while his parents were attending the University of Georgia. He is the son of poet and writer Margaret Robison and the late John G. Robison, head of the philosophy department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. cite book
last = Robison
first = John Elder
title = Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's
publisher = Crown
date = 2007
location = New York, NY
pages = 304
id = ISBN 0-7393-5768-9]

After John Elder's birth, the family lived in Athens, GA, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Pittsburgh, where his brother Chris (who later changed his name to Augusten Burroughs) was born. After Chris's birth, the family moved to Massachusetts.

"It’s a lonely story at first, because I didn’t have many friends. I didn’t know how to act, or how to respond. As a child, my best friends were all machines." [http://johnrobison.com/ John Robison]

On His Own

Unable to fit in at home or at school, Robison dropped out of high school at 16 to join Fat, a local band. A few years later his savant-like ability to design electronic circuits allowed him to work for Pink Floyd's sound company (Britro) and then Kiss, for whom he created their signature illuminated, fire-breathing, and rocket launching guitars. He subsequently designed electronic games at toy maker Milton Bradley. Robison then worked for Simplex Time Recorder (now SimplexGrinnell), Isoreg Corporation (now defunct) and Candela Laser of Wayland, Massachusetts before realizing he did not fit in the corporate world and starting an automobile repair and restoration business in his back yard. That business - J E Robison Service Co - proved successful, growing into one of the largest independent Land Rover, Rolls Royce and Bentley specialty shops in the country and becoming one of only 20 four-star service agents for Bosch of Germany.

Like many people his age, Robison grew up unaware that he had Asperger's Syndrome. He learned of his condition in 1996, at age 40.

Robison lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, with his wife and son.

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.johnrobison.com Official site]
* [http://loadedquestions.blogspot.com/2007/09/new-author-interview-john-elder-robison.html Interview] with Kelly Hewitt of [http://loadedquestions.blogspot.com/ Loaded Questions]
* [http://jerobison.blogspot.com "Look Me In The Eye"] - Robison's blog
* [http://www.robisonservice.com/ Robison Service] - Robison's automobile repair and restoration company
* [http://www.umass.edu/philosophy/faculty/robison.htm Dr. John G. Robison, ] Robison's Father
* [http://www.margaretrobison.com/ Margaret Robison, poet and author, ] Robison's mother