The Mind Tree: A Miraculous Child Breaks the Silence of Autism

by Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay

Book Overview

Well-received on initial publication, The Mind Tree is truly an enthralling read. Although he is severely autistic and nearly nonverbal, Tito's ability to communicate through his extraordinary writing... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1559706996
• ISBN13: 9781559706995
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing
• Length: 212 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

Brilliant!

I give this book 5 stars! From the moment that my son was diagnosed as Autistic, I searched for books that are written by Autistic individuals because I wanted better insight and there's no better insight than from the one who walks the path themselves. Tito not only gave great insight, he amazed me with the most beautiful poetry that I have ever had the priviledge of reading.

Amazing read!

I have a 14 year old non-verbal autistic son and each time I picked up the book I was moved to tears. Reading Tito's book was, for me, like getting some insight into my son's thoughts. Tito's behaviors and fears matched so perfectly with some of my sons. Tito seems to be a very insightful young man. I found the book interesting, moving, even humorous at some points. I would definitely recommend that anyone who has a child who is autistic, or knows someone who does, read this book.

The book that will change your perception of "normal" life

My brother's daughter is a an autist child of similar age to Tito. This book has so emotionally moved me that I do not have Tito's genius to express them in words.I understand that one child in every 250 born could be an autist. Then it is a must that the rest 249 must read this book.Simply amazing and I wish a very happy life for Tito with the fullest kindness and consideration from humanity at large - the least I can wish for the author.

Brilliant book

I found this book absolutely fascinating. For a severely austistic child to be able to write and voice his thoughts is an incredible feat. All the hype behind it is very appropriate-this is a book that should have exactly that sort of exposure. Tito allowed his writings to be published, not only so they could be shared with the general public but also to raise awareness about autism. A severely austic child is clearly not a helpless case as many people before believed and if there are other books out there like this one, perhaps The Mind Tree will help bring attention to them.

Good book, but disregard all the hype

As autobiographies by autistic people go, this is a fairly good one. Written by an autistic boy from India, it details his early life, the sometimes brutal methods his mother used to teach him to type, and his life since he learned to communicate. He writes the story about himself primarily in the third person, and there is poetry at the end. This is basically an American release of _Beyond The Silence: My Life, The World, and Autism_ that was published in Great Britain in 2000.The main difference -- perhaps the only difference -- between this book and its British counterpart, is the hype. It's clearly visible in the subtitle -- "Miraculous Child Breaks the Silence of Autism" strongly resembles the "Extraordinary Autobiography of an Autistic" from the subtitle of _Nobody Nowhere_, the earliest book by Donna Williams. This sensationalism used to be typical of books by autistic people who could speak, and it seems that people have taken longer to accept as normal books by autistic people who can't speak. Which is strange, considering both sorts of books have been around the same amount of time. There is a lot of talk on the back cover and the first several pages about how there is nobody in the world like Tito and his mother, how he is the first to write a book like this, and so forth. None of these claims are true, and other books like this by people who have learned to type using similar techniques have been published, but most of the others didn't have a powerful organization providing financial backing and publicity.That said, it's actually a pretty good book. It does defy a lot of stereotypes, which along with the others like it, should be a good thing in the long run, as long as people remember that there is more than one book like this. The book is no more miraculous than it's miraculous that I'm sitting here typing this review, but the author has a writing style which should keep readers entertained and informed to the end. I especially liked the sections where the author describes being put in front of audiences and answering questions that he found easy, and getting a lot of attention for it. That seems to happen to a lot of autistic people, and his description is subtle and amusing. Readers familiar with books by autistic people will find his descriptions of sensory issues and cognition familiar as well. I didn't like how indifferent he was about being smacked around until he paid attention -- a lot of authors, like Donna Williams, have addressed abuse specifically as something wrong while acknowledging that it may have caused some paradoxical benefits, and I wish this book had done the same. I was also smacked around in similar contexts, some of them resulting in things that may have been positive, but I don't condone it, thank the people who did it, or complain about people who tried to put a stop to it -- so that part disturbed me. The author's plea for a society in which nobody would be viewed as 'normal or abnormal'