Books

Like Colour to the Blind: Soul Searching and Soul Finding

Average customer rating:

Like chainsaws in a rainforest- a wild human journey
Has some good parts, but mostly seems rambling and misguided
Donna Williams is the best
A powerful tale of love and humanity
Finding and laboriously sticking to the true self.

Like Colour to the Blind: Soul Searching and Soul Finding
Donna Williams
Manufacturer: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Mental Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Somebody Somewhere: Breaking Free from the World of Autism
Everyday Heaven: Journeys Beyond the Stereotypes of Autism
Nobody Nowhere: the Extraordinary Autobiography of an Autistic
Autism and Sensing: The Unlost Instinct
Exposure Anxiety - The Invisible Cage: An Exploration of Self-Protection Response in the Autism Spectrum

ASIN: 1853027200

Book Description

Like Colour to the Blind is the third of three autobiographies in which Donna Williams recounts the story of her struggle with autism. She writes about how it has shaped her world and the way in which she attempts to break through to the other side. 'I'm a culture looking for a place to happen' she writes in Somebody Somewhere, the sequel to Nobody Nowhere (which reached the bestseller list when published as a trade paperback). The search for this 'place' is central to Donna's survival in an unsympathetic, ignorant world that fails to comprehend her version of normality. Her life story is a landmark in the literature of mental health and gives a unique perspective on living with autism from the inside.

In Nobody Nowhere, she describes the desolation of the first twenty-five years of her life, before discovering the word 'autism' - a label which brought with it some answers and the hope of a sense of belonging. Somebody Somewhere takes up the thread of her story at the point where Nobody Nowhere left off: her ongoing battle to overcome the compulsions and obsessions of autism, and her increasingly successful efforts to lead a normal life, despite her condition.

Like Colour to the Blind tells the story of Donna's relationship with Ian, a man with difficulties similar to her own. She describes how they learn to admit and live with their feelings for one another, as they search for a true sense of self.

Customer Reviews:

Like chainsaws in a rainforest- a wild human journey.......2005-09-30

Autistic author Donna Williams never knew what it was to feel her hand and her leg at the same time let alone experience herself and other person within one moment of processing. Nor did she know the difference between real felt communication and the push button learned 'talking doll' responses and charicatures that made up almost all of her so called 'purposeful' communication and actions with others.

Now, in her new relationship with Ian, an Asexual man with 'multiple personalities' and somewhere on the Autistic Spectrum, finding out what is real from what is not becomes their life's quest.

With hilarious and reckless results they develop an NLP like strategy called 'checking' which appeals only to the feeling part of the brain and gets around stored learned responses. This 'checking' essentially triggers the thoughts, feelings and choices of the 'real self' buried under society-endorsed robotic facades and socially reinforced learned charicatures.

Like chainsaws in the rainforest of their lives, they pledge to follow through at all costs with what they find are their real wants and likes. The results are that they throw out much of the household furniture, their clothes, the contents of the cupboards and then realise they want to be married (but fail to check that it is actually to each other!) so, within a two week very Autistic marriage preparation, they recklessly marry one another!

Intertwined with their hilarious and surreal story is the story of their friendship with Alex, a functionally non-verbal teenager who knows all about being rather multiple, Autistic and out of control of one's own appearance, utterances and actions. Alex has just managed to communicate for the first time in his life through typing and afraid of being left behind by his reckless friends, he pleads movingly with great power and beauty through this only voice he has, not to be left behind. Along the way Donna, Ian and Alex all journey into the world of Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome and discover the world beyond visual fragmentation, meaning blindness, face blindness and fragmented bodies as they see each other and the world as cohesive, whole and three dimensional for the first time.

You will laugh and you will cry, you will cringe and you will cheer your way through Like Color To The Blind.

Has some good parts, but mostly seems rambling and misguided.......2004-03-13

This book is a sequel to Nobody Nowhere and Somebody Somewhere, and makes more sense in that context.

This book has moments I was really glad to see written about. The author describes seeing autistic people forced into an act of normality, with their teachers ignoring their real selves. I also liked the descriptions of acquiring tinted glasses and meeting a local autistic teenager. There were many scenes scattered through the book that I am glad I read about, and I liked the first part where the author said she'd been a nobody nowhere and a somebody somewhere but now wanted to be an anybody anywhere, and her friend said "You blew that in a big way."

Unfortunately, the bulk of the book revolves around a number of dead ends and convoluted paths the author stumbles into when attempting to live her life as herself rather than a bunch of characters and compulsive facades. It gives the impression that she is stumbling around in the dark, going the wrong way often, and describing every wrong turn in minute detail. She describes resisting her compulsive "defenses" by doing the opposite of what they want (with the predictable result that she ends up not much freer for doing that), and forcing herself to the point of complete physical immobility by trying to go back into her childhood to find a point where she was not using echo to move or speak.

She does these things along with her autistic housemate (who becomes her husband after the results of a "checking" ritual tell them both that they want to marry each other), and I think from experience that this whole section of the book should come with a warning label along the lines of, "Autistic people: Don't try this at home." The author does notice at some point that she may be leading autistic people down a misguided path, but most of the book does not show a lot of critical thinking in this regard. It's rarely stated clearly which things are mistakes and which things are good ideas, but an overlarge portion of the book is dedicated to an excruciatingly detailed account of false starts, false successes, and unsuccessful-sounding attempts to deal with compulsions.

Donna Williams is the best.......2000-09-17

again, Donna Williams takes us through the eyes of an autistic person. Shes amazing, but you should read Nobody Nowhere first, because that is the stroy of her life, and it might help you understand this book more.

A powerful tale of love and humanity.......2000-04-10

Before I read this book I didn't know anything about autism, and I didnt even realize what the auther's mental condition was until a fair way into the book. I happened to pick up this book at the library (catchy title, I guess), and loved it. This is not so much a story about autism, but rather a painfully personal account of the difficulties involved in sharing a life with another human being.

Finding and laboriously sticking to the true self........1998-10-08

"Like Color to the Blind" is the third book by Donna Williams, after "Nobody Nowhere" and "Somebody Somewhere" but it could easily stand by itself. Donna, who is autistic, puts forth an amazing effort to break through the socially acceptable masks that she had grown in order to relate to society. She is in a relationship with a man who has similar problems, and they help each other as much as they can. A very important part of this book is the account of Irlen filters, tinted lenses that reduce the many symptoms of visual overload. Anyone who has thought about obtaining these lenses should read this, as it is a very eloquent account of these problems and their disappearance. The author, though going through understandable rough periods, seems to put all of her free effort into retaining who she is. I could use any number of cliche's here (touching, great read, etc) but I will just say that I loved this book and I hope that other people will, too.

Average customer rating:

COLOUR ENERGY FOR BODY & SOUL
Inger Naess
Manufacturer: Not Specified
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NDGEDQ

An Introduction to Color Energy (Colour Energy for Body and Soul)

Average customer rating:

An Introduction to Color Energy (Colour Energy for Body and Soul)
Inger Naess
Manufacturer: Colour Energy Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000BTKSGG

Product Description

This simple to read booklet An Introduction to COLOUR ENERGY For Body and Soul outlines the basics of COLOUR ENERGY: how each colour affects you physically and mentally, the positive and negative sides of each colour, as well as other COLOUR ENERGY tips.

Average customer rating:

Colours for the Soul
Pam Rhodes
Manufacturer: Lion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Using Color | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Personal Transformation | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books

Average customer rating:

Colour and the Human Soul
Gladys Mayer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000PRKULM

Colours for Soul Superslim Calendar 2008

Average customer rating:

Colours for Soul Superslim Calendar 2008

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Average customer rating:

Colours for the Soul
Pam Rhodes
Manufacturer: LION PUBLISHING (ADU
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GRAAXE

Average customer rating:

Colours of the Soul
June McLeod
Manufacturer: Piatkus Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Alternative Medicine | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Healing With Color Zone Therapy (Healing Series)
Color Therapy: Healing With Color
Light: Medicine of the Future: How We Can Use It to Heal Ourselves NOW
More Alive With Color: Personal Colors - Personal Style (Capital Lifestyles) (Capital Lifestyles)
How To Heal With Color (How to (Llewellyn))

ASIN: 0749920963

Average customer rating:

Colours for the Soul
Pam Rhodes
Manufacturer: LION PUBLISHING (ADU
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K1YB3Q

Books:

Books