Definitely a book worth reading for ideas on how to draw out the best of students with learning/brain differences. The core of their approach is to focus on the strengths of the student rather than drilling away their weaknesses and look for the positives as opposed to only treating the negatives.

On the positive side, I learned a lot about various brain disorders. I thought that aspect of the topic was covered well with good examples and quotes from people who have the disorders and have learned to cope and even excel. Another big plus is the emphasis on how we all can better relate to others who have brain disorders. One example is "people first" where we say and see "a person with dyslexia" rather than a "dyslexic." The latter actually calls the person by the name of the disorder. That in itself was a great take-away for me.

I felt that the part of the book where both the substance and the writing (the organization of thought) was most lacking was in the attempt to show that link between disorder and genius. To me the book would have been better with just the title "The Power of Different" and less strain to show this link. Probably a lot of what was said surrounding the link would have stayed in, but the reader would have not been focused on looking for that as the important part of the book. In my opinion, the link to genius was the least important aspect of the book, because a link did not seem to be demonstrated all that well. ( )

As a teacher, I found this book thought-provoking and a must-read. The book, broken into various chapters focusing around different brain disorders, explains how the brain functions and gives examples of successful people who have overcome said disorders. I loved how this book focuses on the positives of brain differences. A great read for those in the education field.

*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.* ( )

People having various neurological or psychiatric disorders frequently enrich society by virtue of having a distinctly different perspective on life due to nature's allotments. In The Power of Different, Dr. Gail Saltz lays out various case studies in which altered abilities in some mental functions give way to enhanced abilities in others. Saltz makes a successful bid to sensitize her readers to the complexity of human thought and capability. She also demonstrates the potential costs incurred by society if it is dismissive of people whose cognitive abilities or tendencies lay away from the 'norm'. The Power of Different could not appear more timely in America for the waning of social sophistication and compassion in our present-day government.

"Mental illness" as a technical label has little more value than "somatic / bodily illness" for the purposes of description and classification. Yet we see it used exclusively time and again. Saltz rectifies this deficiency by presenting a clearer description of several forms - dyslexia, ADD, anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and autism (she categorizes them in a more sophisticated manner that also includes more disorders than I refer to here). She allocates a chapter for each disorder, making it concise and readable to anyone. She also points out that disorders can and do overlap as would be expected for a networked bodily organ. Her chapters are grouped by symptomatology. She also makes the key point that psychiatric counseling is about the treatment of symptoms - classifying conditions is done for insurance purposes rather than treament purposes.

Within each chapter, Saltz explores creative potentials that can be enhanced by the condition(s) described. She also stimulates productive thought as she discusses "work arounds". She proposes behavioral changes that people, or their associates, can make to cope with differences in abilities and thus enhance the strengths which people possess as a result of these differences.

The book does walk a fine and contentious line on the topic of semantics. What does one call a medical condition that comes about by an aberrant developmental condition and/or genetics and which directly impacts cognitive function? What social repercussions do labels have? The book occasionally comes across as muddled regarding these questions - muddled for its realism primarily but not exclusively.

For example, she refers to dyslexia as a 'difference' as opposed to a disorder. Referring to a condition simply as a 'difference' puts it at risk for lowered medical research and might jeopardize insurance coverage. Saltz discusses dyslexia as a 'learning difference' and she gives the reader a lucid description of how someone with the condition is predisposed to think when reading. But she also tells of some people describing their experience as seeing letters "moving or vibrating on a page." Vibrating letters are a perceptual pathology not simply a difference. Dyslexia frequently afflicts a person concurrently (i.e. comorbidly) with other difficulties, such as dyspraxia which she explains is a difficulty in articulating sounds due to a kind of neuromuscular impairment.

The reader does need to bear in mind that Saltz demonstrates the **breadth** of the human condition more than reasonable expectations for the average individual with a disorder. Her sampling is openly and also appropriately biased:

"I have interviewed multiple successful and supremely creative individuals with brain differences for this book, and in each case I have asked them if, given the choice, they would eliminate their brain difference. To a person - and no matter how much pain their difference has caused them - they said that they would not. Each of my interviewees couldn't imagine separating their strengths from their weaknesses."

This kind of sampling is far from interviewing a person with a condition at random. She does not refer to people who lack supreme creativity. Therefore, using the term "brain differences", as opposed to "disabilities" or "disorders" runs a danger of overcompensating for historically negative views of some people. She points out her focus on exceptional people repeatedly. However, when a reader fails to attend to her disclaimers, they might lose sight of the possibility that not-so-creative persons might find themselves in misery. The fact that her interviewees would retain their conditions could reflect their status as exceptional people more than their status as people with a recognized medical issue. Nevertheless, Saltz carefully avoids romanticizing any condition. As I said, she gives an *appropriately* biased picture, as one of her intentions is to highlight potential within people having a wide diversity of cognitive abilities. In America, at least, her agenda is imperative.

I have my own biases as I write this critique. I have temporal lobe epilepsy. The history of the disease includes a pendulous swing in status within the psychiatric community, and this volatile status can have high costs for the patient. Decades ago, epilepsy was front and center among mental illnesses. The illness was oddly both comorbid with and caused by seizures. When anticonvulsant drugs became highly effective at reducing or eliminating outward seizures, the disease mysteriously became non-mental. Yet, I can pick out various mental symptoms from multiple disorders that Saltz describes and show them to also be comorbid with temporal lobe epilepsy. Saltz quotes a young woman with dyslexia, "I do better with abstract concepts and ideas as opposed to solid things that require huge amounts of knowledge stored." I have expressed exactly the same thoughts about epilepsy (in an earlier published work) as the woman quoted. I also appreciate points that Saltz makes regarding attentional difficulties and creativity. Saltz emphasizes the power of disinhibited thoughts - the amnesia with which I am too familiar has similar powers (when you cynically assume that you'll be wrong most of the time, you cannot be bothered to intellectually police yourself). Epileptic activity can gyrate a person's focus. Paradoxically, it can make a person hyperfocused as well. Epilepsy, however, is very pathological, frequently melodramatic, and even if it did bring me great success and creativity, I would never pause a moment to be rid of it. But then again, I am not supremely creative either.

Psychiatrists could be routinely treating epilepsy symptoms - as Saltz points out, treating symptoms is what psychiatrists are here to do. Unfortunately, treating the psychiatric symptoms by doctors and receiving reasonable accomodation in the work place has been greatly complicated by the "purging" of the mental illness out of the disease. Today, sufferers are too often perceived as being in a 100% normal mental state when not seizing. That misperception creates social problems. Semantics matter greatly, and the reader needs to critically examine any comment which suggests that a change in terminology is being made for any reason other than a coldly biological one. Such a comment may be very wise, but it needs introspection before quick acceptance. Having a mental disorder can incur stigmatization, but falsely not having one precludes the best care. For that reason, my own attitude is to work to purge the stigma from terms like "disability" or "mental illness" rather than change or discard the terms themselves. Despite our disagreement, Saltz's highlighting of the refinements of other abilities, brought about because of disorders, benefits people with either viewpoint. A person optimally focused on abstract thoughts can make great contributions to an intellectual endeavor, just as Saltz points out.

Saltz tackles supremely complicated issues, facilitating finding bones of contention. However, what Saltz accomplishes with her writing overshadows the points of contention that I raise. Of numerous accomplishments, she a) humanizes mental challenges in a systematic and comprehensive manner; b) provides a text-book knowledgebase that fosters empathy as it informs; and c) poignantly lays in evidence what society stands to lose when we become insensitive to the human potential in anyone.

The Power of Different needs to be in every college library. ( )

Dr. Satlz graphically shows the link between mental disorder and genius. She systematically covers topics like OCD, Autism and Bipolar Disorder and how historically many of the world's great creative minds have suffered from these maladies. But this book goes beyond that in suggesting how children and adults with these issues can overcome these mental differences (which she uses instead of disability). If you know or are related to people who fall into these areas this book will be very helpful. A great read for anyone in the education arena. ( )