Name: Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight
Rating: 3.75 (4 reviews)
ISBN: 9780812997392

Naoki Higashida

"Naoki Higashida wrote The Reason I Jump as a 13-year-old boy. Now, he shares his thoughts and experiences as a 24-year old young man with severe autism. In short, powerful chapters, he explores education, identity, family, society and personal growth. He also allows readers to experience profound moments we take for granted, like the thought-steps necessary for him to register that it's raining outside. Introduced by award-winning author David Mitchell (co-translator with his wife, KA Yoshida), this book is part memoir, part critique of a world that sees disabilities ahead of disabled people. It is a self-portrait-in-progress of a young man who happens to have autism, and who wants to help us understand it better"--

Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

From the author of the bestselling The Reason I Jump, an extraordinary self-portrait of a young adult with autism “Essential reading for parents and teachers of those with autism who remain nonverbal.”—Temple Grandin Naoki Higashida was only thirteen when he wrote The Reason I Jump, a revelatory account of autism from the inside by a nonverbal Japanese child, which became an international success. Now, in Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8, he shares his thoughts and experiences as a young man living each day with severe autism. In short, powerful chapters, Higashida explores school memories, family relationships, the exhilaration of travel, and the difficulties of speech. He also allows readers to experience profound moments we take for granted, like the thought-steps necessary for him to register that it’s raining outside. Acutely aware of how strange his behavior can appear to others, he aims throughout to foster a better understanding of autism and to encourage society to see people with disabilities as people, not as problems. With an introduction by the bestselling novelist David Mitchell, Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8 also includes a dreamlike short story Higashida wrote especially for the U.S. edition. Both moving and of practical use, this book opens a window into the mind of an inspiring young man who meets every challenge with tenacity and good humor. However often he falls down, he always gets back up. Praise for Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8 “[Naoki Higashida’s] success as a writer now transcends his diagnosis. . . . His relative isolation—with words as his primary connection to the outside world—has allowed him to fully develop the powers of observation that are necessary for good writing, and he has developed rich, deep perspectives on ideas that many take for granted. . . . The diversity of Higashida’s writing, in both subject and style, fits together like a jigsaw puzzle of life put in place with humor and thoughtfulness.”—The Japan Times “Profound insights about what the struggle of living with autism is really like . . . Once again, the invitation to step inside Higashida’s mind is irresistible.”—London Evening Standard “Naoki Higashida’s lyrical and heartfelt account of his condition is a gift to anyone involved with the same challenges. . . . Higashida shows a delicate regard for the difficulties his condition creates . . . and is adept at explaining his experiences in language that makes sense to neurotypicals.”—The Guardian

A Young Man's Voice from the Silence of Autism

Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8

Moth

It's important to remember that this book isn't just one book, but pieces of Naoki's other work that has been released in Japan put into one book. Personally, I think you can feel that. It all follows a similar theme but doesn't always match with the stories around it. 

Sadly, I believe like the first one, my ADHD brain had a hard time grasping everything being said in the chapters, my brain would glaze over after a few hours when I got too tired. But I do believe that Naoki's writing was well done and elegant. I think his writing is also important to better understand him, but also anyone with any sort of disability. I do recommend it, though I do have to warn that it does repeat itself a bit, understandably. I think that was my downfall when reading it at night. Also know there is a story of fiction thrown in there without properly being labelled as such. I spent most of that story confused until I realized at the end that it wasn't something from his life like the other stories.

(Full review to come on my blog)

Cindy Lieberman

More insights into Autism by the author of The Reason I Jump.

Michael Hessling

This book is not a blueprint, but still gives me lots of insight into how I can be better.

Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

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