Details on the book: Asperger Syndrome and Alcohol: Drinking to Cope, by Matthew Tinsley, Sarah Hendrickx. Description: The book exposes the unexplored problem of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) using alcohol as a coping mechanism to deal with everyday life. Alcohol can relieve the anxiety of social situations and make those with ASDs feel as though they can fit in. Ultimately, however, reliance on alcohol can lead the user down a path of self-destruction and exacerbate existing problems.

And there's a classic phrase in Asperger's that goes "Don't be blinded by the brilliance." Because a lot of parents may perceive their six-year-old holding quantum physics discussions and can tell you everything about the celestial bodies, but they absolutely have no friendships whatsoever.

By Steve Silberman, WIRED magazine --  Autism - and its milder cousin Asperger's syndrome - is surging among the children of Silicon Valley. Are math-and-tech genes to blame?

In his article Is There A Little Rain Man In Each Of Us?, Darold Treffert, MD asks if it is possible “to tap and use those still existent, but less frequently used, capacities and circuits, with some of their savant-like characteristics, in those of us more wedded to left brain capacity and higher level memory?” [post on the High Ability site]

Savant Syndrome raises many questions. But two especially intriguing questions are of particular importance: (1) How do they do it? and (2) What does savant syndrome say about hidden potential, perhaps, within each of us.