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THE JOURNAL OF BEST PRACTICES
By: David Finch
A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man's Quest to Be a Better Husband
Scribner
January 2012
On Sale: January 3, 2012
242 pages
ISBN: 1439189714
EAN: 9781439189719
Kindle: B004T4KRJM
Hardcover / e-Book
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Paperback (October 2012)
Non-Fiction Memoir
At some point in nearly every marriage, a wife finds herself asking, What the @#!% is wrong with my husband?! In David Finch's case, this turns out to be an apt question. Five years after he married Kristen, the love of his life, they learn that he has Asperger syndrome. The diagnosis explains David's ever-growing list of quirks and compulsions, his lifelong propensity to quack and otherwise melt down in social exchanges, and his clinical-strength inflexibility. But it doesn't make him any easier to live with. Determined to change, David sets out to understand Asperger syndrome and learn to be a better husbandβno easy task for a guy whose inability to express himself rivals his two-year-old daughter's, who thinks his responsibility for laundry extends no further than throwing things in (or at) the hamper, and whose autism-spectrum condition makes seeing his wife's point of view a near impossibility. Nevertheless, David devotes himself to improving his marriage with an endearing yet hilarious zeal that involves excessive note-taking, performance reviews, and most of all, the Journal of Best Practices: a collection of hundreds of maxims and hard-won epiphanies that result from self-reflection both comic and painful. They include βDon't change the radio station when she's singing along,β βApologies do not count when you shout them,β and βBe her friend, first and always.β Guided by the Journal of Best Practices, David transforms himself over the course of two years from the world's most trying husband to the husband who tries the hardest, the husband he'd always meant to be. Filled with humor and surprising wisdom, The Journal of Best Practices is a candid story of ruthless self-improvement, a unique window into living with an autism-spectrum condition, and proof that a true heart can conquer all.
 Media BuzzThis American Life - February 19, 2012
All Things Considered - February 3, 2012
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