Books: Music critic finds relief in Asperger’s diagnosis

From “Fresh Air” on National Public Radio:

Music critic Tim Page didn’t find out that he had Asperger’s syndrome until he was 45, three years after winning the Pulitzer Prize. He writes in his new memoir, “Parallel Play: Life As An Outsider,” that the diagnosis helped him to accept parts of his nature that were “not very changeable.”

Page says he acted out when he was young and constantly struggled to understand social norms. He found a refuge in the repeating patterns in music.

“I have this theory that Asperger’s syndrome has been hugely important for me with music, because it was the first world that made any sense to me. I didn’t really understand what was going on around me, I didn’t understand what people really wanted me to do. I was a very lost little kid. But my mom had this record player ….

“It allowed me passage into a world where everything made sense and where I felt this profound sense of being at home in the world.”