Create Your Own Economy by Prof. Tyler Cowen

I've recently found out about a book, Create your own economy written by Tyler Cowen, which apparently explores some very interesting ideas about the autistic spectrum. It was released this month. I'm trying to get hold of a copy to read, but as I live in Australia where we have a book retail market that is subject to restrictive laws, I have no idea how long this will take. The author of this book is a professor of economics at an American university.

I found out about Prof. Cowen and his book by reading an excellent recent article by him in The Chronicle Review (details below). In this article Cowen described some instances in which harmful and incorrect anti-autistic beliefs held by university academics have offensively found their way into their published books and writings. Cowen has also shared some fresh and positive ideas about the autistic mind and how it fits into higher education. Prof. Cowen is a former colleague of Prof. Vernon L. Smith, who won a Nobel Prize in economics in 2002 and has since then openly discussed what it is like to have Asperger syndrome. I guess this might be one reason why Prof. Cowen swam against the tide and formed a positive view of the autistic spectrum. I recently wrote about Prof. Vernon L. Smith and his autobiography.

While Prof. Cowen's new book appears not to be predominantly about autism, I expect that it will include more fresh thinking about the spectrum, based on what I have read in reviews. Here are some quotes from reviews:

"Cowen spends a great deal of time dispelling autism's societal stigma, arguing that mainstream society is reaping benefits from mimicking autistic cognitive strengths."

"Cowen's book can be read as an appeal, that, for the sake of society at large and the individuals in particular, we should embrace neurodiversity, or the different ways in which our brain is wired."


Details of the book:
Cowen, Tyler (2009) Create your own economy: the path to prosperity in a disordered world. Dutton Adult, July 2009.


Link to the book's web site:
http://createyourowneconomy.org/


Link to an interview of Prof. Cowen about his new book, by John J. Miller, at National Review Online, in which Prof. Cowen discusses his own autistic characteristics:
http://radio.nationalreview.com/betweenthecovers/post/?q=ODRlMTljM2RjOTVhZmJjZjMwMDZiYzg3NzU2NmQwYjg


Video of book forum (1hour 10 minutes) at the Cato Institute on August 4th 2009:
http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=6384


An interview about the book with Matt Welch on Reason TV on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyxLlaVQB7I


Cato Institute daily podcast:
http://www.cato.org/dailypodcast/podcast-archive.php?podcast_id=965


Link to book's page at Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Create-Your-Own-Economy-Prosperity/dp/0525951237


Link to book's page at Penguin.com (USA):
http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780525951230,00.html?Create_Your_Own_Economy_Tyler_Cowen


Link to book's page at Penguin Books Australia (Australian publication date September 28th 2009, in hardback):
http://www.penguin.com.au/lookinside/spotlight.cfm?SBN=9780525951230


Link to a review of the book at a blog:
http://www.growthology.org/growthology/2009/07/a-few-thoughts-on-tyler-cowens-new-book.html


Details of a most interesting article by Prof Tyler Cowen:

Cowen, Tyler (2009) Autism as academic paradigm. Chronicle Review. July 13th 2009.
http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=sv9qrqwtrhyhYMYSc5n6DqwQhHFJdvdv


Link to eSpecial Thinking differently by Tyler Cowen and Temple Grandin at The eBook Store:
http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/tyler-cowen/thinking-differently/_/R-400000000000000166925


Link to Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok's blog Marginal Revolution:
http://www.marginalrevolution.com/


Link to Tyler Cowen's personal web page:
http://www.gmu.edu/jbc/Tyler/