"In The Pattern Seekers, Simon Baron-Cohen reveals the surprising answer to two apparently distinct questions: Why are humans so inventive? And why does autism exist? The first question hangs over almost every human endeavor: Business people want to know how to innovate. Cognitive psychologists want to understand the nature of creativity. Evolutionary scientists and comparative psychologists want to understand why we are capable of such cultural complexity...

Diagnosed with autism at the age of thirty-four, one of the UK's hottest comedy stars reflects on the ways her undiagnosed autism influenced her youth, from the tree that functioned as her childhood best friend to the psychiatric facility where she ended up when no one knew what to do with her.