Words weren't enough. Now I've got PICTURES.. Moving pictures. On YouTube.

One of the online retailers asked if I could make a short video of me, talking about Look Me in the Eye. “Of course I can,” I said, because I try my best to accommodate people. But I’d never made a tape by myself. As you blog readers know, I had the Today show here last week with three skilled cameramen and a million dollars worth of gear. Why didn’t they ask then, when I had trained professionals here at the house?

I even had Amy Robach here all day, to ask me questions. What a chance they missed.

My brother and I went to Sams Ready Cash Emporium and bought us a pawned VCR. Holding the hundred dollar marvel in his paws, my brother said, “This is easy. We don’t need professionals. We can do it ourselves.” In between passes, raking the meadow with my tractor.

And this video is the result:

Now, as if that’s not enough, I’ve got more.

You’ve all heard about the print version of Look Me in the Eye, and indeed it’s what’s garnering all the sales and attention right now. Look closer, though . . . there in the background, you’ll see my audio book.

It’s now in a box, halfway down, on the right side of my blog.

Those of you who read the blog back in July may recall my posts on recording Look Me in the Eye. I did it up here in the sticks, at a studio across the street from my house. A bears-and-moose kind of setting in the front yard, and Yamaha digital mastering gear in the basement.

When I decided to record my own book – read the words myself, that is – it was almost a vanity. It was MY story, and I felt I was the natural one to read it. Luckily, the folks at Random House Audio agreed, and the process went off smoothly, without a fight.

Back in July, I told you all how well things went, and I introduced all the players – Orli (my producer) Charles (my director) and Peter (my engineer). I was really happy with the result, and in the hurry to get ready to go on tour, I kind of forgot about it.

Then the audio book clip came in and we put it on the blog. And something happened. I’ve alluded to this before, but it’s important, so I’m going to allude some more here . . .

People with autistic and Aspergian children began writing me, telling me the voice on my audio clip “sounded like home,” “sounded warm,” and “sounded familiar.” I pondered the meaning of those comments, and I began to wonder . . . is there a “voice of Asperger’s?”

Together, we should answer that question. Those of you with autism or Asperger’s in the family . . . listen to the clip, and write and tell me if you recognize something in the voice. It’s a fascinating concept.

I think there is a whole ‘nother dimension of meaning to my reading of the audio book, one I did not anticipate at all. If it’s true there’s a distinct voice, it’s such a wonderful stroke of luck that I read the book myself and brought it to you, however unintentional it was.

All the online retailers and many brick and mortar stores will carry the adridged audio book, which I read. There is also a limited distribution unabridged work that I did not read. It’s mostly found in libraries. If you have autism in your family, and go to a library looking for my audio, pay attention to which version you get. If you don’t have autism in the family, the unabridged version has all my stories, all the extra stuff we had to cut to fit five CDs for the lighter version.

And before I go, I’d like to also mention that we’ll have a LARGE PRINT edition of Look Me in the Eye soon. I’ll let you know when it’s on sale.