In fairness to we persons on the spectrum who had problems with how Christopher was presented in the book, most of us were force-fed it while in high school by people who probably sincerely believed that we\'d relate to Christopher, and the novel itself, while in his head, paints a not-terribly-sympathetic outsider\'s portrait of what someone who doesn\'t have autism but has worked with many people who do might think it looks like in there.
I do appreciate that he seems to have realized that Christopher isn\'t a terribly good example of an autistic character and asked that that description be removed in favor of making his psychiatric condition ambiguous, but let\'s not pretend everyone who assumed he was written that way was doing so in a vacuum. It used to be on the front cover, after all.
...Still better than Adam though.
I suppose that does make quite a difference; when I read the book, I did so of my own free will rather than having it assigned to me, so that probably colored my perception of it.
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A great work of fiction, not a medical guide
I found this book extremely fascinating and well-written, doing an excellent job of giving the reader an insight into Christopher's thought process and his attempts to live life by his self-imposed rules. The numerous diagrams and side notes make for an interesting departure from the more typical page layout. Taken for what it is (a fictional work of literature), I found this book unique and absorbing.
That said, there has been a disturbing tendency in some circles to think of this book as more than that, to consider this book either a diagnostic tool or a definitive guide to what anybody with autism is like in real life, even though the author has gone on record saying that Christopher does not have a specific condition and that the author actually did more research on the London Underground than he did on ASD conditions (Note: I have Asperger's myself, and while I do see a significant amount of myself in Christopher, there is also a great amount of traits that we do not have in common). Conversely, there have also been autistic groups claiming that Christopher is one of them (even though the author said he isn't) and who have gone as far as demanding that an autistic actor play Christopher in the play.
If you're on the fence about reading this book I, would recommend it, but do keep in mind just what this book is (and isn't).