Yes, the subtitle on the front cover is schlocky in implying that autism is responsible for most technological and idealogical progression in human history. He takes a more conservative approach in the book itself by claiming that most inventors possess a 'highly-tuned' Systemizing Mechanism (his theory: the brain's ability to reiterate "if-and-then" logic in novel ways), and an often poorly-developed Empathy Circuit (another term of his: the ability to understand and predict the thoughts, feelings, behaviors of other people). He links such traits to autism, but he doesn't come out and say his example inventors -- Tesla and Bill Gates -- are autistic. Also, Simon constantly (as in every fucking page) states that no hominid or non-human animal is capable of this Boolean logic, nor bears enough cognitive ability for a legitimate empathy circuit. Any evidence of tool-use or predictive behaviors, he will wave away as not conclusive enough, or not "genuinely" inventive in the case of early hominid tool-making. So, it's quite funny that he's also posited Hitler's autism from DNA-chicken scratches. He's even put quizzes at the back of the book so the reader can assess their SM and EC scores, as well as a RAADS-R quiz to see if the reader might also have autism. There is an asterisk to the RAADS-R quiz, stating that one should see a professional before assuming an autistic identity, but the presentation of this book is clearly intended as uplifting pop science for people with autism, relatives of those with autism, and socially-maladjusted people who deem themselves autistic and want to believe in their personalities as potentially invaluable. It's similar to the undercurrent of Kay Redfield Jamison's "Touched with Fire", but with a much worse thesis and prose. All the big-wig psychologists, Pinker and the like, wrote their blurbs for Baron-Cohen to legitimize the work, but it's just so shoddy. Took me three months to slog through it, and I had to give up by the 7th of 9 chapters.