To Siri, With Love

A mother, her autistic son, and the kindness of a machine

By: Judith Newman

Narrated by: Sarah Borges

'A moving and witty memoir with a big heart' - Nigella Lawson

For fans of David Mitchell's Fall Down 7 Times, Get Up 8, Jem Lester's Shtum and Keith Stuart's A Boy Made of Blocks.

No one would consider Judith Newman's domestic life normal. She and her husband keep separate apartments-his filled with twin grand pianos as befits a former opera singer; hers packed with the clutter and chaos of twin adolescent boys conceived late in life. And one of those boys is Gus, her sweet, complicated, autistic 13-year-old.

With honesty and humour, To Siri With Love chronicles one year in the life of Gus and the family around him -- a family with the same crazy ups and downs as any other. And at the heart of the book lies Gus's passionate friendship with Siri, Apple's 'intelligent personal assistant'. Unlike her human counterparts, Siri always has the right answers to Gus's incessant stream of questions about the intricacies of national rail schedules, or box turtle varieties, and she never runs out of patience. She always makes sure Gus enunciates and even teaches him manners by way of her warm yet polite tone and her programmed insistence on civility.

Equal parts funny and touching, this is a book that will make your heart brim, and then break it. Warm, wise and always honest, Judith Newman shows us a new world where artificial intelligence is beginning to meet emotional intelligence -- a world that will shape our children in ways both wonderful and unexpected.

(P)2017 WF Howes Ltd©2017 Judith Newman

Critic reviews

To Siri with Love is a beautifully honest and illuminating love letter to Gus, your typical atypical non neurotypical human. (Jon Stewart)

A moving and witty memoir with a big heart. (Nigella Lawson)

Writing with wit, humor, and effervescent honesty . . . This odd yet endearing pairing comprises the book's rewarding and adorable closing third, a funny, warmhearted narrative of wry wisdom derived from the foibles of both Gus and Henry and powered by a maternal love that autism could never compromise. "In a world where the commonly-held wisdom is that technology isolates us," writes the author, "it's worth considering another side of the story."

A powerful and heartfelt 'slice of life' tale.

This warm series of stories offers a glimpse of what it's like to parent a child who has a touch of magic in his soul.

An uncommonly riotous and moving book [that] will make readers laugh - yes, out loud - before sweeping them, finally, into a soul-spilling high tide . . . Technology's great promise may in fact be to summon, capture and display our most human qualities, both the darkness and the light, to pave avenues of deepened connections with others.

By turns hilarious and compassionate, To Siri with Love is one of the most moving books about modern parenthood ever written. (Laura Zigman, author of Animal Husbandry)

Newman shares her sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always insightful and upbeat recollections . . . A positive yet honest look into one family's journey with autism.

Judith Newman redefines maternal love . . . The book is part Operating Instructions, part love letter to both her son and technology, and a totally engrossing read. Cancel your plans when you pick up this book because you'll want to read it cover to cover. (Annabelle Gurwitch)

I was riveted by To Siri with Love. Judith Newman doesn't just describe and analyze her son's brain, she paints it on the page, sings it, even dances to it in moments. Yes, this is a book about a boy. But more than that, it's a book about the myriad-and sometimes magical-lenses there are through which to see the world. I finished it with different eyes than the ones I began with. (Meghan Daum, author of The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion)

Beautiful, hilarious, and touching, Newman's journey is universally relatable. While exploring the complexities of being human, it is also, in the end, the enduring story of family and all the mysteries, crises, and unexpected joys therein. This book is 123.57 percent (and that may reflect my own spectrum issues) wonderful! (Sandra Tsing Loh, author of The Madwoman in the Volvo)

[Newman]'s warmth and wit is reminiscent of Nora Ephron. The result is a bracingly honest chronicle of life alongside an autistic family member.

Never mind the boycott

It gave me better understanding of autism and the difficulties of a mother who loves her autistic son. The author (mother) has a dry sense of humor and self irony that feels sincere. The love for her son shines through the whole story and though it mentions her worries about her son having future sex life and potential children, it doesn't feel that it is anything else than genuine worries of a mother that loves her son. I have noticed that there is a twitter mob that argues that the book should be boycotted because it doesn't respect people with autism. I found that critique misplaced and one sided as if written by someone who does not have the ability to see the finer point of human empathy.