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book cover for The Human Rubric

The Human Rubric

A Memoir of Life in a Neurotypical World

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Pub Date Sep 21 2026 | Archive Date Sep 30 2026


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Description

Why would a person learn to treat love, safety, and belonging as a problem to solve?

Again and again, he misreads social situations and learns the rules only after the punishment: exclusion, embarrassment, lost chances, distance. Can he break down human behaviour piece by piece, to reverse-engineer a life that might lead to belonging?

His search shapes everything - friendship, love, work, and ambition - and eventually leads him to professional training as a clinical psychologist.

He spent decades trying to fix something, only to realise that what he was looking at was never broken in the first place.

In trying to be normal, he loses himself. What he finds instead is that love is still love, even when it is shown and felt differently.

Why would a person learn to treat love, safety, and belonging as a problem to solve?

Again and again, he misreads social situations and learns the rules only after the punishment: exclusion...


Advance Praise

"A well-deserved five-star rating. Very highly recommended!"

Reader's Favorites

"The more I read, the more I felt compelled to take off the proverbial mask. Reading Dr. James P. Manning’s book, The Human Rubric, has been an illuminating experience, and I highly recommend it!"

Readers Views

"Intimate journey of neurodiversity, self-acceptance, and belonging."

Production grades: Cover: A

Design and typography: A

Editing: A

Marketing copy: A

Booklife


"A well-deserved five-star rating. Very highly recommended!"

Reader's Favorites

"The more I read, the more I felt compelled to take off the proverbial mask. Reading Dr. James P. Manning’s book, The...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9781917369589
PRICE $19.99 (USD)
PAGES 284

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Average rating from 2 members


Featured Reviews

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The first and second halves of the book seem slightly disjointed. The first half focuses so strongly on different women and how interacting with them changes (or doesn't change) how James feels about the world and his place in it. The second half of the book focuses more on his career and his quest for self-reflection, which I did think was well-written, but I would have loved some reflection on the early part of James' life to help tie the first half of the book to the second. There was also a very interesting thread about how James did not need to mask or fake anything around his daughter; that could be an area for additional writing.

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