How to Read Minds : Aimee Cliff on the Art & Science of Empathy

We're delighted to welcome Aimee Cliff to the bookshop to discuss her new book How to Read Minds.

What is true empathy? The classic stereotype of autistic people is that they can’t empathise; that they’re highly intellectual but find it difficult to connect. As an autistic psychotherapist, who empathises for a living, Aimee Cliff knew that this wasn’t right. Empathy is something you do, not something you are—meaning it’s something we can all get better at, if we choose to practise.

Drawing on the latest scientific research, her clinical experience, and interviews with a wide range of neurodivergent people, Cliff examines how empathy works in the brain and body, and lays out five pillars that allow anyone to practise empathy. She finds that empathy is humble; empathy is embodied; empathy is amoral; empathy is radical; and empathy is work. How to Read Minds offers a new idea of empathy with a more radical and expansive definition.

For real empathy fights against constrictive stereotypes, and dares to imagine something new. It has the potential to connect and liberate humans across our differences. This wise, humane and quietly life-changing book considers how to understand each other, how to care for and love each other, in a timeless examination of questions that affect us all.

About our speaker:

Aimee Cliff is a psychotherapist. She specialises in neurodiversity-affirming and LGBTQ+ inclusive talking therapy. Previously, she was a music and culture journalist writing for the Guardian, Independent, Dazed, Pitchfork and Huck. She was one of the inaugural winners of the Wellcome Collection x Spread the Word Writing Awards.