• Divergent Mind

  • Thriving in a World That Wasn’t Designed For You
  • By: Jenara Nerenberg
  • Narrated by: Tegan Ashton Cohan
  • Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (788 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Divergent Mind  By  cover art

Divergent Mind

By: Jenara Nerenberg
Narrated by: Tegan Ashton Cohan
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.37

Buy for $21.37

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

A paradigm-shifting study of neurodivergent women - those with ADHD, autism, synesthesia, high sensitivity, and sensory processing disorder - exploring why these traits are overlooked in women and how society benefits from allowing their unique strengths to flourish.

As a successful Harvard and Berkeley-educated writer, entrepreneur, and devoted mother, Jenara Nerenberg was shocked to discover that her "symptoms" - only ever labeled as anxiety - were considered autistic and ADHD. Being a journalist, she dove into the research and uncovered neurodiversity - a framework that moves away from pathologizing "abnormal" versus "normal" brains and instead recognizes the vast diversity of our mental makeups.

When it comes to women, sensory processing differences are often overlooked, masked, or mistaken for something else entirely. Between a flawed system that focuses on diagnosing younger, male populations, and the fact that girls are conditioned from a young age to blend in and conform to gender expectations, women often don't learn about their neurological differences until they are adults, if at all. As a result, potentially millions live with undiagnosed or misdiagnosed neurodivergences, and the misidentification leads to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and shame. Meanwhile, we all miss out on the gifts their neurodivergent minds have to offer.

Divergent Mind is a long-overdue, much-needed answer for women who have a deep sense that they are "different". Sharing real stories from women with high sensitivity, ADHD, autism, misophonia, dyslexia, SPD, and more, Nerenberg explores how these brain variances present differently in women and dispels widely-held misconceptions (for example, it's not that autistic people lack sensitivity and empathy, they have an overwhelming excess of it).

Nerenberg also offers us a path forward, describing practical changes in how we communicate, how we design our surroundings, and how we can better support divergent minds. When we allow our wide variety of brain makeups to flourish, we create a better tomorrow for us all.

©2020 Jenara Nerenberg (P)2020 HarperAudio

Editor's Pick

A welcome alternative to pathologizing difference
"I consider myself quite privileged to know—and love—several people living on the autism spectrum. Growing up in a household that championed the neurodivergent, I learned from an early age to value diversity and difference in neurological function. In fact, far from being damaged or broken, those with atypical sensory processing abilities are in many ways endowed with unique, paradigm-shifting perspectives and proficiencies. In Divergent Mind, author and activist Jenara Nerenberg unpacks this emerging reevaluation of neurological variability, focusing in particular on how women are routinely underdiagnosed with conditions such as high sensitivity, ADHD, misophonia, dyslexia, and autism. In sharing her own story and breaking down common misconceptions regarding neurodivergent minds, Nerenberg gives listeners a roadmap for constructing a world that works for everyone, built on a supportive framework that shuns shame and stereotype. Coupled with the guiding, measured narration of Tegan Ashton Cohan, this listen challenges the notion of "normal," instead providing an argument for understanding and acceptance that’s long overdue." —Alanna M., Audible Editor

More from the same

What listeners say about Divergent Mind

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    598
  • 4 Stars
    113
  • 3 Stars
    49
  • 2 Stars
    13
  • 1 Stars
    15
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    422
  • 4 Stars
    140
  • 3 Stars
    65
  • 2 Stars
    17
  • 1 Stars
    28
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    506
  • 4 Stars
    96
  • 3 Stars
    42
  • 2 Stars
    13
  • 1 Stars
    13

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Allows New Perspectives and Life!

I totally found myself here!
Cried so many times, how pathetic I have felt every time I walk into a supermarket literally brain dead!
It was the first book I read on neurodivergency and I have not stopped since...
My daughter's diagnosis followed and I am now specialised in Aspergers' Females Neuroscience Coaching
I realised as I was getting my coaching certification that other coaches could not hold space for me - no matter how much they tried. This was my line in the sand moment and I niched out because we need space
Step 1. To know
Step 2. To get diagnosed
Step 3. To learn or relearn all our quirks and put them into perspective
Step 4. To relive our life
Step 5. So as to live the future fully with total understanding of whom we are!

I discovered that a particular reaction of mine gave me this response from the neurotypicals 'Stop being so selfish!', 'You spoilt brat...' became for me 'OMG can't you see I'm having a meltdown here!' and thus I had labelled it (Step 1...) Can you imagine how my recovery, personal development and coaching grew exponentially in a fraction of a millisecond?!!

So yes this book put me on the path to discover all this and I love it totally...

Thank you for your amazing work Jenara Nerenberg

Catherine Guimard-Payen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Radicalizing

This is work is the conversation for our time. Thanks to Jenara Nerenberg it has finally arrived!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

no words

this book changed my life. I now have words for my experiences. no words seem right. thank you.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou Jenara Nerenberg.

Neurodiversity honored and explained. A call to action, to help create a world more embracing of the neurodiverse.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

So helpful and reassuring!

The author has such insight and she made me feel like I wasn't alone.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Insightful. absolutely relatable

I loved it. It was so relatable, and it made me want to research more to how I can get help and not feel like I'm crazy.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent, excellent, excellent!

This book is full of invaluable information on neurodivergence. Eye-opening! A must-read for everyone!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Eye Opening

Great insights as to why women go undiagnosed for so long or are misdiagnosed. I found many similarities in myself and my journey to finding answers about how my brain is wired. The reader's voice was a bit robotic and I found that distracting, but overall this book will be recommended to many. Great source of information and very relatable.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

important book to many people

very interesting and educational but ironically I found the narrator's voice incredibly hard to listen to. very monotone and robotic. I imagine maybe that was done on purpose but it's not great.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A hope filled listen for women who feel “different”

Omg. My life won’t be the same after listening. I am looking forward with hope at the potential my life has before me :)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!