"Of course it was the eyes. There they were, staring across at me in the dark, dirty, frigid salt-water tank. The stare, direct and aggressive, was from Spray, an Atlantic Bottlenose dolphin. As her left eye widened and sought to make contact with mine through my diving mask, I realized I'd never known such a powerful, intellectual gaze in my life. I found myself not breathing, trapping the air still held in my lungs, hoping that the moment would last forever.

"When I left the pool that first day, I had no way of knowing I was taking the first steps toward breaking the barriers of dolphin-human communication. I only knew that I'd touched and been touched by an experience too large for me to comprehend...."

"Most importantly, I would go on to find a way to use what I'd learned to improve the condition of other humans. At that first meeting, I had no idea how this information would enable me eventually to free autistic children to communicate with those who cared for them and about them."

Ms. St. John pays particular attention to ways that being with dolphins and porpoises can have special value in pulling autistic humans into a larger world, along with her own notes of general life.

Very recommended.