His life isn't necessarily a remarkable one. He mentions 'The tendency to be unaware of matters that should be obvious to me has stayed with me.'

Such as his early knack for writing and unconventional approaches, not caring to partake in social organizations or functions, not caring to vote or for other civic duties, never caring to take care of small things in terms of cooking meals or making beds, wearing the same clothes and never minding to change them for weeks. There are a lot of traits that he mentions while describing himself that can be typical of those with Aspergers syndrome or on the spectrum. I think Heller might be on the autism spectrum. He paints a good portrait of his family and what it was like growing up in the unique dynamic of having only half-siblings who were 'technically orphans.' He paints an idyllic picture of Coney Island, legendary for it's theme park attractions, and gives it a more personal perspective of what it was like to grow up there as a resident in a Jewish family. As I've only read the one satire novel by Heller, I was curious to know what a non-fiction piece of work by him would entail. Joseph Heller is the author of one of my favorite books of all time, Catch-22. People think it quite remarkable that I was in combat in an airplane and I flew sixty missions even though I tell them that the missions were largely milk runs.'

You got the feeling that there was something glorious about it.' On his return home he 'felt like a hero. Heller later remembered the war as 'fun in the beginning. Two years later he was sent to Italy, where he flew 60 combat missions as a B-25 bombardier. After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1941, Heller spent the next year working as a blacksmith's apprentice, a messenger boy, and a filing clerk. He sent it to New York Daily News, which rejected it. Even as a child, he loved to write at the age of eleven, he wrote a story about the Russian invasion of Finland. Joseph Heller was the son of poor Jewish parents from Russia. Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Joseph heller goodreads