Outlier by Review by Louis B Hobson

Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders and claustrophobia is the fear of small spaces. If there is a phobia to describe an aversion to singer Josh Groban, Randolph West suffers from it. It's not his only condition. He also deals with other development disorders including Aspergers Syndrome, something he discovered later in life. It helped explain several issues he dealt with in his youth. He would forget things almost instantly. He tells of one time at boarding school in his native South Africa. He answered the phone at the dorm to be asked to tell his supervisor to call home immediately as their was a family emergency. He forgot, and the man didn't learn a parent had passed away until much later. It's one of many stories West tells about growing up in South Africa during apartheid, and then of moving to Lloydminster. West is at his amiable best, easily winning over his audience to the point he has them applauding each time he stops for a drink of water. His monologue is beautifully written, maximizing the humor in every situation including a fax machine joke that almost landed him in prison. Fortunately he was just a few month shy of legal age. There's also a car accident in the middle of a bank robbery that shows his life was anything but dull.