We are unique as a species in our ability to point meaningfully. Chimps may draw saleable pictures and create tools, but they do not point. If I point in the direction a thrown ball has gone for the benefit of my slow-witted border collie, she looks intently at the tip of my finger. Declarative pointing – ‘there’s an eagle!’ – is also one of the fundamental triangulations of our social being. I point; I use my arm and forefinger to describe a line in space; I point at something or someone; but, for it to be meaningful, there has to be another person there to observe and comprehend the gesture. Raymond Tallis’s fourth chapter is concerned with a major exception: that of people on the autistic spectrum, whose inability to appreciate the subjectivity of others is confirmed by a failure to point.