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Fri 08 Aug 2006Old Friends ElectricAfter a brief period on the top of the charts, Gary Numan was a figure of scorn for many years. But now, rediscovered by a new generation, he's happier and more self-confident than ever before, he tells Brian Boyd.FOR A good deal of its time in the literary spotlight two years ago, Mark Haddon's enthralling novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was outselling the latest Harry Potter. The book is narrated by a young man with Asperger's syndrome and sheds necessary and informative light on a little-known autism spectrum disorder. People with Asperger's are clinically defined (although not everyone accepts the definition) as having difficulties with social and communication skills but having above normal intelligence.