This is my first experience with Dr. Baron-Cohen's writing, and... I'm going to call it an acquired taste. He presents a really interesting idea (especially for those of us on the spectrum), but he does it in a very dry, flat way. It's understandable, given his history in academia, but it can make the book feel like a chore to slog through.
Baron-Cohen's assertion is that the primary quality of an autistic brain as opposed to a neurotypical one is pattern-seeking behavior, which he calls systemizing. He includes a test in the appendix so you can see where you fall on the systemizing and empathizing spectrums (though the results matrix is backward -- use the URL in the book to take the test online for accurate results), as well as a short test to determine whether you might be autistic. He covers elements of human evolution, prenatal and childhood development, and the definition of invention to make his point that the capacity to invent is unique to homo sapiens and most prevalent in strong systemizers, like those on the autism spectrum.
While he makes an excellent case for his primary thesis, some of his side points feel wobbly, and one element of his methodology in particular looks flawed to me. He talks about research he's done into autistic couples and the increased likelihood that their offspring will be on the spectrum, which makes a lot of sense to me, but he conducts most of this research in Silicon Valley (and similarly tech-focused communities elsewhere in the world). He relies on school- or parent-reported data for much of his research, and his focus on STEM work communities carries an inherent classist bias that he doesn't address in the book.
All of that said, The Pattern Seekers is a fairly quick and interesting (though not terribly peppy) read, and it's a good title to recommend to people who advocate for "curing" autism, because it re-frames autistic differences as useful and functional to the species as a whole.
