Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin

[lightreads]

Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior by Temple Grandin

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Came for the autism, stayed for the Labradors. Background: Temple Grandin is an animal behavior specialist. She's single-handedly revolutionized the humane treatment of slaughter animals in the United States. She's also a vital force in the neurodiversity movement. This book argues broadly that animal cognition shares some key features with autistic cognition – picture-thinking, working memory shortages, detail-fixation, etc. It also takes a fascinating tour through what we know about animal emotion, consciousness, and cognition.



Awesome, on multiple levels. The animal psychology wasn't just interesting (though it really is!) but also useful for those of us who handle a working dog. And also, Temple Grandin is one of those people who manages to make her life a sustained act of advocacy, which is something I aspire to on my very best days. This book spends some time explicitly explaining autistic cognition, but it more subtly is autistic in a way that just says, here's my brain. It's not like yours. Just so you know.




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Comments

[spiffikins]

this sounds very interesting! I've put a request in to our local library, so that I can read it.

I do enjoy your book reviews!

[lightreads.livejournal.com]

I do enjoy your book reviews!


Thank you! I started this because I'm a compulsive record keeper, but it's awesome that other people get something out of it.

[readerjane]

I enjoyed Grandin's Thinking in Pictures. Will have to try this one.

[castiron.livejournal.com]

I'm putting a library request in for this; I've never read anything by Grandin, and with an autistic kid and a probably-Aspie ex, it's high time I did.

[indywind]

(here via synecdochic)

I've read Thinking in Pictures, looking forward to giving this a try.

Have you read Dogwatching by Desmond Morris? It's a good look at the likely cognitive and biological underpinnings of canine behavior, and the tone is similar to Grandin's, very observational: here's what happens, here's why I think it happens. Morris also has Catwatching and Horsewatching and The Naked Ape whichshocked people when it first came out. How dare this guy suppose humans were, like other animals, largely products of their biology and socialization?

You might enjoy any of these, if you like Grandin's style.

[lightreads.livejournal.com]

*is very belatedly catching up*.

I haven't tried those, no, and thank you for the recs!