Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior PDF

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Temple Grandin's professional training as an animal scientist and her history as a person with autism have given her a perspective like that of no other expert in the field. Grandin and coauthor Catherine Johnson present their powerful theory that autistic people can often think the way animals think-putting autistic people in the perfect position to translate "animal talk." Exploring animal pain, fear, aggression, love, friendship, communication, learning, and, even animal genius, Grandin is a faithful guide into their world. Animals in Translation reveals that animals are much smarter than anyone ever imagined, and Grandin, standing at the intersection of autism and animals, offers unparalleled observations and extraordinary ideas about both.

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• Product Details
• Table of Contents
• Reviews

• Audible Audio Edition
• Listening Length: 14 hours and 31 minutes
• Program Type: Audiobook
• Version: Unabridged
• Publisher: Recorded Books
• Audible.com Release Date: April 8, 2013
• Whispersync for Voice: Ready
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00C9QZ9HC

Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior PDF

What author Temple Grandin has attempted to do here is to use her own experiences as an autistic person to gain insight into the way animals perceive and react to the world around them. She explains that autism seems to impair the ability of the neocortex, or frontal lobes of the brain, to obtain and process information, and that animals likewise have less well-developed frontal lobes than normal humans do. Her theory is that the impairment of an autistic person's brain, in essence, makes them far closer to other animals than to non-autistic humans in how they view the world. As a result, Grandin has largely been able to help people better relate to their pets, and also to design more humane slaughterhouse equipment and more effective auditing procedures for slaughter facilities.

The book starts off well, with Grandin offering many insights that show that, in some ways, she really does have a better understanding of animal perception and thought than "normal" humans. Her principle examples revolve around the fact that animals, like autistic people, are detail-oriented. Their inability to generalize and see the "big picture" often leads to fixations on small things that the average person would not notice. Grandin illustrates this with stories from her inspections of meat plants, where something as simple as an abrupt change in lighting, or a reflection on a puddle - things which have entirely escaped the plant operators' notice - have been causing cattle to balk and refuse to go where they are being directed. She goes on to explain exactly why these details, which don't seem like much of a reason to be afraid, are so disturbing to the animals. Her observations, while not things that would immediately jump out at most people, make a lot of sense once she has explained them.

I've tried 3 times to finish this book - a book which I had eagerly looked forward to reading - and I've finally given up. On nearly every page I found myself jarring to halt and thinking "But that's not true, what about..." until I came to a complete standstill and called it quits. To give you some background, I am a stay at home mom, have a 4 year degree in zoology, and an interest in animals and animal behavior. Other than that I have no special background or experience that would qualify me to question, much less contradict, the information presented by a phd in animal science (Grandin) or neuropsychiatry (Johnson). And I had genuinely looked forward to reading this book, and was delighted to receive it as a gift from a friend who highly recommended Grandin's works on autism.

Having said all that, on nearly every page I found errors and sweeping over-generalizations, with little or no evidence to defend - or even explain - how the author came to develop them.. The occassional footnote seems thrown in more as an attempt to legitimize the book than to actually enlighten the reader. And while glaring errors such as failing to properly identify insects, birds, fish, etc as animals - something my 4th grader can do with ease - could possibly be attributed to poor editting, the sheer repetition of such errors casts doubts on Grandin's grasp of basic zoology.

More educated reviewers than I have written about the scientific inaccuracies present in this book; I would like to add that the even the anecdotal evidence Ms. Grandin throws in to support her claims is flawed.