Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior
Written by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson
Narrated by Andrea Gallo
4/5
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About this audiobook
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 of animal science. 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.
Temple Grandin
TEMPLE GRANDIN is one of the world’s most accomplished and well-known adults with autism. She is a professor at Colorado State University and the New York Times bestselling author of several books, including The Autistic Brain, which have sold more than a million copies. Named one of Time's most influential people in 2010, the HBO movie based on her life, starring Claire Danes, received seven Emmy Awards.
More audiobooks from Temple Grandin
Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bright Not Broken: Gifted Kids, ADHD, and Autism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Animals in Translation
533 ratings49 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Though I don't agree with every one of her conclusions, this book was so interesting. If I were to only take one thing from her, it's that animals know more than we perceive.
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- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Just fascinating. The subtitle of this book is "Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior". Temple Grandin, who is autistic, made a career in designing humane systems for handling animals in slaughter houses, poultry farms, breeding stables and kennels, and other situations where the needs of production have often resulted in appalling, frightening conditions for the animals involved. She has also advised the operators of such facilities on behavioral issues because she understands the animal mind in a way "typical" humans do not. In this books she explains the ways in which animals and autistic humans see things similarly, and how this has helped her see the world through animal eyes. There is a lot of brain science, human and animal psychology, common sense and uncommon wisdom, humor and heart in this book. Grandin says people always wonder how she could work for the meat-packing industry when she loves animals. Her answer is that she doesn't see the human race converting to vegetarianism any time soon (and that she herself was highly motivated to do so but found herself physically incapable of sticking to it), that most of the animals we eat "wouldn't exist if human beings hadn't bred them into being"...and that therefore we "owe them a decent life and a decent death, and their lives should be as low-stress as possible. That's my job." "If we're interested in animals, then we need to study animals for their own sake, and on their own terms, to the extent that it's possible. What are they doing? What are they feeling? What are they thinking? What are they saying? Who are they? And: what do we need to do to treat animals fairly, responsibly, and with kindness?" She applies these questions to ALL animals---pets, dairy cows, egg-producing chickens, animals raised for food, animals studied in labs and in the wild, birds, squirrels, elephants, snakes---without limits. A formal review said this is "one of those rare books that elicit a 'wow' on almost every page." Ask my husband how many times I made him "just listen to this!" while reading it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is an easy to understand book just packed with interesting information about animals and their emotions, behavior, communication, and importance to humans. Connections are made between autistic brain function and that of animals especially about similarities seen by the author who is looking at this through the eyes of an autistic person. Grandin quite possibly jumps to conclusions, but her insights are generally backed up with studies she has seen or done herself. I learned a lot and time after time I was surprised and awed by what she presented. One of my favorites was a 30-year study of Alex, a parrot, by Dr. Irene Pepperberg. Her means of training using a 3rd party and the intelligence and communication shown by Alex were just amazing. I found a couple videos online of Alex and Pepperberg at work.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quite brilliant. Grandin presents many theories and observations that seem rather obvious in retrospect but must have been groundbreaking to discover. I know I was completely awestruck by many of Grandin's observations.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book was a whole lot more interesting and informative than I expected it to be. I am dubious about any deep connection between autism and animal minds; I think Grandin may be generalizing a bit from her fairly unusual experience. But this book has a huge wealth of anecdote about animals from an observant, intelligent, and educated person who is deeply interested in them. It also has some wierd but actually useful analogies to computer software. I plan to read her other book, "Animals Make Us Human", which I originally avoided because I feared the dim sentimentality that the title of the book seemed to promise. I realize now that the book's thesis is at least related to our shared human and canine evolutionary heritage, and although this co-evolution seems to me quite speculative, the book may be much more interesting and substantial than I had imagined.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I do love Grandin's work, both in the ideas in and writing style of her books, and in the fact that she makes me feel less guilty for being a carnivore because she's done so much work for feedlots and slaughterhouses.
This book really is a must read. I love the structure of each argument, in particular. Now, bear in mind that I was too engrossed in reading to take notes, so my example may not be exactly accurate, but it could go something like this:
First, she'd say something axiomatic, like, we all know that baby animals like cuddles. Then she'd point out research to support that, like, the famous experiment where baby monkeys were given two wire mothers, one with milk, one wrapped with toweling, and they'd get desperately hungry before leaving the softer mother (even though it was neither alive nor furred nor scented...). Then she'd talk about newer, lesser-known research, often based on neuro-science instead of just observational psychology, and/or about her experiences as an autistic person or about other autistic people she's known. Or she'd talk about experiences in her career, or with friends' pets, about different kinds of reactions animals have to nurturing touch or lack thereof. And finally she'd theorize about what is actually going on in everyone's different kinds of brains, and what all those ideas, if integrated together, could be saying about the insufficiently acknowledged intelligence of animals, and about the best ways to treat animals, and autistic people, respectfully and humanely.
I love particularly her examples of what kinds of jobs the people with autism can excel at, and her insistence that dogs are being over- and mis-bred, for example breeders are killing collies' intelligence and giving Border Collies a bad reputation for makers of mischief by not ensuring they have *jobs* to suit their nature.
Sorry - I don't think that was particularly coherent. Read the book yourself, really. She's much easier to understand than I am.
Still not convinced? Ok.
In the section on prairie dogs, she introduces Dr. Con Slobodchikoff, who speculates that instead of looking for animal language in our closest genetic relatives, the primates, we should look at animals with the greatest need for language in order to stay alive." Quite an eye-opening idea, eh? Read the rest of that section and you'll probably find yourself not only unsurprised, but nodding in agreement.
Or, how about this statement. I'll give you no context - you'll have to read it yourself to believe it. "We're just leaving it up to animals like the seizure alert [service] dogs to invent their own jobs."
One of the most important things *I* got out of the book was clarity about my opinion of anthropomorphism. I always have known I'm not a fan. Otoh, I've also felt that critters are smarter, at least in some ways, than we give them credit for being. Now I can integrate my attitude thus: by perceiving animals through our own experience, and by giving them humanoid motivations and beliefs, we're blinding ourselves to being able to understand their true natures.
In other words, don't say, "That chimp is as smart as a 3 year old human." Say instead, "That chimp has the vocabulary of an average 2 year old child and can solve addition & subtraction problems typically solvable by 4 year old children." (Not Grandin's example, but my own synthesis.)
I only have two minor quibbles. Grandin doesn't define 'animals' in the same sense I usually see it. She usually means mammals and birds only - but, confusingly, sometimes means social insects or even reptiles. Second, she sometimes over-generalizes to include other people with autism as being very like her, whereas she and I both know that ASD manifests differently in different people.
I've read a lot of psychology and popular neuro-science books lately, and a lot of books by and about people who are autistic, and in none of them did I learn as much as I did from this. Of course, they may have laid the foundation to help me get more out of this work, but I do believe that if you only want to read one book on any of the subjects covered here, this would be a great choice." - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Despite the title, this isn't a book about how to understand animals (or people for that matter.. ). It is a very deep and engaging discussion about the process (and philosophy, art, science and spirit) of understanding across boundaries of cognition, reflection, instinct and sentiment. It is as much about what we don't know as about what we do know (or think we know), and there's never a point where the authors step beyond profoundly good (cautious) observation and research. And yet what might be a dry subject to some, is constantly brought alive and immediate by Temple Grandin's extraordinary ability to bring her experience of autism to bear on the subject. I can't say that that my sympathy with her experience doesn't colour my judgement, but to my mind this book is a stand-out in the literature on ethology, worth reading alongside E.O. Wilson's 'Biophilia' and the work of Singer, Sacks, de Waal and others in that field.I'm not sure how Grandin and Johnson divided up the duties on this book - Grandin's 'left-field' thinking is apparent on every page (and every page is worth reading), but if Johnson did nothing more than craft the story then she deserves surpassing credit for making this the sort of book that you read at one sitting and then wish there was more of it. Oliver Sacks, who wrote one of the most deservedly famous articles about autism ('An Anthropologist on Mars') described this book as "deeply moving and fascinating". In the plethora of favourable reviews of this book - and this one included - nobody has said it better. Hugely recommended if you are interested in ethology, or in just what it is to be human.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I enjoyed the insight into animal behavior and thinking that the author provided. The parallels between normal animal behavior and human autism were striking and obviously have helped the author in her work with domesticated animals.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Interesting book. A lot of insight into how animals perceive their world; however, I disagree with some of the premises put forth in this book - namely that animals can never forget a traumatic experience, thus never fully recover from it. There are people working with animals, particularly dogs, proving that's not entirely accurate every day.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5loved this book. anyone interested in autism and animal behavior should read it
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5fascinating insight into the animal and human brain from a person with autism
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm not really much of an animal person, but I liked this book a lot, mostly for the view it gives you of what it might be like to be autistic.
I'd be interested to meet Temple Grandin. I'm amazed that she has managed to build such an impressive career, since she says in this book that until she was about thirty, every day she had the same feeling of anxiety that you get when you are about to defend your doctoral dissertation. Every day!
She eventually started taking medication that improved things for her, but it's hard to imagine surviving that level of stress for so long.
If you do have a pet, definitely read this book--it gives a lot of interesting insights into why animals behave the way they do. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Animals in Translation, Temple Grandin describes how her autism helps her discover how animals perceive the world. She compares an autistic person’s perceptions with animals’ perceptions, and contrasts them with how non-autistic people think. She also gives her own ideas about how domesticated animals can be treated/trained in order to provide them with the best environment possible. Overall, a very interesting book...It changed my perception of how autistic people and animals think.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Not sure what I expected but I found this book to be quite intriguing. Learned a lot about how animals think and learn, but it was even more interesting foiled against how most of us think, and how autistics often think/learn. An interesting read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book will help you understand that animals are real: they think and have emotions, just like people. And just like people, animals are individual unto themselves and their breed/species. It seemed like this book focused more on trying to relate that animals think, see, smell, learn, and react differently than people, making them different but not less. This may be what Grandin was trying to convey about non-autistic people compared to autistic people.Some of the statements have to be taken lightly, as it seems were personal opinion overlaps scientific foundation, making it seem as though all statements are proven and should be cautioned. All in all, it is a very good book for the behavioral understanding of animals and an introductory for human and animal empathy.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As a woman with autism, Temple Grandin adds an interesting and important voice to the conversation regarding animal rights and animals' involvement in our lives generally. She suggests that because "normal human beings are built to see what they're expecting to see," it is hard for us to conceptualize how differently non-human animals think and perceive their world. Animals and people with autism share a much stronger reaction to novelty, meaning that they're highly detail-oriented and also may be disturbed by things that most people wouldn't recognize as anything out of the ordinary: light or shadows or flickering. Logic, and the sequencing of cause and effect, happen differently than in 'normal' thought processes, and things that don't make sense can be as great of a disturbance as audio-visual signals.Writing all of this out, I feel kind of horrible that it sounds rather like "Autistic people are just like animals." That's not my point nor Grandin's. Instead, her book aims to raise awareness of the 'otherness' of animal psychology, and she illustrates that with her own experience of mental 'otherness.' She argues strongly against our tendency to anthropomorphize animals, particularly pets; being overly confident about their motives may lead to bad training if not cruel practices. I did wonder how much she restrained her own tendency to say with confidence what animals are really thinking or acting upon, showing the same caution, but she's a great animal behaviorist doing important research and work to treat animals with respect and dignity.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fantastic book! Possessing the particular combo of autism/brain/personality/abilities that she has, Temple clearly has a unique foot-in-both-worlds when it comes to animals and humans. Which is one thing to assert, but Temple's writings make you understand exactly how accurate an assessment that is. I feel fortunate to have had her influence and perspectives present in the advances/improvements to the humane slaughter of (food source) animals, and simply to have been able to so thoroughly enjoy the insight she has into both human and animal behavior.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is certainly an interesting book. Temple Grandin is an autistic woman who found a way to apply her specific autistic sensitivity toward the solution of real-world problems. She works as a consultant for slaughterhouse and placed where animals are raised, treated, and killed. She draws parallels between her experience with autism and her understanding of how animals think, and experience/feel the world. The book is written in a non-fluid English: each sentence sounds of independent from the previous and the next ones. But after a while I got used to that. What I didn't like was mostly her way of mixing scientific statement with her intuitions, hypothesis, and some anecdotal evidence. A more rigorous distinction between facts and non-facts could help to increase her credibility. Despite all the explanations she provided, I still have problem to understand how an animal lover can work for a slaughterhouse.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A high-functioning autistic PhD who designs humane livestock holding and processing facilities shares her insights on animals and humans. Because she primarily thinks in images rather than words and because her autism makes it difficult to generalize, Grandin believes her own perceptions are more typical of animal perceptions than are those of neurotypical humans. In an interesting and accesible style, she integrates a lot of research findings about how animals (primarily domestic animals) perceive the world and react to those perceptions. She also ventures into the emotional life of animals.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A must read for all animal owners. Excellent insight into your animal's behavior! Four stars!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5every human being who has/will come in contact with animals should read this book. grandin takes complex concepts such as human and animal psychology, physiology and neurology and translates them into well constructed anecdotes. at times funny, and at times eye opening, this book is the one guidebook i would recommend to living peacefully with animals.if you've ever wondered why animals behave the way they do, or if you've ever wanted to consider how much animals can tell us about ourselves, run to the bookstore now and get this book!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I never realized just how terrifying the world can be through the eyes of a cow. Or a pig. Or that dolphins are capable of extreme cruelty. Or just how destructive selective breeding can be. Or...I don't think there was a page in Grandin's book where I didn't learn something. In her characteristic fashion, the writing is full of statements (rather than passive remarks) and strong opinions. The woman knows what she knows and that's that, but she has a track record to back up a lot of her claims. She specializes in human slaughter systems, and literally revolutionized the industry in North America.The book gives a lot of face time to the idea that animals and autistic people think visually rather than linguistically, seeing details instead of the whole. She provides examples of animal remorse, superstition, incredible discernment, and perhaps most shocking of all, outrageous deliberate cruelty.There are fascinating anecdotes and examples throughout the book, and while you may not be as interested in her musings on her work in slaughterhouses, I encourage you to read through these paragraphs anyway. Occasionally you'll find a gem of information that may change the way you understand and relate to a certain species.If you're interested in animals and animal behavior, this is an excellent resource. You may not necessarily learn a lot you don't already know about autism, but it may help you to understand a little better how these people perceive the world around them.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I have a number of conflicts with this book – which should in no way diminish the remarkable body of observations made by Dr Grandlin. It is generally accepted as cold hard fact that animals don’t think like humans. Until such time as there is scientifically verifiable information and understanding, we, as scientists, don’t know how humans *or* animals think. With ongoing study using functional MRI (fMRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanning we are learning more about the workings of the brain in many species.It is somewhat clearer and better understood that perceptual and cognitive processing in persons with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) and the general population can be quite different. There has been advancement in this field in the few years since the first edition of Animals in Translation was published and is not unreasonable to expect far greater understanding of the variety and depth of ASDs in the next few years.As a behaviorist Dr Grandlin effectively uses her perceptual abilities which are rather outside the conventional ‘boxes’. That she has developed some methods of livestock management that might not have otherwise been implemented. There is no question that she observes things that can be applied to some animals very effectively, as the numerous anecdotal examples in the book illustrate. What is not clearly addressed is that techniques that are effective on large livestock do not apply to domestic pets, foul or other species. There are some presumptive statements regarding canine behavior a species which she admits having minimal experience with and the behavior she asserts is inconsistent with the experiences of dog handlers and trainers in a wide variety of disciplines; (Search & Rescue, Police and Security, Service Dogs of varying specialty).What I hope many people bring away from this book is not the controversy of animal behavior, slaughterhouse and feedlot practices and whether or not a person eats meat, but that there are as many variations of perception and cognition as there are species. ASDs come in an enormously wide variety from people you would never recognize as having one to the stereotypical internally focused, non-verbal, rocking child. There can be huge value in thinking outside the norms, as Dr Grandlin and Bill Gates (with his publically acknowledged Asperger’s Syndrome).Recognizing this and allowing for adaptations when some students are simply incapable of learning in ‘conventional’ ways will allow all of society to benefit from the advances these people can make, because it’s simply not comprehensible to them that something *can’t* be done just because it never was before. The potentials for humanity and the species we share the Earth with are indeed boundless, if only given the opportunity to function in a way that optimizes and celebrates them, rather than marginalizing and stereotyping.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The book was good, with a great concept, but I didn't really agree with many of Ms. Grandin's assertions. She would often tell why she felt a certain way about something, but couldn't back it up with proof. Her argument for being an advocate for animals, but still eating meat doesn't hold up as well. However, this didn't make me not like her book.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5For a book written by someone with a PhD, I was quite surprised at the lack of facts in this book. There are much better books on animal behavior out there, and they've been out there for a while. Especially about dogs. For example: "The other end of the leash" by Patricia McConnell, and "Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson. I see nothing new or innovative about the ideas in this book.However, as a cute book of anecdotes about animals acting in concordance with the author's suppositions, this book is mildly entertaining.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A fascinating insight into animal behaviour with a lot of interesting anecdotes. Very readable, although at times the writing style was a little repetitive. Has a behaviour troubleshooting section in the back that would be great for animal owners. Look forward to reading more by this author.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is an amazing insight into the minds of animals. I recommend this book to everyone I know. There is a ton of information that is fun to learn and share. It will change the way you see your animal companions.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Temple Grandin is autistic and brilliant. She is known for her work with animals, in particular cattle; she's designed half of the livestock-handling facilities in the United States. In this book with Cathrine Johnson, she explores the viewpoints of animals themselves in contrast with autistic and normal people. The results are astonishing. The subject sounds dry, but the writing is not. Through citations of scientific studies and personal experience, Grandin makes the case for animal brilliance. I could note any numbers of especially intriguing information in this book:- Rapist roosters are becoming more prevalent because as chickens have been bred for bigger breasts, they have lost other important genetic material such as mating dances. Some roosters also murder the hen after the rape.- Albinos are highly unusual in nature, and with reason - they have more flaws and nervous problems. This is becoming more prevalent with Dalmatians, which are being bred to be as white as possible, but are having increasing health issues that are harming the integrity of the breed.- How animals handle pain, and why: if a prey animal shows pain, it makes them likely to be culled by a predator. Certain breeds are more tolerable of pain, such as Labradors, because they are a type of dog designed to jump into ice-cold water. This pain tolerance is why they handle young children so well.- A leucotomy is similar to a lobotomy but only severs the connections to the frontal lobe instead of removing it entirely. The 1949 Nobel Prize winner developed the procedure to assist people dealing with severe, chronic pain. These patients still felt the tremendous pain, constantly, but after the operation they no longer cared. They could finally function in their daily lives and the pain just didn't matter anymore.In case you couldn't tell, this is an awesome book to completely geek-out with. I couldn't wait to share facts like these with my husband and my mom. In addition, since my son is autistic, I learned more about seeing the world through his viewpoint, something that presents a daily challenge in my household. I can only hope he grows up and experiences as much success as Temple Grandin.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The word "animals" is in the title, but the reader learns a lot about human behavior from this book. The author writes from her own personal perspective of being autistic. I learned from the book that the frontal lobe's ability to screen through all the incoming sensory data to the human brain to quickly form broad generalizations is what we understand to be normal human consciousness. The more limited functioning of animal frontal lobes allows them more direct access to the raw data from lower parts of the brain. This allows animals to super specialize in certain skills that help them to survive. (i.e. dog's ability to smell, or migratory bird's ability to remember 1,000 mile routes). Impared functioning of the frontal lobe may explain how some autistic persons appear to have super human skills in specialized areas. They have privileged access to the raw data from the lower parts of the brain unfettered by screening by the frontal lobes. Unfortunately, it also explains how other autistic persons can be overwhelmed by the flood of incoming sensory data and are unable respond appropriately to their surroundings.The book is full of interesting anecdotal stories about human and animal behavior. One part I found particularly fascinating is the theory that the evolution of the human brain may have been influenced by the presence of domesticated wolves (i.e. dogs). I know it sounds hard to believe, but there is a rational basis for such speculation. The comparison of dog and wolf genetics indicates that dogs started being domesticated about 135,000 years ago which is the approximate time that modern humans began spreading throughout the world. The partnership between dogs and humans may have given an edge to modern humans in their competition with Neanderthals in Europe during the last ice age. So the expression, "Man's best friend," may have more truth to it than we realize!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I was totally hooked from the very beginning of this book. It provides many insights into neuroscience (both animals and human), animal behaviors, and how an autistic person's mind works. Grandin draws on both her personal experience as an autistic and her professional experience as a Ph.d. in Animal Science to allow those of us who are "cursed" with normal minds a glimpse into another way of viewing the world around us.While many may be turned off by her work with the USDA and the slaughtering industry, one must still admire her dedication to improving conditions to an optimal level for the animals. The book is careful to delineate between established and proven research and Grandin's own personal observations and hypotheses regarding certain animal behaviors. I wouldn't normally review a book that I am only half-way through reading, but this one is so captivating, informative, and thought provoking up to this point, that even if the rest of the book is totally disappointing, I would still consider it a great read. Entertainment Weekly explains it best in its blurb when it states that this "is one of those rare books that elicit a 'wow' on almost every page."