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

Grandin, Temple; Johnson, Catherine

ISBN 10: 1400101468 ISBN 13: 9781400101467

Publisher: Tantor Audio, 2005

Synopsis

How is Animals in Translation different from every other animal book ever published?
Animals in Translation is like no other animal book because of Temple Grandin. As an animal scientist and a person with autism, her professional training and personal history have created a perspective like no other thinker in the field, and this is her exciting, groundbreaking view of the intersection of autism and animal.

Unlike other well-known writers in the field of animal behavior - When Elephants Weep by psychoanalyst Jeffrey Moussaleff Masson, How Dogs Think by psychologist and dog trainer Stanley Coren, and The Hidden Life of Dogs by anthropologist Elizabeth Marsha Thomas - Temple Grandin is an animal scientist who has devoted the last 30 years of her life to the study of animals. Animals in Translation is the culmination of that life's work - a book whose sweep is huge, including just about anything that gallops, trots, slithers, walks, or flies.

Temple Grandin is like no other author on the subject of animals because of her training and because of her autism; understanding animals is in her blood and her bones.

Animals in Translation ...

* redefines consciousness and argues that language is not a requirement for consciousness

* categorizes autism as a way station on the road from animals to humans

* explores the "Interpreter" in the normal human brain that filters out detail, creating an unintentional blindness that animals and autistics do not suffer from

* applies the autism theory of "hyper-specificity' to animals, meaning that there is no forest, only trees, trees, and more trees

* argues that the single worst thing you can do to an animal is make it feel afraid

* examines how humans and animals use their emotions, including to predict the future

* compares animals to autistic savants, in fact declaring that animals may be autistic savants, with special forms of genius that normal people cannot see

* explains that most animals have "super-human" skills: animals have animal genius

* reveals the abilities handicapped people, and animals, have that normal people don't

About this title

Book Description

Published in hardcover by Scribner, 2005, 0743247698

From the Back Cover

"Inspiring . . . Crammed with facts and anecdotes about Temple Grandin's favorite subject: the senses, brains, emotions, and amazing talents of animals."--The New York Times Book Review

People with autism can often think the way animals think, which puts them in the perfect position to translate ?animal talk.” In this groundbreaking book Temple Grandin draws on her own experiences with autism as well as her distinguished career as an animal scientist to deliver an extraordinary message about how animals think, act, and feel. Funny, inspiring, and full of incredible insight, Animals in Translation will forever change the way we look at our fellow creatures.

?Animals in Translation is wonderful! The most important book I’ve read in 30 years.”--Patricia McConnell, author of The Other End of the Leash

?Grandin’s focus in Animals in Translation is not on all the ?normal’ things autistics and animals can’t do but on the unexpected, extraordinary, invaluable things they can.”--O, the Oprah Magazine

About this edition

• Publisher: Tantor Audio
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1400101468
• ISBN 13: 9781400101467
• Binding: Audio CD
• Number of pages: 12