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Blog Entry 43 of 46 Ask the Dog Guy
The Dog Guy (me) answers questions about dog behavior/misbehavior.

Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~AsktheDogGuy

Book Review II
Contributed by: Dave Pearson   on 11/17/2008


"Thinking in Pictures - and other reports from my life with autism."

By Temple Grandin

After reading "Animals in Translation - using the mysteries of autism to decode animal behavior," by the same author, I needed more. I needed to better understand where this author is coming from, so I picked up another of her books, written a bit earlier (nearly 10 years) and discovered that she is a wealth of information, particularly about how a person with autism acts and reacts in our verbal world.

In the first book, her unique view helped me understand better how a canine views his/her world. The best part was that her perspective was from their perspective, yet it was backed up with science. This book is similar in that she describes her views and her love for feedlot animals (cattle, pigs, sheep, etc) as she goes about her professional life of designing systems to humanely slaughter them. She ponders the ethical questions of how one can love something that will eventually become a food source.

She ponders the questions many of us ponder, but from a much different perspective. Is there a God? If so, then why would he/she allow us to kill other animals for food? And the beautiful part is she arrives at answers. True, they may only be answers for her but they are answers all the same, and few of us come to answers to the questions she asks, and even fewer of us are or would be willing to write them down for all to see. I also discovered that she is rather prolific in her writings. According to Wikipedia, she has authored six (6) books, beginning in 1986 with "Emergence - Labeled Autistic" up to and including "Animals in Translation" and "The Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships: Decoding Social Mysteries Through the Unique Perspectives of Autism," both written in 2005. All of her books are written with the assistance of co-writers, but it's clear to me that it is all Temple Grandin in the words.

She describes autism as a continuum with no clear, bright lines of when it starts or stops. She indicates that some of the best-known people in the world have some autistic mannerisms like rocking or profound focus.

If you or anybody is interested in autism or how autistics look at the world, I recommend this book. It is a must read for those who enjoyed "Animals in Translation" as it ads context to the author. If you'd like to read the book review of Animals, you can either read it here or here: http://www.pearsonspetservices.com/ask_the_dog_guy/art2008oct14.html


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Showing 1 of 1 comments
Submitted By: Rebecca Zimmerman
posted on 11/18/2008 @ 3:58:48 PM
Rated Blog Entry
Thanks, I may have to check out her books sometime.
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Showing 1 of 1 comments
CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Dave Pearson

Arvada , CO

Dave Pearson has posted 46 blog entries and 2 comments since joining on 1/7/2008. Dave Pearson 's average blog rating is 5.
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