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Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior | 
 enlarge | Authors: Temple Grandin, Catherine Johnson
Publisher: Harvest Books
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy Used: $0.99
You Save: $14.01 (93%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  155 reviews
Sales Rank: 4675
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 372
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.3 x 1.1
ISBN: 0156031442
Dewey Decimal Number: 591.5
EAN: 9780156031448
ASIN: 0156031442
Publication Date: January 2, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: ** Possible marking on cover. 100% Satisfaction guaranteed on all purchases.
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Product Description
I don't know if people will ever be able to talk to animals the way Doctor Doolittle could, or whether animals will be able to talk back. Maybe science will have something to say about that. But I do know people can learn to "talk" to animals, and to hear what animals have to say, better than they do now. --From Animals in Translation
Why would a cow lick a tractor? Why are collies getting dumber? Why do dolphins sometimes kill for fun? How can a parrot learn to spell? How did wolves teach man to evolve? Temple Grandin draws upon a long, distinguished career as an animal scientist and her own experiences with autism to deliver an extraordinary message about how animals act, think, and feel. She has a perspective like that of no other expert in the field, which allows her to offer unparalleled observations and groundbreaking ideas.
People with autism can often think the way animals think, putting them in the perfect position to translate "animal talk." Grandin is a faithful guide into their world, exploring animal pain, fear, aggression, love, friendship, communication, learning, and, yes, even animal genius. The sweep of Animals in Translation is immense and will forever change the way we think about animals.
*includes a Behavior and Training Troubleshooting Guide Among its provocative ideas, the book:
- argues that language is not a requirement for consciousness--and that animals do have consciousness
- applies the autism theory of "hyper-specificity" to animals, showing that animals and autistic people are so sensitive to detail that they "can't see the forest for the trees"--a talent as well as a "deficit"
- explores the "interpreter" in the normal human brain that filters out detail, leaving people blind to much of the reality that surrounds them--a reality animals and autistic people see, sometimes all too clearly
- explains how animals have "superhuman" skills: animals have animal genius
- compares animals to autistic savants, declaring that animals may in fact be autistic savants, with special forms of genius that normal people do not possess and sometimes cannot even see
- examines how humans and animals use their emotions to think, to decide, and even to predict the future
- reveals the remarkable abilities of handicapped people and animals
- maintains that the single worst thing you can do to an animal is to make it feel afraid
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| Customer Reviews: Read 150 more reviews...
 Wholly Fascinating! July 20, 2008
This is the most fascinating book I have ever read. The amazing Temple Grandin takes two subjects: autism and animal behavior,and draws comparisons with remarkable insight. She brings the world of animal behavior into sharp focus with examples and explanations and makes it easy for the lay reader to understand. She and coauthor, Catherine Johnson, write with a conversational prose that makes even the most difficult concepts easy to grasp. Every chapter elicits a "Wow".
Although the dry title may put some people off because it sounds clinical and cerebral, this absolutely exciting book holds a plethora of facts and wonders about the animals we come into contact with on a daily basis. A real eye-opener!
- C.A. Wulff, author of Born Without a Tail
wonderful! June 16, 2008
This is a terrific book. I learned about animal behavior and autism. I am a science teacher and I gained understanding of my autistic students and my pets and insight to share with students regarding animal behavior.
Humans, Their Animal Partners and Autism June 6, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
With all the force of revelation, an autistic scientist offers the rest of us revolutionary insights into the animal mind. It is written in clear, deceptively simple prose. There's so much here that it is hard to keep it in the bounds of a short review:
The first section is about Temple Grandin and her autism, how she has coped with it and used her unique perception to help animals and the people who work with them. This is an inspiring story.
The second section talks about how animals perceive the immediate environment and how people do not. This was literally an eye-opener! Since then, I have become a better observer of my own animals. My horse trusts me more because I can respond to his alerts. My dog has an ability to detect the approach of dangerous weather.
The third section discusses animal feelings in a scientific manner and challenges some modern methods of animal breeding, care or confinement that produce abnormal behaviors. This is a fascinating chapter that covers many aspects of animal behavior and altered my own. After reading this chapter, I started buying only eggs that were labeled "cage-free".
The chapter on animal aggression had a lot of information about dogs and cats, animals of prey that have become our closest companions. A fundamental difference exists between a dog happily killing a squirrel and a dog angrily biting a human.
She makes an equally fundamental point in the following chapter about animals masking pain that suddenly explained why a horse I once had who had just broken a bone suddenly put his head down and started to eat grass as if everything was fine. In following chapters there was food for thought in how animals think and about animal genius.
In short, if you like animals, this is an invaluable book made more useful and effective by its wide-ranging focus on a variety of species.
excellent look into autism May 27, 2008
she has several positive points to make about her own autism which is a change form other books i have read,
Life expanding read May 27, 2008
Every so often a book enters one's life in such a way that thoughts that were once unformed crystalize and become clear. This book had that effect on me.
I had the great honor of listening to Dr. Grandin speak once and I remain profoundly grateful for her works, both in these pages of illumination and in the practical world of reducing animal suffering.
I recommend this book wholeheartedly!
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