Matt Slaby / Luceo for TIME

Temple Grandin comes to the Sleeping Lady

Temple Grandin, Ph.D., is a gifted animal scientist who has designed one-third of all the livestock-handling facilities in the United States. She also lectures widely on autism—because Temple Grandin, born with autism, has taken a leadership role, speaking out to help the rest of us understand how our autistic friends and neighbors experience the world.

Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism by Temple Grandin

In this unprecedented book, Dr. Grandin delivers a report from the country of autism. Writing from the dual perspectives of a scientist and an autistic person, she tells us how that country is experienced by its inhabitants and how she managed to breach its boundaries to function in the outside world. What emerges in Thinking in Pictures is the document of an extraordinary human being, one who, in gracefully and lucidly bridging the gulf between her condition and our own, sheds light on the riddle of our common identity.

"Temple Grandin, an icon in the world of animal welfare..." writes Roger Caras, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, "has come here from the almost unimaginable world of autism and sees both us and herself in a wonderfully new and lucid way. Thinking In Pictures is an amazing story about a remarkable woman."

"Lucidly explains how people with autism differently perceive and process … reviews diagnosis and treatment of autism, and discusses its association with talent and genius...Highly recommended." — Library Journal

"Remarkable. . .Displaying uncanny powers of observation. . .[Temple Grandin] charts the differences between her life and the lives of those who think in words." — Philadelphia Inquirer

"A uniquely fascinating view not just of autism but of animal — and human — thinking and feeling, [providing] insights that can only be called wisdom." — Deborah Tannen, author of You Just Don't Understand

The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism and Asperger's by Temple Grandin

In this innovative book, Dr. Temple Grandin gets down to the daily issues of autism, the ones parents, teachers, and individuals on the spectrum face every day. Temple offers helpful do's and don'ts, practical strategies, and try-it-now tips, all based on her "insider" perspective and a great deal of research.

Among the specific topics Temple delves into are:

• How and Why People with Autism Think Differently,
• Economical Early Intervention Programs that Work,
• How Sensory Sensitivities Affect Learning,
• Behaviors Caused by a Disability vs. Just Bad Behaviors,
• Teaching People with Autism to Live in an Unpredictable World,
• Alternative Medicine vs. Conventional Medicine,
• Employment Ideas for Adults with Autism,
• The Role of Genetics and Environmental Factors in Causing Autism,
• Understanding the Mind of a Nonverbal Person with Autism,
• Finding Mentors and Appropriate Colleges, and many more.

This revised and expanded edition contains revisions based on the most current autism research.

"If autism had a rock star, it would be Grandin. Diagnosed with autism when little was known about the condition, Grandin went on to earn a Ph.D., become an expert on the humane treatment of livestock, and write prominent autobiographical works on autism (e.g., Thinking in Pictures). This collection of articles from Autism Asperger's Digest that draw heavily from her own life provides snippets of her views on the condition. The columns are organized by theme, each with a new introductory section written by Grandin. Notable sections include labels and diagnoses, education (especially harnessing a child's special talent), and the social world of autism.” — Library Journal

Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson

Best-selling animal advocate Temple Grandin offers an exciting exploration of how animals feel. In her groundbreaking and best-selling book Animals in Translation, Temple Grandin drew on her own experience with autism as well as her distinguished career as an animal scientist to deliver extraordinary insights into how animals think, act, and feel. Now she builds on those insights to show us how to give our animals the best and happiest life—on their terms, not ours.

Drawing on the latest research and her own work, Grandin identifies the core emotional needs of animals. Whether it's how to make the healthiest environment for the dog you must leave alone most of the day, how to keep pigs from being bored, or how to know if the lion pacing in the zoo is miserable or just exercising, Grandin teaches us to challenge our assumptions about animal contentment and honor our bond with our fellow creatures.

Animals Make Us Human is the culmination of almost thirty years of research, experimentation, and experience. This is essential reading for anyone who's ever owned, cared for, or simply cared about an animal.

"Packed with fascinating insights, unexpected observations and a wealth of how-to tips, Grandin's peppy work ably challenges assumptions about what makes animals happy." — Publishers Weekly

Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson

Temple Grandin's Animals in Translation speaks in the clear voice of a woman who emerged from the other side of autism, bringing with her an extraordinary message about how animals think and feel. Temple'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. Standing at the intersection of autism and animals, she offers unparalleled observations and groundbreaking ideas about both.

Autistic people can often think the way animals think — putting autistic people in the perfect position to translate "animal talk." Temple is a faithful guide into their world, exploring animal pain, fear, aggression, love, friendship, communication, learning, and, yes, even animal genius. Not only are animals much smarter than anyone ever imagined, in some cases animals are out-and-out brilliant. The sweep of Animals in Translation is immense, merging an animal scientist's thirty years of study with her keen perceptions as a person with autism — Temple sees what others cannot.

"Philosophers and scientists have long wondered what goes on in the minds of animals, and this fascinating study gives a wealth of illuminating insights into that mystery. Grandin, an animal behavior expert specializing in the design of humane slaughter systems, is autistic, and she contends that animals resemble autistic people in that they think visually rather than linguistically and perceive the world as a jumble of mesmerizing details rather than a coherent whole. Animals-cows, say, on their way through a chute-are thus easily spooked by novelties that humans see as trivialities, such as high-pitched noises, drafts and dangling clothes. Other animals accomplish feats of obsessive concentration; squirrels really do remember where each acorn is buried. The portrait she paints of the mammalian mind is both alien and familiar; she shows that beasts are capable of sadistic cruelty, remorse, superstition and surprising discernment (in one experiment, pigeons were taught to distinguish between early period Picasso and Monet). Grandin (Thinking in Pictures) and Johnson (coauthor of Shadow Syndromes) deploy a simple, lucid style to synthesize a vast amount of research in neurology, cognitive psychology and evolutionary biology, supplementing it with Grandin's firsthand observations of animal behavior and her own experiences with autism, engaging anecdotes about how animals interact with each other and their masters, and tips on how to pick and train house pets. The result is a lively and absorbing look at the world from animals' point of view...[a] valuable, rigorous book." — Publishers Weekly

"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

"At once hilarious, fascinating, and just plain weird, Animals is one of those rare books that elicits a 'wow' on almost every page. A." — Entertainment Weekly

"Autism, Grandin argues, closely mimics the psychological condition of animals, in part because both lack facility with language. Indeed, she asserts that animals are autistic savants whose intelligence is unseen by most people...provocative." — Library Journal

About the Authors

TEMPLE GRANDIN earned her Ph.D. in animal science from the University of Illinois and went on to become an associate professor at Colorado State University. She is the author of four previous books, including the national bestsellers Thinking in Pictures and Animals in Translation. Dr. Grandin was recently named one of the Time Magazine 100 most Influential people in the world. She was recognized for her work as a world-famous animal scientist and autism self-advocate. Grandin spearheaded reform of the quality of life and humaneness of death for the world's farm animals. Through her company, Grandin Livestock Systems, she works with the country’s fast-food purveyors to monitor the conditions of animal facilities worldwide. She lectures widely on both animal science and autism.

CATHERINE JOHNSON, Ph.D., is a writer specializing in neuropsychiatry and the brain. She cowrote Animals in Translation and served as a trustee of the National Alliance for Autism Research for seven years. She lives with her husband and three sons—two of whom have autism—in New York.

Learn more at: http://www.templegrandin.com