Animals in Translation

Dr. Grandin’s personal struggle with autism and her love of animals have combined to revolutionize our current understanding of animal behavior and human interactions with our animal partners.

Her body of work is not only impressive but has informed both my career as an animal scientist and my fiction. This book is exemplary of her profound impact on people who love animals.

Like her book Thinking In Pictures, Animals In Translation is about how Temple Grandin solved problems, like ways to improve animal handling in slaughterhouses, by putting herself literally in the position of the animals and ‘seeing’ how it could change the way they were treated, making it less distressing for them. This then is about visual communication, not verbal as words themselves are only part of the communication process, with tone of voice and body language being the greater part of it. Speaking for myself, I found language problematic as what someone said might be contradicted by what they… show more.

Animal scientist Temple Grandin encouraged me in my animal welfare work personally when I faced a traumatic brain injury. She draws on her own experiences with autism and explains that people with unique brain “dysfunctions” like autism, ADHD, brain injury, etc. can think like animals more effectively than “normal” people. I was honored to be included in her assessment and to have her tell me I had what it took to “naturally understand animals.” Crammed with facts and anecdotes, Temple explains animal senses, brains, and emotions through humorous stories and scientific study results. A deeply logical approach to compassion, she… show more.