The best-selling animal advocate Temple Grandin offers the most exciting exploration of how animals feel since The Hidden Life of Dogs. In her grou...
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reviews
Jul 01, 2011
Cindy
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An interesting and thought-provoking book by an autistic scientist, a Ph.D. in animal science, who is a professor at Colorado State University. This book was written in collaboration with another scientist, also a Ph.D., who specializes in neuropsychiatry and who is also the mother of two of three sons with autism.
It is clear throughout the book that autism has provided Grandin with extraordinary insights into animals and (perhaps) extraordinary patience with animals. In one exampl More...
It is clear throughout the book that autism has provided Grandin with extraordinary insights into animals and (perhaps) extraordinary patience with animals. In one exampl More...
Jul 03, 2011
Tamara
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I love that the focus of this book is about how to make animals in captivity (pets, zoo animals, livestock, etc.) happy. It's so hard to know what it means for an animal to be happy and Temple Grandin uses careful analysis and science to help unravel the mystery.
Knowing that animals need the freedom to express normal behavior and freedom from fear and distress to be happy, Grandin begins to define these things in layman's terms.
I mostly focused on the chapter about cats, be More...
Knowing that animals need the freedom to express normal behavior and freedom from fear and distress to be happy, Grandin begins to define these things in layman's terms.
I mostly focused on the chapter about cats, be More...
Jan 22, 2009
Todd
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Animals deserve the best life, and Temple Grandin's interesting take on our relationship with animals is always a pleasure to read. Particularly of interest was the way she pursued her thesis that animals make us human. This 21st century mental model of identifying -- and revising -- humans' long-standing problematic dominion over the rest of the animal kingdom was very enlightening.
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Jan 13, 2012
Meredith
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The big thing with Grandin's books (NF) is that she's autistic, and also a specialist in humane treatment of "food animals": cows, chicken, pigs. She was particularly famous because she headed up the McDonald's audit of feed lots and slaughter houses. Apparently her autism gives her a unique perspective on this--and her prior book, Animals in Translation, was very interesting. It talked about how small changes in the animal's environment meant both cost savings for the companies involv
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Dec 08, 2011
Suzanne
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A fascinating, compassionate way to consider how humans manage animals and how to look at the essential emotional needs of animals. In a nutshell: animals need to able to express their natural behaviors. When we confine pets or domestic or wild animals in ways that don't allow that, we are injuring or neglecting them in important ways. Grandin goes through domestic animals one at a time, discussing their needs and behaviors, and then covers wild animals in a more general way. With each sectio
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Dec 04, 2011
Deanna
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It makes me a little sad to rate this book with only two stars. I really like Temple Grandin's work, and I loved Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior. I've gleaned a lot of interesting information from this book, and I think there was a lot of really interesting and valid research and experience that went into writing it. It's just that it's not very well written. It's like at the end of each chapter she starts to get tired of explaining everything and
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Oct 05, 2011
David
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This fascinating book has a lot of insights into the higher picture of how behavior works in animals, and into the devilish details of dogs, cats, horses, cows, pigs, and chickens. It also covers zoos and wildlife more generally though with specific anecdotes. The most mind blowing moments happen when you realize, or Temple Grandin points out, that understanding humanity has an awful lot in common with animal husbandry. This is easily in my list of top 5 nonfiction books ever read.
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Sep 25, 2011
Editrix
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Grandin (and co-athor Johnson) present a thesis that pyschologist Jaak Panksepp's "blue-ribbon emotions" -- SEEKING, FEAR, RAGE, and PANIC -- are common to all animals and help explain the behaviors of pets, livestock, and animals in the wild and zoos. By closely observing animal behavior and changing the environment and management in sometimes minor but positive ways, we can reduce stereotypic behavior (such as pacing or self-mutilating) and improve the emotional and physical welfare
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Jun 25, 2011
Jen
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This efficiently organized book covers dogs, cats, horses, cows, pigs, chickens, wildlife, and zoo animals. Each critter gets their own chapter, and Grandin explains what each animals needs for a content life. She focuses mostly on the animals' inherent levels of fear, need for safety, and type of socialization needed. The book is well-researched and practical (there are things you can start doing with your animals right away, to improve their lives). Grandin's unique perspective and voice come
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Apr 16, 2011
Paul
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Grandin provides fresh and fundamental insights into how animals think, and extremely practical advice for giving the animals around us better lives. She provides recommendations for the best number of dogs to have in a household (one, if you'll be home, or two if you work outside the home), for keeping zoo animals well behaved (train them), and for raising and ultimately slaughtering cows, pigs, and poultry.
The approach is based on understanding Jaak Panksepp's list of fundamental emo More...
The approach is based on understanding Jaak Panksepp's list of fundamental emo More...
Sep 13, 2010
Jacqie
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I thought this was a very accessible book that taught me a bit about some animals that I thought I was familiar with, as well as some I haven't had much exposure to. I enjoyed her take on dogs: not necessarily needing an "alpha", but needing a strong "parent". I didn't know that cats have a harder time perceiving facial expressions than dogs. I don't know much about stock animals, but was fascinated with her opinions on how to enrich environments for cattle, pigs and chick
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Apr 25, 2010
Paula
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temple grandin has a phd in animal husbandry and is a professor at colorado university. she is also autistic. I have read about her occasionally, and decided I wanted to know more. this book studies the basic emotions that all animals possess, and teaches us how to recognize them, so that we can better train and communicate with them, and give them a better quality of life, whether they are our pets or are being raised for food. naturally, being a pet owner, I was most interested in the cats
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Oct 31, 2009
Kurtbg
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The title is a little misrepresentative of the book. It's not a treaty on how animals make us human. Instead I would characterize the content of showing how the classification of animal "Blue ribbon" responses (or emotions) are similar to humans. If animals can be shown to have feelings then they're not so different from humans.
Most animals have a seeking and fear switch. When a novel experience is provided either one gets switched on. Too far in one direction the animal bo More...
Most animals have a seeking and fear switch. When a novel experience is provided either one gets switched on. Too far in one direction the animal bo More...
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Oct 10, 2009
AnnaMay
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Reading this book helped me get a better grasp on the different groups of animals and their behavior. I really really love our Luna Dog more now and can appreciate her sentiments in different settings much better now than before I read this book.
One thing I like about the book is how Grandin doesn't just jump on the bandwagon of 'we use terrible practices in our slaughterhouses in this country!' but instead points out specific problems, how they are problems for the animals, but the More...
One thing I like about the book is how Grandin doesn't just jump on the bandwagon of 'we use terrible practices in our slaughterhouses in this country!' but instead points out specific problems, how they are problems for the animals, but the More...
Jun 10, 2009
Gloria
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The many fantastic reviews of this book seem to be based more on the person (autistic woman overcoming her disability to achieve a successful career advising the livestock industry on how to treat animals on the way to be nicer to their animals) than the book itself, which is awkwardly written and not that great of a read, to be honest. In Britain it's called "Making Animals Happy," and that would be a more appropriate title than "Animals Make Us Human," which is an interesti
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May 31, 2009
Miss
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Temple Grandin writes about the four emotions of animals - fear, panic, rage, and seeking. It was like she read my diary! (just kidding)
There's really only one positive emotion for animals - seeking, and that's the one you want to work with. There are a couple of chapters on domestic animals - cats and dogs, and others on farm animals - chickens, pigs, cows, and horses, another on birds. The farm animal chapters are somewhat depressing in the sense of how the food industry has treated More...
There's really only one positive emotion for animals - seeking, and that's the one you want to work with. There are a couple of chapters on domestic animals - cats and dogs, and others on farm animals - chickens, pigs, cows, and horses, another on birds. The farm animal chapters are somewhat depressing in the sense of how the food industry has treated More...
Apr 15, 2009
Bookmarks Magazine
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Picking up where Animals in Translation left off, Grandin provides pet owners, farmers, livestock managers, and zoo keepers with concrete suggestions for improving the lives of the animals in their care. But "don't let the book's snuggly title fool you," declares the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "Grandin is primarily a scientist, and no Marley romps through these pages." There aren't any commandments to readers to lay down their forks, either: Grandin believes it is entirely ethic
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Nov 27, 2011
Karenshaff
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I really enjoyed reading about the different way of thinking of animals and their relationships with/to humans. Temple Grandin, the author, being autistic herself, has had the experience of learning her own lessons in a different way and sees parallels to the way animals learn, feel, and experience things. Thus she has created some amazing breakthroughs in more humane animal handling, training, and design of animal handling equipment for many different areas. She talks about clicker training,
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Jul 07, 2009
Delight
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I really enjoyed this book anout the emotional lives of animals. I've long admired Temple Grandin, her research, and her commitment to making the best life for animals while acknowledging that a vegetarian world is not realistic. Thousands of pigs, cows, and hopefully chickens can thank Grandin for easing the trauma of slaughter. And if you dislike McDonald's or Wendy's, you should know that they have forced their suppliers to work with Grandin to establish standards for the treatment of the
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Jun 23, 2010
El
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Read for my in-person book club.
I'm usually pretty wary of books like this, the kind with animals on the cover. Which is really sort of funny since I'm such a whore for animals in real life. But this is the book that was decided upon for my in-person book club, and since I missed the previous two books I figured I should suck it up and read this, especially considering it was my boyfriend's recommendation.
Temple Grandin is an animal scientist with a "twist" More...
I'm usually pretty wary of books like this, the kind with animals on the cover. Which is really sort of funny since I'm such a whore for animals in real life. But this is the book that was decided upon for my in-person book club, and since I missed the previous two books I figured I should suck it up and read this, especially considering it was my boyfriend's recommendation.
Temple Grandin is an animal scientist with a "twist" More...
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Apr 11, 2011
Suz
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The title of this book "Animals Make us Human" completely misrepresents the book. I was expecting something a little more philosophical, I guess with that kind of title. The subtitle - "Creating the Best Life for Animals" modifies it a bit, and if that were the title, alone, it would have been more representative of the book.
The other issue I had, was that the book was wildly inconsistent. Each part of the book was about a specific animal (Dogs, Cats, Horses, C More...
The other issue I had, was that the book was wildly inconsistent. Each part of the book was about a specific animal (Dogs, Cats, Horses, C More...
Mar 28, 2010
Donna
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Whenever I pick up a Temple Grandin book I have the very selfish goal of gleaning all i can from it about animal training and behavior. I don't care if she repeats something, or if she goes off on a tangent - I'm busy inhaling what she has to say - not how she says it.
The one thing i know about Temple's books is that i can count on her advice working. I have used some of her ideas before and am looking forward to using some of it again. I'm also finding that some of the techniqu More...
The one thing i know about Temple's books is that i can count on her advice working. I have used some of her ideas before and am looking forward to using some of it again. I'm also finding that some of the techniqu More...
Nov 30, 2009
Jeanne
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Grandin bases the discussions in this book on the idea that we can improve animals' lives by paying attention to the "blue ribbon" emotions. She believes that instead of trying to correct or control an animal's behavior, we should understand the emotions behind the behavior, ameliorate situations that increase unhelpful emotions and promote stimulation of good emotions.
In particular, Grandin talks about Seeking, Fear and Frustration, with Frustration being a mild form of R More...
In particular, Grandin talks about Seeking, Fear and Frustration, with Frustration being a mild form of R More...
Nov 24, 2011
Caroline
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This is definitely a must-read for anybody who is going to be caring for an animal. Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson devote individual chapters to different animals, starting out more as a practical guide for pet owners (talking about cats and dogs) and moves into something more like a plea for better conditions for farm and zoo animals. Her research is thorough, but what makes it great is that she has plenty of on-the-job experience to support what she is saying. The anecdotes she provides
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Jun 19, 2011
Caroline
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I bought this book because I love my dog and worry about her happiness. Not in the 'she's-a-mini human-in-a-furry-grey-coat' way but in the 'is she fulfilled as a dog' way? I didn't read the the author's first book, Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior, but had heard of it and found the premise interesting. What if we could see the world the way our beloved fuzzy friends see it? How would we treat them differently?
This book attempts to an More...
This book attempts to an More...
Jun 20, 2010
Beth
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Not what I expected. Very interesting though. I got it because of my interest in Temple Grandin who has a PHd as well as autism. The book goes into great detail about how animals think and behave ans how we react or respond ans also tells a lot about animal industries. Some of this was hard to read and makes it easy to understand vegetarian philosophy. I like how ms Grandin describes that we must treat all animals humanely including those who are waiting or being slaughtered. She talks abou
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Oct 14, 2011
~*B*~ (AKA Lily)
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I thought this was a very well-written book, and Ms. Grandin has a lot of unique and interesting ideas to share. I felt the first few chapters of this book were absolutely amazing, but the last 2/3 of the book was kind of hard to keep reading. I skimmed a lot at that point. The main reason I did that is because those sections covered things I wasn't all that interested in, or things that were a bit too "technological" and such. This is no fault of the book, it just wasn't my thing.
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Sep 11, 2011
Cortino
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As you many know Temple Grandin is austistic and also a professor at Colorado State University. As such I should have know that this book would remind me of the peer-reviewed journal articles I read in grad school, but at the same time, the insights were wonderful. Temple has a wonderful way of taking what she sees as an autistic (autistic savant some might say) and as a professor and teaching the rest of us how to see the same thing. The book is also organized very well and the author progresse
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Jun 29, 2011
Kathleen
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While there were some lovely moments and stories in the book, I was underwhelmed by it. It's important to note that I listened to the book instead of reading it, so that likely has an impact on my review. The structure lends itself more to reading than listening because it is organized animal by animal and offers care and feeding tips on all of them. This structure got old fast; for those animals I don't live with, I quickly lost interest. Also, this is not a good book for a vegetarian. Grandin'
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Nov 24, 2010
Julie
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I read the intro to the book and then the sections pertaining to animals that I own. It didn't really tell me anything new about dogs. Except I learned they don't need an Alpha that they need a parent, they don't live in packs (with different breeds) they live in families with siblings. And that if you can get your dog to heel he will be a lot less aggressive to other dogs.
I was interested to read about chickens because some of my chickens are severe feather pickers of the other c More...
I was interested to read about chickens because some of my chickens are severe feather pickers of the other c More...
