ela_lee_'s review against another edition
4.0
Animals In Translation is one of the first scientific books I’ve read, so it was a little difficult for me to follow/fully absorb at times. I treated this audiobook more as a podcast and only listened when I could fully concentrate. I agree with essentially everything Grandin discusses and she confirmed my speculations on the harms of dog breeding. I love her thoughtful yet objective view on animals ranging from pets and barn animals to rats, wolves, and birds. Some of the information given was repetitive, but hopefully that just helps the reader absorb all her immensely interesting research! This book has only increased and confirmed my love and respect for animals, along with those who humanely study them.
zhelana's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
This book was interesting. It starts from the potentially problematic assumption that autistic people's brains work more like animal's brains than neurotypical people's brains. I was really hesitant when I read that, but the author both has autism and a phd in animal behavior. And she did make the point pretty well that her brain works more like the animals she studies, allowing her to understand them better than most people. I'm not sure "animals in translation" was a good title for this book as it seems to be more about ways in which animals are more intelligent than people give them credit for and how many amazing things they can do and understand. One might even read this book as arguing that neurotypical people are disabled compared to autistic people because they lose so much sensory information to generalization. I'll give this book 4.5 stars.
aprisky's review against another edition
2.0
Read for upcoming book club. Informative, and if I were an animal lover would would probably be fascinated by all this. Not being an animal lover, too close to reading a text book.
lydiaewinters's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating read. If you are interested in autism or animal behavior this book is a great jumping off point to get you thinking (and if you're anything like me, a list of multiple things to research more!).
Temple Grandin really is an interesting woman. A appreciate her views on animals so much. She does a wonderful job of explaining how her brain works differently from the neurotypical.
Temple Grandin really is an interesting woman. A appreciate her views on animals so much. She does a wonderful job of explaining how her brain works differently from the neurotypical.
izzyreadsstuff's review against another edition
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
marilynsaul's review against another edition
2.0
not very far into this book, but I have to shelve it for awhile. I appreciate the author's insights into visual vs verbal, but she seems IMO to be repeating herself over and over - perhaps her autism vs. verbals prevents her from realizing this. Also, all of her experience seems to be in the meat-packing industry, and I just can't take any more. Maybe I'll revisit.