A review by cheryl6of8
Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals by Temple Grandin

4.0

A fascinating look at animal behavior and the basic emotions that drive it. (If anyone out there thinks that animals don't feel emotion, well, they need to spend some time in a small room with an angry raccoon.) By showing the whys and wherefores of reactions and how to read the reactions, Grandin teaches us how to be better caretakers for animals and how to relate to people as well. Information on Dogs, Cats, and Horses was quite useful and educational to me in understanding these creatures and somewhat helpful in reminding me how I should interact with my kitty. Good discussion also of the differences between predator species animals and prey species animals. The discussion of cows, pigs, and chickens gave an interesting perspective on the lives of animals we use for food. I also enjoyed Grandin's discussion of the ways to make our treatment of food animals more humane and provide them with better lives, despite the fact that we are going to kill them and eat them. After all, I like hamburger and porkchops and even chicken, and the odds of the whole world going vegetarian or vegan are astronomical. Therefore, we really ought to treat our food animals as well as possible so we are not monsters as well as carnivores.