癲狂院 Vixen Owl Cigar..。o○

Thoughtful and well Done !!!!


Kudos to Dr. Grandin
Dr. Grandin gives a fascinating tour through the halls of her perception..
Will make you think & re-think, and enlarge your empathy not only for people..
.. but all the creatures with which we share this earth. An amazing trip.

Have you ever wondered if your dog (cat, bird,pig, etc.) has more intelligence than you give him or her credit for
Does your pet seem to "sense" things long before you do
And I don't just mean sounds out of human ability to hear or scents that animals pick up more rapidly.

Temple Grandin is an amazing woman who answers many of these questions..
.. and gives a whole new insight into the "different " intelligence shared by both animals & autistic people.
Ms. Grandin is not simply a research scientist who studies those two groups.
She is autistic herself.
She has previously written several successful books including "Thinking in Pictures: And Other Reports from My Life with Autism "; "Emergence: Labeled Autism"; and "Genetics and the Behavior of Domestic Animals ."

Ms. Grandin has designed more than one-half of the livestock facilities for immunizing & killing of animals more humanely.
How has she accomplished this By "thinking" like the animals.
Time and again in the book, Ms. Grandin tells of major problems that livestock yards are having with the handling of their cattle, horses, or pigs...
Even when they follow her designs, the "normal " people (as she calls non-autistic folks) can't figure out why the animals balk as they are sent through a chute.

【Temple Grandin】Animals In Translation
Opens the Mind to Numerous Concepts of Intelligence

Ms.Grandin goes to the sites and often determines what the problem is within five minutes.
One example she gives is a livestock yard in which the animals would walk up to a spot and refuse to move further.
Ms. G studied the situation for a few moments and, thinking like an animal, saw that the problem was too much contrast between light and dark.
She points out that both animals & autistic people do not like stark contrasts.
To an animal, the contrast presents the feeling of walking into a hole.

This book gave me a whole new perspective about the world around me.!!
We "normal" people seem to believe that we are "superior" in intelligence to animals and autistic people.
In the usual "IQ" tests, this may be true...
But Ms. Grandin points out that both autistic people & animals have a special kind of intelligence..
.. Even genius which is "invisible to the naked eye."
She has developed a belief that there are both animal and autistic savants.

While "Animals in Translation" certainly opened my eyes to many facts about animals, the fact that Ms. Grandin has been so successful in life gives me hope for all mankind.
That is, if all mankind is willing to think a little "out of the box ."
As Ms. Grandin was growing up, she was called "retarded " and "tape recorder " by her schoolmates.
She was called "tape recorder " due to her habit of repeating phrases and words which she learned.

Since she thought in "pictures " instead of words, she often was excited when she remembered phrases.
She reacted as most of us would with anger and often fought her tormentors.
She was sent to a "special " farm for disturbed children where she first learned how much she empathized with animals.!!
The school was not well-funded and the horses they had all had mental problems.
Some of them could not be ridden.
Some were afraid of any loud sound.
Ms. Grandin figured out what was wrong with the horses but few people believed her.
While we "normal" humans beat our collective chests, not one of us can come close to the migratory habits of many birds..
.. who travel several miles once and never forget the route.
She tells the story of Alex the parrot who can determine shapes, colors and can even spell words that have not been taught to him.

The bulk of the book is meant to narrow the gap between "normal" people, animals and autistic people.. Ms. Grandin even provides a very detailed "Behavior and Training Troubleshooting Guide" at the end of the book...

For anyone who has a love for animals and the willingness to learn more about our fellow creatures, this book is a MUST read.
The book can also increase our tolerance for those 　who are different from us.
For that reason alone, this book was worth reading.