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The best-selling animal advocate Temple Grandin offers the most exciting exploration of how animals feel since The Hidden Life of Dogs.
In her groundbreaking and best-selling book Animals in Translation, Temple Grandin drew on her own experience with autism as well as her distinguished career as an animal scientist to deliver extraordinary insights into how animals think, act, and feel.Now she builds on those insights to show us how to give our animals the best and happiest life – on their terms, not ours.
It's usually easy to pinpoint the cause of physical pain in animals, but to know what is causing them emotional distress is much harder.Drawing on the latest research and her own work, Grandin identifies the core emotional needs of animals.Then she explains how to fulfill them for dogs and cats, horses, farm animals, and zoo animals.Whether it's how to make the healthiest environment for the dog you must leave alone most of the day, how to keep pigs from being bored, or how to know if the lion pacing in the zoo is miserable or just exercising, Grandin teaches us to challenge our assumptions about animal contentment and honor our bond with our fellow creatures.
Animals Make Us Human is the culmination of almost thirty years of research, experimentation, and experience.
This is essential reading for anyone who's ever owned, cared for, or simply cared about an animal.
Temple Grandin is one of the world's most accomplished and well-known adults with autism. She is a professor at Colorado State University and the author of several best-selling books, which have sold more than a million copies. The HBO movie based on her life, starring Claire Danes, received seven Emmy Awards.
Catherine Johnson, Ph.D., is a writer specializing in neuropsychiatry and the brain. She cowrote Animals in Translation and served as a trustee of the National Alliance for Autism Research for seven years. She lives with her husband and three sons – two of whom have autism – in New York.
"Provocative [...] We're lucky to have Temple Grandin."
– New York Times
"Part owner's manual and part business proposal, Animals Make Us Human argues that we can treat animals better if we consider the emotions that motivate them [...] For pet owners, her perspecitve is invaluable [...] Grade: A-"
– Entertainment Weekly
"A well-written, down-to-earth look into the lives of lots of animals, including animals that make up part of our food chain. Grade: A"
– Rocky Mountain News
"The text provides thought-provoking scenarios and references several animal studies [...] readers will be able to glean new perspectives about animal welfare."
– Library Journal
"Grandin (Animals in Translation), famed for her decades-long commitment to treating livestock as humanely as possible on its way to slaughter, considers how humans and animals can best interact. Working from the premise that an animal is a conscious being that has feelings, the autistic author assesses dogs, cats, horses, cows, pigs, poultry, wildlife and zoo animals based on a core emotion system she believes animals and humans share, including a need to seek; a sense of rage, fear, and panic; feelings of lust; an urge to nurture; and an ability to play. Among observations at odds with conventional wisdom: dogs need human parents, not alpha pack leaders, and cats respond to training. Discussions of why horses are skittish and why pigs are arguably the most intelligent of beasts – raccoons run them a close second – illuminate the intersection of people and more domesticated animals; chapters on cows and chickens focus more generally on animal welfare, particularly the horrific conditions in which they are usually raised and slaughtered. Packed with fascinating insights, unexpected observations and a wealth of how-to tips, Grandin's peppy work ably challenges assumptions about what makes animals happy."
– Publishers Weekly, starred review
"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 ethical for humans to use animals commercially, provided they are treated with compassion and respect. Unsentimental and down-to-earth, Grandin's inspiring and insightful book is a treasure trove of fascinating facts and anecdotes, though some of the chapters on factory farming may be disturbing. Critics agree that "we're lucky to have Temple Grandin" (New York Times)."
– Bookmarks Magazine
