temple grandin book thinking in pictures

She thinks in vivid three-dimensional pictures, which seem to run on a tape that she can fast forward and rewind at will. She realized how not only her emotions, but her thought processes differ from those of other people. Yet she feels keenly the anguish of suffering animals and has had great success, of which she is understandably proud, in helping to alleviate it.Īs a scientist, Grandin has studied the growing data on brain development. Like Spock, she has not known the aesthetic joy of a beautiful sunset or of romantic love. Grandin explains how, like other autistic people, she identifies with “Star Trek’s” irrepressibly logical and unemotional Mr. Some, like Grandin, do have successful lives and meet in support groups with other adults who are autistic. As neurologist Oliver Sacks reminds us in the foreword, there is a shelf of literature about autistic children but little about autistic adults.

This is the paradox at the core of her identity as an autistic scientist.Īn autistic scientist might seem like an oxymoron, but the miracle of this memoir is that Grandin illustrates that it is not. Visual Thinking is a perspective shifting book that will open our eyes to the value of a life in picture.“I can put myself into a 1,200-pound steer’s body,” Temple Grandin explains in “Thinking in Pictures.” But while Grandin may be able to perceive the world from a cow’s perspective, she cannot empathize with people.

In this landmark book, international bestselling author and activist Temple Grandin transforms our understanding of how our brains are wired differently.īringing together cutting-edge research and her own experience as a visual thinker, Grandin reveals a ground-breaking new approach to revolutionizing modern structures such as education, health and media so that they equally serve people with all kinds of minds. In a world engineered for the verbal thinker, those of us with a visual brain can often be overlooked and underestimated. 'A powerful and provocative testament to the diverse coalition of minds we'll need to face the mounting challenges of the twenty-first century' Steve Silberman, bestselling author of NeuroTribesĭo you think in pictures, patterns or words? 'Grandin has helped us understand autism not just as a phenomenon, but as a different and coherent mode of existence that otherwise confounds us' The New York Times

Temple grandin book thinking in pictures