Thinking in Pictures, Expanded Edition: My Life with Autism

Temple Grandin grew up with Asperger's Syndrome before it was understood by anyone but a handful of researchers. She has turned her insights and special interest in animal science into a successful career designing livestock handling systems. She claims that the image-based thinking of the autism spectrum is similar to the language-free thought processes of animals. This insight leads to interesting conclusions about communication.The book weaves together accounts of Grandin's life and the development of knowledge about autism. Its eleven chapters are organized by autism topics and cover visual thinking, diagnosis, sensory problems, emotion, developing talents, treatments, relationships, connecting with animals, animal thinking, autism and genius, and religion. Temple Grandin provides a clear, readable account of scientific findings supplemented by experiences from her life. This expanded version includes updated information about autism spectrum causes, diagnosis, and treatment that have become available since the book was originally published in 1996.The author is candid about her life's hard-won lessons. She also shares the things which bring her the greatest satisfaction and what these insights may mean for others. A sample:- Her innovative design of a "squeeze machine" to restrain cattle is based on how calming she found gentle pressure as a child.- Temple visualized large transitions in her life as stepping through a doorway--and often found an actual doorway to step through and reduce the stress of change.- One way to get a feel for visual, associational thinking is to play with the Google search engine for images.- Autistic fixations are not always a problem; some people are able to channel them into successful careers.- Early in her career, Temple often made business contacts on the phone so she didn't have to interpret and respond to complex social signals. She believes that phone and internet contact can be useful in more gradual development of social skills.Grandin's blend of research reporting and personal reflection works well. Her book covers the basics of autism, grounded in the author's life. It is both a contrast and a complement to another excellent book, Tony Attwood's The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome, which offers a drier and more exhaustive presentation of the same subject. Both are highly recommended for anyone on the autism spectrum or who wants both breadth and depth in their understanding of it.

You know when you read something and you become agitated because somebody says something to which you can relate strongly and you neither ever had defined or quite understood about yourself before? The kind of agitation where you say to yourself, "Yes!" so often you have to write notes in the margins (or in the kindle version draw highlights and add many annotations)? The kind of book that is so personally emotional and enlightening but agitation-inducing that you decide you can't read it before bedtime? That was this book, for me. Social behavior and language have always been fascinating to me, but always from a technical and somewhat foreign perspective. In my mind I see entire systems, cause-and-effect flows, concepts, theories; yet the "pictures" can be dang right nearly impossible to put into coherent words, at times.I "get" animals and frankly relate to many of them faster and more easily than to other humans. That my dog was my best friend was more of an understatement than I'd even conceived until she died, such had been our bond and ability to communicate. Meanwhile, I still struggle to interact with other people, to understand boundaries and the elaborate customs and assumptions taken for granted by neurotypical individuals.I'd been waffling over whether I should pursue therapy and an Asperger diagnosis, whether it was accurate or I was being a hypochondriac, until I read THIS book. I have no doubt anymore. I know now that I am not a failed intellectual, merely an obstinate genius unwilling to conform. That's what people told me all my life and although it didn't feel accurate, I internalized the derision. I know, now, that I'm not as screwed up as I thought. And with the research I have continued, I can now see how various traits considered components on the autism scale run in my family, sometimes residing only a couple or few in an individual, sometimes so many of these traits that the person is socially incapacitated. I feel I'm on the road to liberation. Would that I were not in my forties, already, when discovering these things. I highly recommend this book to anybody that knows someone that appears to be socially inept or seems to fail to live up to their intellectual potential, and especially to anybody that feels they are that person.

I saw the author on TED Talk in one of my classes for the University and I work with children that have autsim and it so happen since I started that classes, I found out also that my granson was misdiagnoes and he has autism. I was so pleased by her wisdom and input concerning education in the school concerning this. And what she has accomplished. I gave it to me I brought one and gave it to my Superintendent of the county. I bought one for my great-grandson. I spread it to the young lady who works at a store, I just shared it with a director who works with children who have Autism. I let everyone that I need to share it with too! And they are so happy to hear about her book. If I had the money! I would buy a lot and give it away! But I just when you a medical issue that I have to spend money for that. But I am doing my part by telling those I come in contact with about the author's book. Because there are parents, some teachers, and children who feel they have nothing to offer! I never believed that she is living proof! As far as some teachers yes they loved the children, but during the years, I sometimes saw, that some felt that is far as they going go! And I never believed that!

Das ist meiner Meinung nach ihr bestes Buch was den Gehalt an interessanten Informationen in Zusammenhang mit Autismus angeht, auch wenn ich momentan nur die alte und nicht die aktualisierte Version (die liegt bei mir schon griffbereit) gelesen habe. "Emergence" und "Developing Talents" gehen auch noch, die Informationen in "The Autistic Brain" sind nicht wirklich neu, bis auf die Tatsache, das, wenn ich es gerade richtig im Kopf habe, sie da noch eine dritte Kategorie für Musterdenker (Musiker+Mathematiker) auf macht. und "Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships" kann man sich aufgrund der geringen bzw. auch nicht neuen Infos auch sparen. Ja, in den neueren Büchern steht vieles noch einmal.

I can't recall where I first heard of Temple Grandin but I remember reading about her in Robert Greene's book 'Mastery' which probably inspired my purchase of her life story on film: 'Temple Grandin,' which is a good representation of her mind "Thinking in Pictures".I was diagnosed with autism last year and this was the first autism book I purchased, in my quest to understand myself, and the condition better. I've always been fascinated by pioneers and Temple is arguably the most famous autistic woman in the world, and has had a successful career as an animal scientist, so I knew I would learn a thing or two from this book, which is multi-faceted and covers lots of different elements of autism from diagnosis to sensory problems.Temple provides many insights into her thinking processes such as "my thinking is governed by logic instead of emotion" and "my actions are guided by intellect" which describes me to a tee. Whilst I found the discussion on autism topics interesting, the most enjoyable part of the book for me was Temple's insights into animal behaviour, with chapter 8 being my favourite: 'A COW'S Eye View: Connecting with Animals'. In her own words:"The principle behind my designs is to use the animals’ natural behaviour patterns to encourage them to move willingly through the system. If an animal balks and refuses to walk through an alley, one needs to find out why it is scared and refuses to move."There's a misconception that autistic people don't have any empathy and can't understand how other people feel. Temple blows this out of the water by demonstrating how her career success is underpinned by an exceptional understanding of how animals behave and feel, although she does concede in the chapter 'Dating Data: Autism and Relationships,' that understanding human emotions is more complex-as she recalls how Mr. Spock from Star Trek helped her finally understand how she is different.I struggled to get into this book in the first chapter or two, but once I had progressed through them, it became a "page-turner" and I was constantly highlighting sections of interest. If you don't have autism, this book will provide you with some good insights into how and why autistic people behave and think in certain ways, and if you like animals, you'll learn some incredible insights from one of the world's foremost experts.

Temple belongs in the category of mentors [one has never met] who have a profound influence on one's life and way of thinking, living, perceiving the everyday world and devising strategies to win in an unequal world. She's brilliant, humble, hard working and austistic. She's a role model for autistics and a source of infinite hope and clarity for the families and friends of autistics. Being so for 2%-3% of the world's population is awesome. What can be a higher purpose in life than to give hope to those who need it?

la autora narra en primera persona el mundo de un autista. Es muy interesante conocer su visión de lo que la rodea, sus limitaciones y potencialidades. Y por sobre todo, su gran valor humano. Un libro para recomendar.

Temple Grandin is a high-functioning autistic (i.e., she has Asperger Syndrome). This book is her explanation of what it's like to live as an autistic, and how that life has given her insights into other autistics, "normal" people and other animals. The book is part biography, part therapy, but mostly a scientific voyage of thought and discovery. If it weren't for Temple's deep grounding in science, this would almost be a philosophical book. Temple covers a wide range of topics, ranging from the symptoms, development, causes, and treatment of autism, to the experiences of autistics, to the lessons that autism provides us about human thought in general.The essence of Temple's experience is that she thinks in pictures. Not words, or emotions. It's like her brain is a vast collection of youtube clips or google images that she can search and access without necessarily accessing their emotional or verbal content. Temple had a very difficult time coming to grasp with this different way of thinking in that it made if very challenging to fit in with the people around her who didn't think in those ways. In particular, Temple highlights how the sensory experience of autistics is quite different. This literally means that they perceive the world differently, making any interactions inherently challenging. Where this has helped Temple is in understanding animal behavior, as she has gone on to design numerous livestock handling and processing facilities that maximize efficiency while minimizing animal suffering. This book even discusses Temple's moral and religious beliefs regarding the universe, herself, as well as the fate of the millions of animals that go through the facilities she has designed. Overall, it's a fascinating book that will not only appeal to anyone connected to autism, but to anyone who wants a view at how the human mind works, and how it can work differently.With respect to the expanding edition, Temple has updates at the end of each chapter that are primarily devoted to new research on a particular topic (e.g., dating & autism, or pharmacological treatments for autism). Compared to the recent HBO special on Temple, this book is less of a biography (although there's lots of personal anecdotes) and far more of a thoughtful, scientific look at autism. One should note that Temple's Ph.D. is not in autism, but her keen mind and deep personal experiences supply tons of fascinating ideas, anecdotes, and recommendations. A great read- particularly for someone who's strength isn't writing!