Animals in Translation

Update:  Temple Grandin has recently published a new animal book titled Animals Make us Human and is a currently the #1 ranked zoology book at amazon!

Philosophers and scientists have long wondered what goes on in the minds of animals, and this fascinating study gives a wealth of illuminating insights into that mystery.

Temple Grandin has been known to crawl through slaughterhouses to get a sense of what the animals there are experiencing. An autistic woman who as a child was recommended for institutionalization, Grandin has managed not only to enter society’s mainstream but ultimately to become prominent in animal research.

An associate professor at Colorado State University, she designs facilities used worldwide for humane handling of livestock. She also invented a “hug machine” (based on a cattle-holding chute) that calms autistic children. In Animals in Translation, co-authored with science writer Catherine Johnson, Grandin makes an intriguing argument that, psychologically, animals and autistic people have a great deal in common—and that both have mental abilities typically underestimated by normal people.

The book is a valuable, if speculative, contribution to the discussion of both autism and animal intelligence, two subjects on which there is little scientific consensus. Autistics, in Grandin’s view, represent a “way station” between average people, with all their verbal and conceptual abilities, and animals. In touring animal facilities, Grandin often spots details—a rattling chain, say, or a fluttering piece of cloth—that disturb the animals but have been overlooked by the people in charge. She also draws on psychological studies to show how oblivious humans can be to their surroundings. Ordinary humans seem to be less detail-oriented than animals and autistics.

Grandin argues that animals have formidable cognitive capabilities, albeit specialized ones, whereas humans are cognitive generalists. Dogs are smell experts, birds are migration specialists, and so on. In her view, some animals have a form of genius—much as autistic savants can perform feats of memory and calculation far beyond the abilities of average people. Some dogs, for example, can predict when their owner is about to have a seizure. Delving into animal emotion, aggression and suffering, Grandin gives tips that may be useful for caretakers of pets and farm animals.

She also notes that humans seem to need, and thrive on, the proximity of animals. Indeed, she states provocatively, in the process of becoming human we gave up something primal, and being around animals helps us get a measure of that back.

My Life with the Chimpanzees Book Review

Jane Goodall’s Book on Working with the Chimpanzees and her Life.

Jane Goodall Book for Kids or anyone looking for a quick introduction to the life and work of one of the most famous person to ever study chimpanzees or any kind of animal!

Jane Goodall talks about her adventures in Gombe National Park in Africa where she spent many years studying the wild animals she grew to love called the Chimpanzees.  From a young age Jane Goodall knew that working around animals was something she had to do and thankfully her parents fully supported her in her life choice.

This book is written like an adventure novel with thrilling stories about living in the wild with her husband and photographer and their son nicknamed Grub.  Jane Goodall’s study of the Chimpanzees has redefined the way humans look at other animals.  In fact, because of Jane Goodall, humans had to re-think what it is to be labeled as an animal.  It used to be known that only humans had the abilities to make tools and use them, but one day Goodall witnessed a chimpanzee using a man-made tool, something chimpanzees are amazing at.  After this discovery there have been many other animals seen in the wild using tools, including the obvious Gorillas and Orangutans, but also including the not so obvious dolphins and birds (view the vultures using a tool).

Why parents should buy this book

I really believe that when you teach your children about animals at an early age they will be more likely to want to help save the animals as they are adults.  Jane Goodall does an amazing job telling people about the importance of saving the chimpanzees and other animals in danger and has devoted her life to it.

With this book, My Life with the Chimpanzees, Jane Goodall brings you on an adventure and totally captures your imagination.  She also explains individual chimpanzees that she has met in her journeys and lets the reader really understand how different Chimpanzees can be, just like humans.

Can Adults Read this Book?

I must say that this is a great book for adults to read.  Although the print is large and it is a rather short book at only 160 pages and the “reading level” at ages 9-12, i can recommend this book to adults because the other option is a 768 page biography called Jane Goodall which is much harder to read than this. Plus, you can find this at most Book stores for the low price of $6.99!

Here is a quote from an amazon reviewer.

The book was purchased for a project learning about Jane Goodall. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t look closely enough before buying the book to realize it was written for young readers. Even though it wasn’t appropriate for my college level project, I read through it anyway and found it to be an excellent book.

Steven D. Farmer - Animal Spirit Guide Book Review

An easy-to-use handbook for identifying and understanding your power animals and animal spirit helpers.

This was the first animal spirit book that i ever purchased and i am so glad that i picked this up.  This book gets right to the Animals, listing quite a few more than my previous book review, Animal Speak by Ted Andrews.

With over 200 animals listed, Animal Spirit Guides is a great book to pick up and research quickly a certain type of animal.

The book lists each animal into three main sections (look below for an example):
1.) When an animal shows it, what it means
2.) Call on an animal when you are looking for a certain feeling, emotion or power, and
3.) what it means if you have this animal as your “power animal”

So basically this book is just a list of all of the animal and what they mean.  The introduction is short, about 20 pages but is very informative.  It tells you that even if you live in a city, you can still receive animal spirit messages.  You can pick up on animal spirits by looking for animals in advertising, images on products, and the most obvious when you see the animal.

The introduction also teaches you the 4 main ways to get a message from an Animal Spirit, those 4 being: Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetics and Cognitive.  For more information on these methods, please purchase the book.