Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism, by Temple Grandin

Temple Grandin is an extraordinary person. A person with autism, she has obtained a doctorate (from the University of Illinois--oskee-wow-wow!), is a leader in the field of designing humane facilities for handling of animals (including slaughterhouses), has written several books, and is a professor at Colorado State University who lectures widely on both autism and Thinking in Pictures is part memoir, part explication of autism, complete with tips for those educating or raising autistic children. For a reader who is not autistic, does not have an autistic child, and does not work with autistic children, the portions of the book about Grandin's own life are by far the most compelling.

Grandin's description of how her mind works is fascinating--she thinks in pictures and regards words as "a second language." Her mind operates something like a computer--scanning through visual files to find the images relevant to a particular situation or problem. While it took her many years to realize fully how different her mind was from other people's, she does a good job of conveying that difference to those of us who are word-bound. She also provides insight into other ways that autism has affected her and to the possible similarities between the brains of animals and people, especially people with autism. I found the sections in which she reviews autism-related research and treatment less interesting, though they might be very useful to others: she is also a bit quick to label various contemporary and historic figures as autistic.

As a reader, I hate to say this, but--despite some highlights in the book--I think the HBO film about her early life (titled Temple Grandin) is better than Thinking in Pictures. Given Grandin's visual proclivity, I wonder if she would agree.

Favorite passage:

To destroy other people's culture is to rob them of their immortality.