I found out about Temple Grandin in an odd bout of serendipity.

First, I saw her newest book at the UCI bookstore (already in itself a serendipitous meeting, since that entire trip was a whim). A few days later, I read a great paper that she wrote in 2009, "How does visual thinking work in the mind of a person with autism? A personal account." The following afternoon, Chuck pointed me to an autism conference, where Grandin happened to be the keynote speaker - at the Oshman JCC of all places, a two minute walk from my front door. I went to the conference the next day to drop off flyers, and ended up staying for her talk and speaking with her afterwards! It was a whirlwind - not a week after first hearing Grandin's name, there I was exchanging phone numbers with her.

Anyhow, I'm really liking the book so far. I always wonder about autobiographical accounts, and whether those childhood conversations are invented. I've written compositions myself...all the words I put in are made-up after the fact. There's no way I remember the wording of an interaction I had when I was 6, or even 20. Anyways, that's a minor bone to pick.

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Twas great! Thought provoking, really interesting. Brought up some new ideas.

For the month of April, I decided to read one Temple Grandin autobiographies, and I absolutely loved it! As an autistic individual, I related to a lot of the same experiences that Grandin had when she was diagnosed. I just loved the story.

A good way to understand what Autism is and how it affects the people that have it.

There is some controversy as to whether or not someone can "recover" from autism, but this author is a good example in favor of that concept. This book details mostly her early years and some realizations she arrived at, independent of doctors and psychologists, to improve her own condition. I read this book with my son, who is a high-functioning autistic, and now old enough (17) to appreciate, and even recognize himself and some of his characteristics in the telling of her own story. What she says makes sense to us and has helped us in our never-ending quest to help my son be the best he can e, label or not.

A great book showing life through the eyes of someone deemed "different." Temple's story is inspiring and heartwarming, and I'm very glad that she has shared it with us all.

The edition I read was published in 1986 and the prefaces by a psychologist and one of Grandin's teachers are quite politically incorrect, referring to Grandin as a "recovered" autistic. Nonetheless these people's good intentions shine through clearly.

The book is amazing to read as a groundbreaking success story when autism therapy was in the dark ages. Grandin's insights must have had a huge impact at the time. It was also lovely to read the letter from her aunt predicting that Grandin would make great progress and her aunt would be able to say she "knew her back when".

Overall, the first half of Grandin's story reads very well, but then gets slightly repetitive when she comes to invent her amazing "squeeze machine". Four stars.

I am currently reading this book for school and I would recommend it to anyone, especially if you are interested in the VERY mysterious world of the Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Temple Grandin is a woman with Autism (very high functioning) and has a MS and PhD in Animal Science. She is an expert and pioneer in the design and construction of livestock handling facilities. She relates her reality as someone with Autism to what cattle must feel through inhumane treatment. This book is about her childhood and growing up in the 50s with Autism. If Autism is mysterious now, you can imagine the stigma and misunderstanding a child growing up in the 50s may have felt...

I loved this book!

As a person who was diagnosed with ASD quite late, I found that this book gave a very real and sympathetic account of how it actually feels to grow up with autism - obviously as you would expect from a book written by a woman with autism herself.

For me, I found this book helped me to find peace with myself that my feelings and experiences as a child were valid and that I wasn't alone. A diagnosis of ASD after living with it for a long time can sometimes make you feel angry and isolated. This book helped me to deal with these feelings and accept myself for who I am. I think it's probably because Temple Grandin deals in facts, figures, studies and physiology which is exactly how my brain works. I love a logical approach!

I felt that this book helps to challenge stigma associated with autism. e.g the misconception that because emotions are sometimes hard to express/feel and are confusing that we are beings incapable of feeling anything at all. I have recommended it to some of my friends to help them grasp the reality of living with autism.

I can't express how much I would recommend this book!

Temple takes the reader back into her earliest memories as she navigates a world in which she finds herself often at odds. Nonverbal until about age four, she remembers what it was like to understand what was said but she was unable to form her words to respond. She remembers her likes, dislikes, and her reactions. She takes us through her elementary, junior high (very bad experiences),high school, college, graduate and doctoral educational experiences making mention of teachers who helped the most. This is a profoundly intimate look, very candid. She shares what was the current thinking about autism at various times during her journey and the changes since. This was first published in 1996, and many advances have been made, yet autism remains mysterious. She gives very helpful advice for parents and caregivers, as well as therapists. As we now know, autism is not a one-diagnosis fits all, nor is it static. Very helful memoir!

What a striking story of growth and development! Temple Grandin, one of the most famous advocate for autism, retells her life in here - how the various people who contributed to raise her (her mum, her auntie, a teacher) by refusing to let her being locked into the restrictive label 'autistic', all contributed to her 'emergence', her blossoming into the amazing individual we now know.

Temple Grandin grew up in the fifties. Barely a decade after Leo Kanner's work, and still half a century before Asperger as we define it came to be fully recognised, autism used then to be perceived as a dark and hopeless cell. It was a terrible label to ascribe to a child, determining an awful fate: being send down into an institution - to be forgotten there. Only the stubbornness and dedicated love of her mum, later picked upon by other 'mentors', will avoid her such doom.

Of course, it's obvious to us now: autism is a spectrum as diverse as the people affected by it. It can be a serious, if not debilitating, impairment in many aspects, but, it can also be a set of features which, properly harnessed, can be turned into strengths. It's obvious to us now... It wasn't back when Temple Grandin grew up! How lucky was she then! Her obsession with details, intense and peculiar interests, and geeky engineering brain will all be nurtured to such a point that, against all expectation for a autistic person of her generation, she will come to live a normal life. In fact, branded a 'retard' as a child, she would actually accomplish more than most of us: getting a degree in Humanities, a Ph.D. in Animal Science, transform (as an engineer) livestock-handling facilities in the USA, shed a new light (as an animal scientist) on our understanding of cattle's behaviours, and, author of many books on autism, end up by being the strong advocate we all know (or should know!). Now, isn't that an amazing women? And here's the thing: her seductive quirkiness and abrasive intelligence shines throughout this book!

Interestingly, she does more than simply telling her life. She subjectively explains the over-sensitivity of autistic individuals, and its impact on their feelings and behaviours (eg. the pages about her very own 'squeezing machine' are more than funny, they are telling even if tentative...). She paints how it is to think visually (as opposed to verbally) - a theme she will later develop in another of her book (Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism ). She, above all, fully demonstrates that a condition doesn't define you; it's how you deal (and are encouraged to deal) with it that does:

'...the characteristics of autism can be modified and controlled... I feel strongly that I am living proof that they can.'

'I had come a long way from the non-verbal, tantrum-throwing, peer-hitting child.'


Emergence is a short but extraordinary read. Temple Grandin's story of battling against all odd and sheer determination is more than inspiring. It makes for a great understanding and acceptance of whose who, like her, are not 'neurotypicals'. Autism cannot be cured, but, for some affected by it, it surely can be turned into a strength.

First of all, Temply Grandin is AMAZING, and has autism herself. While her story repeats itself, and she fixates on certain things over and over again, she really does an amazing job of describing what she went through growing up, how autism has played a role in her life, how she coped(s) with it on a daily basis. Because the story is comming from someone who is on the autism spectrum themselves, it really gives a different perspective from what most of us are used to.

This book is a great book and gave me a whole new perspective on autism. The book is a first person story about Temple Grandin and her life with autism and while in her point of view, she doesn't seem mentally ill in her mind. Temple Grandin's mental illness had made it to where she wasn't capable of doing things as easy as other people. The book relates to my life because I have a little brother with autism and he is really smart, similar to the author of the book. I would recommend this book to someone who knows someone with autism because it shows that there is hope. Temple Grandin had been diagnosed with autism but now has a PhD. in Zoology and is writing her own published books. It shows that someone, even diagnosed with a mental illness as bad as autism, can still make it in life.