Module 12: Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World

...wow, that was a mouthful.  Hello, I'm Richard Nimz, prospector of the written word and literary explorer extraordinaire.  Now it's time for a biography, and I was so glad to see that a person I so admire was on the list of options.  Like me, Temple Grandin has a form of autism, and partially in spite of it and partially because of it, she managed to be one of the people who shook the world, which is completely unlike me...although I'm trying.  Therefore, this blog's book is Sy Montgomery's biography of Temple Grandin.

Citation: Montgomery, Sy (2012).  Temple Grandin: How the Girl who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.

Summary: When Temple Grandin was born, she acted so strangely that her father wanted to put her in a mental institution.  Her mother, however, sought a second opinion.  Thanks to her mother's determination, Temple managed to overcome the worst parts of her autism and go on to gain a doctorate degree in animal science.  From there, she managed to revolutionize kind treatment of animals in the meat industry due to the best parts of her autism.

Impressions: I'll admit I'm a little biased here, but I loved reading this book.  Seeing some of the parts of autism Dr. Grandin describes gave me insight into my own Asperger's syndrome.  I had no idea that my thinking in pictures and tendency to 'scramble' words I hear were parts of autism.  It was also nice hearing about the other parts of Grandin's life, such as her college prank involving a UFO.  I'd consider this a good book to give to people curious about how the shallow end of the autistic spectrum works, or perhaps as part of a promotion of the neurodiversity movement.  It has a fair bit of mass appeal as well.  According to Pamela Kramer of Examiner.com: "The book is a fascinating one and an important one for many reasons. It’s a book about being different -- and how that’s okay. It’s a book about standing up for what you believe in. It’s a book about advocating for yourself -- whether at school or in the workplace."  Even if that doesn't interest you, it's still a good biography and well worth your time.

Auxiliary sources:

Kramer, Pamela (6 Apr, 2012). ‘Temple Grandin’ by Sy Montgomery is a fantastic middle grade/middle school book - National Book | Examiner.com.  Examiner.com.  Retrieved from http://www.examiner.com/review/temple-grandin-by-sy-montgomery-is-a-fantastic-middle-grade-middle-school-book