![](3D"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/adx/images/ADS/22/68/ad.226890/88x31e=)
![3D"New](3D"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/nytlogo153x23.gif" "3D\"New")
=20
![](3D"http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/imp.gif?client=3Dca-ny=)
![](3D"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/adx/images/ADS/22/70/ad.227093/ofw_12=)
Temple Grandin=92s =93Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of = Autism to=20 Decode Animal Behavior=94 (2004) occupies a special place among the = animal books=20 of the last few decades. Ms. Grandin=92s autism gives her a special = understanding=20 of what animals, whether house cats or cattle, think, feel and =97 = perhaps most=20 important =97 desire. There is a revelation on almost every page, and = Ms.=20 Grandin=92s prose (she wrote with Catherine Johnson) is ungainly in the = best=20 possible way: blunt, sweet, off-kilter and often quite funny.
![3D""=20](3D"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/01/21/arts/temp190.jpg")
=20
Temple Grandin
ANIMALS MAKE US HUMAN
Creating the Best Life for Animals
By Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson
342 pages. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. $26.=20
Ms. Grandin=92s new book, =93Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best = Life for=20 Animals,=94 also written with Ms. Johnson, picks up where =93Animals in = Translation=94=20 left off. It has a slightly different focus: she concentrates this time = on the=20 emotional rather than the physical life of animals, although the two are = clearly=20 related.
There is a good deal of rehashing of material from her previous book, = and she=20 leans more here on the ideas of others than she did before. But to = remark that=20 =93Animals Make Us Human=94 is a slightly lesser book than =93Animals in = Translation=94=20 is like saying Randy=20 Newman=92s =93Good Old Boys=94 is a slightly lesser album than = =93Sail Away.=94 If you=20 liked the first one, you=92re going to like the second.
Ms. Grandin bases many of her observations in =93Animals Make Us = Human=94 on the=20 work of a Washington=20 State University neuroscientist named Jaak Panksepp who identified a = series=20 of core =93emotion systems=94 in animals: seeking, play, care and lust = (on the=20 positive side) and fear, panic and rage (on the negative).
=93The rule is simple,=94 Ms. Grandin writes. =93Don=92t stimulate = rage, fear and=20 panic if you can help it, and do stimulate seeking and also play.=94 Ms. = Grandin=20 employs Dr. Panksepp=92s terms throughout =93Animals Make Us Human,=94 = but they are=20 really only a framework for her more interesting riffing and = observations.
There are provocative chapters here on dogs (Ms. Grandin quibbles = with some=20 of the alpha-male ideas of Cesar Millan, television=92s =93Dog = Whisperer=94) and cats.=20 Ms. Grandin is at her best, however, when she is talking about animals = like=20 cows, pigs, horses and chickens, as well as wild animals and those in = zoos.
Ms. Grandin has designed humane and stress-free slaughter systems = that are=20 used now to process about half of all the cattle in the United States = and=20 Canada. There is some cognitive dissonance here. She is often asked, she = tells=20 us, =93How can you care about animals when you design slaughter = plants?=94
Her reply is that =93some people think death is the most terrible = thing that=20 can happen to an animal.=94 She argues that =93the most important thing = for an=20 animal is the quality of its life.=94
She adds: =93The more I observe and learn about how dogs are kept = today, I am=20 more convinced that many cattle have better lives than some of the = pampered=20 pets. Too many dogs are alone all day with no human or dog = companions.=94
She worries about the =93totally adversarial=94 relationship between = animal=20 advocacy groups and the livestock industry. She has kind words for = companies=20 like McDonald=92s and Wendy=92s (she has consulted for both), which are = forcing=20 their suppliers to treat animals more humanely. But she also praises = activists.=20 =93The big companies are like steel, and activists are like heat. = Activists soften=20 the steel, and then I can bend it into pretty grillwork and make = reforms.=94
One of the major points in =93Animals Make Us Human=94 is the = importance of=20 hiring and training good people to work with livestock. Strong, caring = managers=20 are needed; bullying and sadistic employees should be fired; and because = turnover in these industries is high, constant training and retraining = are=20 necessary, as well as constant auditing from the outside.
Ms. Grandin is in favor of almost total openness =97 she=92s among = the writers=20 who believe that slaughterhouses should have glass walls. =93No animal = should=20 spend its last conscious moments in a state of terror,=94 she writes, = and any=20 visitor should be able to observe that they do not.
Ms. Grandin loves solid, declarative sentences: =93Cattle hate being = yelled=20 at=94; =93Pigs are obsessed with straw=94; =93Cows like to learn new = things.=94 So I=92ll=20 add one of my own: We=92re lucky to have Temple Grandin.
But here=92s something I thought about while reading =93Animals Make = Us Human=94:=20 while I would not want Ms. Grandin to discontinue her work with animals, = even=20 for a day, as a reader I=92d be curious to watch her unusual mind play = over other=20 topics.
She has already written one very fine memoir, =93Thinking in = Pictures=94 (1995).=20 I can envision a second, with a slightly different focus. Human beings = can often=20 be made to feel like cattle, especially in large cities. What would she = have to=20 say about subways, housing projects, stadiums, prisons, office cubicles, = long-distance buses, shelters for the homeless, elevators or, I dunno, = the=20 security line at La Guardia? What are her thoughts about urban planning = in=20 general?
I=92d spend $26 to find=20 out.
![3D""=20](3D"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/ads/marketing/mm10/health_030610.jpg"=)
=20
![](3D"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/adx/images/ADS/22/38/ad.223874/86x60_=)
=
![](3D"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/adx/images/ADS/22/54/ad.225444/tech_3=)
![](3D"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/global/buttons/moth_reverse.gi=)
![](3D"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/global/buttons/moth_forward.gi=)
![3D"The](3D"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/03/06/arts/music/06moth_a=)
![3D"The](3D"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/03/07/realestate/07moth_c=)
![3DDCSIMG=20](3D"http://wt.o.nytimes.com/dcsym57yw10000s1s8g0boozt_9t1x/njs.gif?dcs=)
![3D\"photo\"](3D\"http://graphics.nytimes.com/images/section/travel/slideshow/")
";=0A=
HTMLstr +=3D "";=0A=
HTMLstr +=3D "