Animals in Translation

I almost always finish books I start. The first book I never finished was Penrod by Booth Tarkington. And I have bookmarks still stuck in the early parts of Moby Dick and Don Quixote. I have concluded that, in general, the likelihood that I will complete a book is proportional to the rate at which I read it. Further evidence, at the other end of the spectrum, would be The Girl Who Played with Fire.

But now I have to reconsider this theory, based on a most unusual experience with Temple Grandin's Animals in Translation. I heard about the very interesting Temple Grandin on a flight to Portland, from a woman who ran a ranch for abandoned or abused horses. Temple Grandin is both extremely intelligent and autistic, and uses these traits to make amazing observations about how animals (and humans) think. She is particularly famous for having devised both mechanisms and evaluation schemes designed to make slaughterhouses more humane. She's so remarkable that she was the subject of a semi-biographical HBO movie.

Well, I thought Animals in Translation was fascinating, but I could not read more than 10 pages or so at a time, so it took me forever to get through. It's still not clear to me exactly why I could only read so little at a time - the writing is simple and clear. Partly I think it's because the book seemed a little disorganized to me.

But Temple Grandin discusses a lot of contemporary neuroscience research that is extremely interesting, and she has unusual ideas and insights. Just as one example, she cites evidence that wolves (and their descendants, dogs) co-evolved with humans, in very meaningful ways. "Basically, two different species with complementary skills teamed up together". She strongly believes, and cites some supporting evidence, that humans also picked up many "human" traits from wolves, including hunting in groups, complex social structures, loyal same-sex and nonkin friendships, and more. I'm only hinting at the thoughtful and sometimes provocative views she expresses here and in other parts of the book. Very highly recommended!