From the Bookshelf of 100+ Books in 2025…

The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum

Temple Grandin,

Richard Panek

Start date: June 23, 2013

Finish date: June 30, 2013

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

No group discussions for this book yet.

What Members Thought

Jun 23, 2013 Dolly rated it really liked it

Shelves: biography-autobiography-memoir, own-voices, science, 2013, nonfiction, new-england, disability

I borrowed this book from my local library when the librarian pointed it out. I had never really heard of Temple Grandin before, but the book intrigued me. The narrative is filled with scientific principles and neurological concepts that sometimes go far beyond my level of understanding, but on the whole, it's very readable and thorough.

I was impressed with Ms. Grandin's willingness to use herself as an example throughout the text and her anecdotal explanations really helped to explain the vari I borrowed this book from my local library when the librarian pointed it out. I had never really heard of Temple Grandin before, but the book intrigued me. The narrative is filled with scientific principles and neurological concepts that sometimes go far beyond my level of understanding, but on the whole, it's very readable and thorough.

I was impressed with Ms. Grandin's willingness to use herself as an example throughout the text and her anecdotal explanations really helped to explain the various concepts. I love that she is able to understand and work around her limitations, something more of us need to learn how to do. And I really enjoyed learning about the complex interaction of the various parts of the brain...a science that is still in its infancy.

What I think I appreciate the most, though, was her emphasis on parents helping their children to become independent, responsible, and contributing members of society; helping a child discover and exploit innate talents and overcome limitations. While the advice was targeted for parents whose child is on the autistic spectrum, I think its a practical bit of advice all parents should follow.

Overall, I found this to be an enlightening book and I think I learned a lot more about neuroscience. I think it's a fascinating topic and I will look for more books like it at my local library.

interesting quotes:

"Over the decades, I've seen hundreds if not thousands of research papers on whether autistics have theory of mind - the ability to imagine oneself looking at the world from someone else's point of view and have an appropriate emotional response. But I've seen far, far fewer studies on sensory problems - probably because they would require researchers to imagine themselves looking at the world through an autistic person's jumble of neuron misfires. You could say they lack theory of brain." (p. 72)

"I have often thought that eventually we're going to be asking ourselves at what point this or that autism-related genetic variation is just a normal variation. Everything in the brain, everything in genetics - they're all one big continuum." (p. 104)

"Austism is certainly part of who I am, but I won't allow it to define me." (p. 182) ...more

2 likes · Like · see review