Three star review, originally posted here on August 1, 2019
I was surprised to find myself kinda meh on this book. I think the biggest issue was that I did things backwards and had already read Grandin’s later book, Animals in Translation, which I found much more engaging. Grandin repeated a lot of the most interesting aspects of Thinking in Pictures in Animals in Translation, and dropped some of the less interesting bits like the entire chapter listing medications. I’d also done some further reading about Grandin and autism, so by the time I finally got around to reading this cornerstone of her work, the content was just repetitive for me.
The main thing that I DID find interesting, though, was the fact that this is an updated edition. A lot has changed since Grandin’s initial publication of this book, and so in this edition she ends each chapter with a new section providing updated information and research. So that was pretty cool.
If you’ve never heard of Temple Grandin, I definitely recommend giving this a read. But if you only have time or attention for one book, I think I’d recommend Animals in Translation over Thinking in Pictures. More bang for your buck, and a bit more entertaining.
Helga without the H 