Animals Make Us Human by: Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson
A Book Recommendation
This was not one of the first books I read in my self-educating journey, but I think it is a really good one to start with (especially for someone who doesn’t feel totally jazzed about reading about animal science). This book gives a good basis in a lot of areas for one to build off of and, for me, it was a very substantial voice, helping me piece together how Christian Faith and Animal Psychology go together. Temple Grandin is not a Christian, but the information she reveals in this book goes hand in hand with what I’ve gleaned from scripture about healthy animal life.
In this book, Temple Grandin goes species by species (Dogs, Cats, Horses, Cows, Pigs, Chickens, Wildlife, and Zoos) and explains how to create a healthy environment for each animal/animal group. Many of the categories she talks about are animals’ social needs, exercise/stimulation needs, training methods, their brains’ emotion centers, and healthy living spaces. After the section about horses, most of the animals she talks about are from an industry stand point and it is incredibly interesting learning about how and why certain industries work the way they do.
My favorite part of this book is in the the section about dogs because she directly comments on Cesar Millan’s methods. She agrees with what he does and thinks he’s doing great work, but her insights on Animal Psychology go beyond what Cesar talks about on his show and in his book. And let me tell you, it blew my mind. I’ll talk about what she says in later posts I’m sure, but I definitely think this is one to read if you’re interested at all in animal welfare.
This book is heartbreaking much of the time but it is inspiring and enlightening the whole way through! I highly recommend this one, and really anything written by Temple Grandin!
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