First published in 1986, this is Temple Grandin's first book. It was amazing to run accross this book after reading her others, written much later in her career.

Somewhat choppy, this book recounts with great directness the difficulties Grandin had in her early socialization through college. What is also telling is that the book recounts how she became a "recovered Austistic." Talk about the medicalization of a condition... However in the mid 1980s, having an autistic label was paramount to saying that person could never be independant, nor have a 'real' life. Now, with the acceptance of various therapies, and the social cachet of aspergers (it's a fad, people, not a socially enhancing condition!) you wouldn't see this medicalization in a book written today. Besides, Grandin herself may use a 'medicalization' term for the condition, but basically gives you an insiders view of how she found her own strengths.

Very worth reading, although her later books show a lot more insight, as she no longer had to prove she wasn't defective in some way. Besides, hearing Grandin talk about her fervent work is far more interesting than hearing about her learning to tolerate and live with other people.

Put into The Medicine Chest Bookbox IV to look for a new reader!

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Hearing about this book on 60 Minutes was my first introduction to Temple Grandin. I find her fascinating. I have several of her other books on my TBR but don't know that I have actually read any of them. I will try to get to this one first.

An interesting look into the world of autism by someone who has largely left it behind. This is the author's first book and her most personal, so some excuses must be made for the fact that it is not as polished as her later works on animal behavior. Plus, she tries to explain general concepts about autism using her own personal experiences, which makes for an easier method of understanding the world of autism, but a slightly more disjointed personal history. I came out of this very impressed with the author's mother and the lengths she went to in order to develop her daughter's potential instead of just institutionalizing her, which was more common in those days. If only all families had access to the sort of resources and small classes that the Grandin family's affluence afforded them, autism would lose a lot of its stigma. And I came to appreciate the author's position that too much reliance on medication can take away the very internal drives that lead people to succeed -- although decreased use of medication would need to be paired with more insightful and dedicated teaching and care, such as the author received, in order for the success to come (in my opinion).

This book is on the wishlist of several people who will be attending the convention in Oxford. I will take it with me and try to find a way to fairly select one reader out of the lot of them.

"A book is a mysterious object, I said, and once it floats out into the world, anything can happen. All kinds of mischief can be caused, and there's not a damned thing you can do about it. For better or worse, it's completely out of your control." -- Paul Auster

This book is one of the ones that I am taking to the Oxford Convention as a wishlist RABCK for one of my fellow BookCrossers.

Thank you for this Wishlist book, 6of8!
I have read one of Temple Grandin's book and seen her on TV, but I wish to read more.

This is quite an interesting book, which tells about Grandin growing up from a different point of view than her later books. I have seen her on television and YouTube, too. At least one program was on Finnish TV.

Miittiin mukaan.
Mukavia lukuhetkiä!

Wishlist-RABCK

I'll take the book to the monthly meet-up at Sokos in Helsinki.
Happy reading!

This is my # 109 in
"KEEP THEM MOVING 2016" Challenge arranged by Booklady331.

This is my # 108 (120) in
"REDUCE MOUNT TBR 2016" Challenge arranged by Dutch-book.

What a lovely surprise! Temple Grandin is amazing, I've read some of her other books. She must have a great publishing editor who asks her all the right questions, or how else could she know what we non-autistic do not realise from their world?
And look who has had the book before, 6of8! I won't promise this book 'an Elvis-tour', but I might come up with something else.

I finally began reading this book. Perhaps the fact that I knew I would not want to part with it gave me no hurry to read it. Almost halfway through and will probably finish it tonight, a very interesting read as everything else Temple has written.
There is a Finnish company which makes pressure clothes for humans and animals. Human atheletes and -don't laugh - racing camels have been shown to recover quicker after a race having pressure clothes and dogs which are hyperactive or afraid of thunder are calmer if they have a pressure body suit. I recommended the company to contact the Autistics' Assn. as Temple and her "pressure box" came to mind right away.
I think there is an autistic kid (teenager) in our house. I see him very seldom and he is fast whisked away by his parents as he seems to be very sensitive to stimuli of any kind and has what I think is some sort of a noise protector on his ears. We have a new common room in the house and try-out of a book exchange shelf there, so I might put this in there for a while. Two weeks ago I put 15 BC-books + instructions there and went to check them today - all still there 🤔. Hopefully people will learn to use the shelf. And hopefully Temple will find her way to the parents of the boy.

I went to a walk with Temple and Doggie Dearest. It was one of those warm end-of-summer evenings. Autumn is coming as nights are turning dark again. We were sitting on a bench, reading, and the City of Helsinki kindly lit the lamp posts for us.

I was laughing out loud at Temple in a chapel:
"Knock and He will answer."
"Who' I wondered.
"I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. Before each of you there is a door opening into heaven. Open it and be saved."
Like to many autistic children, everything was literal to Temple, who spent the next days viewing each door as a possible opening to love and joy. And by jove, she did find the Crow's Nest, which gave her great comfort.
Luckily I was rather old when I found Narnia, otherwise I would have gone a-tapping several cupboards...
Another audible laugh was heard when the arrogant prick of a school psychologist asked (concerning the cattle chute):
" We do not have an identity problem here, do we? I mean, we don't think we are a cow or something, do we?"
"Are you crazy or something? Of course, I don't think I am a cow or something. Do you think you are a cow?"
Which of course ended to the mature, adult psychologist losing his temper.
Freud has done a lot of damage to a lot of people through his disciples - for years and years everything was about childhood, supression and sex.

Found a tip I will certainly pass on:
Recent studies with hyperactive children indicate that stimulating the vestibular system by spinning the child in an office chair twice weekly reduced hyperactivity."
For how long? Until they puke? So this should be done outdoors.

I am a bit puzzled over the title of this book "Labeled autistic". She is autistic, isn't she? Also the term "recovered autistic" is confusing. Recovered sounds like something she does not have anymore, but surely she is still autistic, she just has learned to cope better with it and the surrounding world. Edit: Should have been more patient, she said it herself towards the end: her autistic tendensies will always be there, but with maturation she has become aware of them and usually manages to overcome them. She really has come a long way, but still I think the title hints that she was mislabeled autistic.

Finished! I fell just 12 pages short last night at 2.30., when my eyes were just closing for the day. Finished the book today and will try to figure out what to do with it next. A part of me would like to keep it, part of me would like to place it in the new common room of our house and then there are the wishlists of people who would would like to read it... My eyes are heavier by the minute, perhaps I'll give in.

None of my other books (17) has moved from the sauna-lounge so far, so I'm putting this in as a bait.

No takers, or if there has been, none has written a JE, and the books have been returned to their original places. I decided to rescue Temple back home.
I have donated two bookshelves (8 meters of shelves) to the sauna-lounge. They are still outside my door as I gave them on the condition that somebody else carries them from the 5th floor. Let's see if there will be more book-activity when others will donate books there as well. I also get to see what sort of books will be picked up. I tried to have variety with the ones I put there.
I bought those two shelves in 1986 for 20 FIM from the Academic Bookstore, which was going to throw them away. Now I'm trying to downsize my library and stupidly began from the shelves, not the books...