Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin book review

First written on July 14th 2020. Last tweaked, just a little, in June 2024.

My parents got me a handful of dog-related books for my 23rd birthday this year. At the top of my wishlist was Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin.

I’d read the introduction about blue ribbon emotions before, and I was thrilled to have my own hard copy of the entire work. I started reading it immediately after tearing open the package — and a few hours + lots of penciled-in annotations later, I was done.

The next morning I eagerly read the introduction and dog section over again, scribbling in more notes.

I loved many parts of Animals Make Us Human. Others, to be honest, made me bristle. As I started sharing some of my thoughts on our Instagram, several fellow dog owners told me they purchased the book themselves. That’s when I decided to write a complete review to give my recommendation more context.

Here it is!

^{* I’m not a professional dog trainer. I’m an owner who cares a lot (some have said too much ) about …}