'I was six months old when my mother noticed that I stiffened each time she held me in her arms. A few weeks later, she was hugging me when I lashed out and scratched her, as if I'd been a trapped animal trying to get away.'
The diagnosis came as a shock: Temple was autistic. And yet years later she surprised all the experts by successfully completing university studies, which led to an international career as a designer of equipment for the agricultural and food industry.
The reader is moved by the author's words because she gives us an inside view of autism and of its most intimate manifestations. Her account of her experiences strikes a chord and surprises us because she makes us realise how close the mental world of the autistic is to our own.

'A fantastic lesson of hope.' Figaro Magazine

'A haunting question faces anyone who works with autistic children or adults: What's going on in their minds? Many have imagined their reply. Temple Grandin expresses it for us.'

Temple Grandin is the author of many articles on autism. This is her first book.