We don't get HBO, but I would have liked to have seen that. Maybe it will come out on DVD.

Except that she says that if you dump a cat in the wild, it "will do fine." Check out the Amazon reviews of her book. Just what all the loser cat dumpers out there need -- endorsement. Admittedly, I read nothing else of what she had to say, because I found that one opinion so egregious.

I have heard of her and saw the Primetime Live braodcast.

She is an amazing person. I listed her official website address below. Just reading the opening page introduces her so the reader can get a quick overview.

Here is a link that might be useful: Temple

I have read two of her books, and heard a radio interview on NPR. She is very interesting. The thing to remember is that she may have amazing intuition about what animals experience, but that does not make her an expert on everything about animals. She does say some simplistic things that we no longer think of as true about dogs in one of her books.

I am dying to see the HBO special staring Claire Danes. Wow, what a transformation for that actress! It was definitely a role that requires an actor to inhabit a new persona. I wonder if she did it with some subtlety or if she is chewing the scenery. Any opinion, Cindy? I, too, must wait for HBO to release it to other outlets.

Nancy I watched the HBO movie, but before that i heard the NPR interview with the real temple grandin. The thing to bear in mind is that she is truly autistic. She does not think like you or I -- or even most of us. She admits on NPR that she does not understand "love"... but she understands "caring". I think that many of our pets are the same way.

I loved the movie... I really want to now read her books.

I saw the movie too - it was great! In fact, I re-watched it several times. She is fascinating. Plus, Claire Danes did an excellent job. You simply forget that it really is Claire Danes!

I think, as with anything, you take the items that you find personally useful/interesting and leave the rest, ie: her dog and cat comments.

She definitely knows all about cattle and was able to create a more humane environment for them.

saintp that is so true. We do take away the things we like. There was one point where she was talking about death, and how the cattle deserved a humane death.

Most of us would* freak out watching cattle in a meat packing plant. Heck, I know I would. But by the same token, I was euthanasia certified. I think there was however, one comment she made, and likely made it because she simply doesn't percieve death as most of us do -- emotionally -- they deserve our respect. To her, in death (people or animals), you are there and then you are gone.

She said, "they deserve our respect." That really stood out to me, because I beleive that as well.