Thorn in My Pocket: Temple Grandin's Mother Tells the Family Story

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 228 pages
• Published by: Future Horizons December 15, 2004
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1932565167
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1932565164
• Book Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Weighs: 1.2 pounds

Product Description
The mother of the most famous human being with autism today, Temple Grandin, Ph.D., tells the story of her death-lock struggle with medical authorities and her husband to keep her daughter from being warehoused in an institution, delving into myth and reality, angst and guilt, family and society ultimately defining the travails of all of humanity.

Reader Reviews
This book was a dissapointment to me. I know that her other children didn't want to be mentioned in this book, but even if they had been mentioned Im not sure it would have mattered. This is not a story about Temple or her family. It is however a book about Temples mom and her life, not necessarily her life involving anyone else. She is a priviledged woman who isn't too in touch with anyone but herself. After reading the inside cover I was hopeful that this book was exactly what I was looking for, but I was misled. The book is nothing like the cover's brief insight into life, but more like a bunch of similies and metaphors stuffed together in random order. It seemed sometimes as if she couldn't complete a thought or even a short story about Temple with out rambling on like some theater major putting on an over the top monologue. "A chink, I think I found a chink!" If you can get through all these ramblings you may find one complete thought that could potentially be helpful. I didn't however. I have 2 autistic children and they are not nearly as functional as Temple but since I was so inspired by Temples writing I was hoping for so much more from this, her mothers, biography. I'm not saying Ms. Cutler shouldn't talk about herself at all, but if this book was truly supposed to give us all a look into Temple's life and family, Ms. Cutler needs to remember the phrase I repeat to myself daily "This isn't about you anymore, its about your children." My mother just met with Temple and her mother yesterday and they are exactly like their books. Temple, a down to earth sweet loving lady and her mother still a high society lady who vacations at Martha's Vineyard and always talks like she is performing on a stage. There needs to be a book written by an average parent of an autistic child, or children, that had to struggle with money and with the schools and can still remember these struggles. Maybe I will write one :)