This structure might not be intuitive to every reader, especially those who do not experience thought the same way that Grandin does. While Grandin does mention that her editor has helped her with organization, her book still reflects her own structure of thought. The simplicity and clarity of her writing reflects part of her different perspective on thought. Oliver Sacks references her simple and straightforward style in the foreword to Thinking in Pictures, mentioning that in the period of time between Grandin's first book and her later Thinking in Pictures show growth in her writing style, from her adoption of a warmer tone to her utilization of a more complete narration of context in consideration of the general reader. Each chapter of the book presents a facet of her life experience, roughly in chronological order but often doubling back to review an earlier event or perspective and sometimes repeating itself. Grandin's editor helped her navigate the organization of the story, something that Grandin found difficult as a visual thinker. The first element of editing in Grandin's book is her conversion of visual thought into written words. In addition to explaining her work with cattle, Grandin incorporates information on aspects of autism like diagnostic criteria, common misconceptions, and treatment alternatives throughout her book.

Many instances in the book recount her work on cattle farms and how she sees images in her mind of prototypes of machines and edits them before building even occurs. Though Grandin sees the world differently than most, her firm belief on being 'different, but not less' and daily intent of self-preservation manifest clearly throughout her writing. The title, Thinking in Pictures, comes from Grandin's analogy of her method of thought processing she states that words come as a second language to her. Grandin is often labeled as having 'high functioning' autism having published literary works and academic articles in addition to working as a professor and lecturer of animal science. First published in 1995, it documents much of her life with autism. Thinking in Pictures is a psychologically-focused autobiography written and largely edited by Temple Grandin.

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