Eating Animals - Jonathan Safran Foer

Eating Animals

By Jonathan Safran Foer

  • Release Date: 2009-11-02
  • Genre: Industries & Professions
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 231 Ratings
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Description

Part memoir and part investigative report, Eating Animals is the groundbreaking moral examination of vegetarianism, farming, and the food we eat every day that inspired the documentary of the same name.

Bestselling author Jonathan Safran Foer spent much of his life oscillating between enthusiastic carnivore and occasional vegetarian. For years he was content to live with uncertainty about his own dietary choices but once he started a family, the moral dimensions of food became increasingly important.

Faced with the prospect of being unable to explain why we eat some animals and not others, Foer set out to explore the origins of many eating traditions and the fictions involved with creating them. Traveling to the darkest corners of our dining habits, Foer raises the unspoken question behind every fish we eat, every chicken we fry, and every burger we grill.

Part memoir and part investigative report, Eating Animals is a book that, in the words of the Los Angeles Times, places Jonathan Safran Foer "at the table with our greatest philosophers" -and a must-read for anyone who cares about building a more humane and healthy world.

Reviews

  • This book will change your perspective

    5
    By ODF x Fury12
    This book changed the way I look at meat and the way I've been eating meat. Whenever the idea of eating meat from factory farms comes into discussion with family and friends I will recommend that they read this book. This book won't make you vegan but it will make you question the ways in which you eat and ethically obtain meat. Thank you for writing this book

  • I agree, but disagree

    2
    By Ghost pepper mike
    I agree that factory farming is cruel. But I wouldn't become vegetarian over it. Instead, I consume animal products that come from better sources like real farms and that the animals are 100% free ranged, naturally raised and organic with no added growth hormones which the author of this book probably never thought of. I believe most people who are against eating meat tent to forget that our ancestors had to survive by eating meat to put us where we are right now and that its in our natural instinct to consume meat because animals eat other animals too and they even eat humans, so why can't we be part of the food chain? I believe it's an honest way of life and I believe in fairness.

  • A book full of facts

    5
    By Fite Haith
    If its as terrible as you say then why are we still eating animals ? Is taste really that important? Why should I give up eating my favorite food, the one my mom first made it for me? How does thanksgiving without turkey even make any sense? Is it fair to deprive my kid from the meat or make that choice for her? Is my omnivore friend ignorant or simply does not know the facts? Are animal farms really that bad considering the fact that they are feeding the word by producing cheap meat? Is consuming milk and eggs as bas as consuming meat? How about fish or shrimp, do they suffer? Read this book even if you are not a vegan! at least have your facts and make an educated decision when it gets to what you chose to eat!

  • Eating Animals

    5
    By AllknowingSoothsayer
    I found 'Eating Animals' truly provocative, inspiring and informative. It is a major contribution to the awakening and hearing of the human heart. I am so grateful that I discovered it.

  • Life changing

    5
    By Jojo1974balt
    This book changed my life forever!

  • Disappointing overall; bad for iBooks

    2
    By Freckleflecked
    First, it's worth noting that the author wrote this as a dead-trees book. He makes references to the physical size of the book and elements in it, and there are long passages of italics and line art from the printed book that translate poorly into an iBook. Contentwise, as impressive as the facts and research are, the book is disorganized and goes in too many different directions--philosophy tome, animal rights screed, memoir, textbook--and it ends up being jumbled and repetitive. The worst aspect of the book is that even though I'm sympathetic to or in agreement with the author's conclusions, the logic to get there is absent. The book just doesn't make the connections, but instead offers some fancy language and strained reasoning. It also tries to have it both ways by asserting more than once that humans and animals are different, but then personifying the latter with human traits and making assumptions based on what humans do. I admire what the author set out to do and I really wanted to like the book, but it just wasn't very good. If you've read books like Michael Pollan's and seen documentaries like Food Inc., you don't need to read this book; and if you haven't checked out those others ... well, they cover the subject matter better.

  • Eating Animals is a must read!

    5
    By Rocki07
    The author approached this subject with candor, facts and from different viewpoints. I was amazed, surprised and disgusted at how greed has wreaked our environment, animals and people. My family eats meat and seems to be afraid to read this book or think about how eating meat supports factory farming. People are defensive about eating meat and say there are two sides to every story. Somehow, it has been planted in peoples brains that vegans and vegetarians do not get enough protein! I think that people eat irresponsibly and without much thought. This is one more area where they don't feel they can effect a change. I was a vegetarian and after reading this book, I gave up dairy and eat no animal products at all. People ask is it hard? No, for me it is an easy choice and not difficult to live with. I think if more people knew what was in their food and where it came from, factory farming would be gone. If my family chooses to eat meat, then the most responsible thing I can do is find a family farmer to get their food from. (I served my husband Gardein 'chicken' and he did not know the difference). If you are thinking of going meatless, look into Tal Ronnen's cookbooks.

  • Waste of time

    1
    By GAS CAN 360
    Had to read for a food class was terrible

  • Good Read

    4
    By Just Get It Now!
    Easy to read and reinforces that we should be considering our whole family when we are choosing what we eat. It affects more than our immediate health it affects farmers and the wider community.

  • Premium

    5
    By Интеллигенция
    This book has changed my life..

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