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marjoleinve's review against another edition
5.0
This book was a tough one to finish. I can't even begin to count the times I had to stop reading because the events described were horrible. I didn't want to avert my eyes from what's happening in this industry though, so I forced myself to finish this book.
I'm so glad I did.
I'm so glad I did.
graceanna's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
stephaniesteen73's review against another edition
4.0
One of the hardest books I've ever read - incredibly disturbing. I literally had to put it down at points because it was just too overwhelming and visceral. I found myself reading the book while my internal monologue (meat lover) was railing against it. By the end the internal monologue was quieted....I honestly don't know whether anyone who has truly read this book can go back to their pre-book reading meat habits.
It only gets 4 stars because I did find the book, while well-written in parts, to be fairly disjointed. It does work, though, because I think the disjointedness to be akin to the author's (and my own) struggle in fits and starts.
Pick it up and I'd love to discuss it (and your vegetarian recipes).
It only gets 4 stars because I did find the book, while well-written in parts, to be fairly disjointed. It does work, though, because I think the disjointedness to be akin to the author's (and my own) struggle in fits and starts.
Pick it up and I'd love to discuss it (and your vegetarian recipes).
brisingr's review against another edition
5.0
2nd read: 3-18 April 2023
1st read: 6-15 February 2020
"We eat as sons and daughters, as families, as communities, as generations, as nations, and increasingly as a globe. We can’t stop our eating from radiating influence even if we want to."
Absolutely brilliantly written research on how we now get the food that we eat, and the relations that we have with our food, and the excuses that we come up with when facing the ethical questions of farm practices. I think this book should be read by every single individual who claims to care about the world around them. I found out new things, and it just strenghtened my beliefs.
"But it doesn’t have to be this way. The best reason to think that there could be a better future is the fact that we know just how bad the future could be."
1st read: 6-15 February 2020
"We eat as sons and daughters, as families, as communities, as generations, as nations, and increasingly as a globe. We can’t stop our eating from radiating influence even if we want to."
Absolutely brilliantly written research on how we now get the food that we eat, and the relations that we have with our food, and the excuses that we come up with when facing the ethical questions of farm practices. I think this book should be read by every single individual who claims to care about the world around them. I found out new things, and it just strenghtened my beliefs.
"But it doesn’t have to be this way. The best reason to think that there could be a better future is the fact that we know just how bad the future could be."
amarettto's review against another edition
4.0
I wish we could make this book required reading. I’m a vegetarian who picked this book up out of curiosity to learn why a meat-eating culture exists and what the industry functions like, hoping to just be mildly put off but still understand why people choose to eat it.
There are a lot of paragraphs I could not read, and times I had to physically avert my eyes because my stomach flipped at some of the descriptions on how these creatures are treated. The fact that people can slaughter in such inhumane ways and not flinch at mutilating other living creatures make me think that the only explanation is that they are psychotic. There’s no way you can claim having a conscience and still do that.
More than anything, I find it surprising that people can get over how disgusting the conditions are, and still put pieces of flesh in their mouths calling it food. I would never bring something that had been so bathed in pathogens and disease close to me, no matter how much processing it goes through. In fact, that makes it worse.
I respect the author deeply, one for taking this subject and shedding so much light on it and still managing to not come off as preachy at all, and two for conducting such intensive research. I was surprised at the volume of facts and citations, and the number of pages dedicated to references alone. I will only gripe about the fact that the ‘statements’ by people he interviewed did not explicitly state who was saying them and often we had to figure out who it was, and on some occasions the book felt a little dry and repetitive. Understandable for a book of this nature, and the positives outweigh all of these things.
The most difficult thing about books like this no matter how eye opening they are, is that you cannot make someone who doesn’t want to see the truth pick it up. And that’s deeply unfortunate, because it’s the best way to show them how sick meat eating culture truly is. The decision to change their lifestyle after that would of course be up to them, but they can no longer deny or shrug off the problem at least, and that’s definitely a win.
There are a lot of paragraphs I could not read, and times I had to physically avert my eyes because my stomach flipped at some of the descriptions on how these creatures are treated. The fact that people can slaughter in such inhumane ways and not flinch at mutilating other living creatures make me think that the only explanation is that they are psychotic. There’s no way you can claim having a conscience and still do that.
More than anything, I find it surprising that people can get over how disgusting the conditions are, and still put pieces of flesh in their mouths calling it food. I would never bring something that had been so bathed in pathogens and disease close to me, no matter how much processing it goes through. In fact, that makes it worse.
I respect the author deeply, one for taking this subject and shedding so much light on it and still managing to not come off as preachy at all, and two for conducting such intensive research. I was surprised at the volume of facts and citations, and the number of pages dedicated to references alone. I will only gripe about the fact that the ‘statements’ by people he interviewed did not explicitly state who was saying them and often we had to figure out who it was, and on some occasions the book felt a little dry and repetitive. Understandable for a book of this nature, and the positives outweigh all of these things.
The most difficult thing about books like this no matter how eye opening they are, is that you cannot make someone who doesn’t want to see the truth pick it up. And that’s deeply unfortunate, because it’s the best way to show them how sick meat eating culture truly is. The decision to change their lifestyle after that would of course be up to them, but they can no longer deny or shrug off the problem at least, and that’s definitely a win.