Eating Animals

by Jonathan Safran Foer

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316069906
• ISBN13: 9780316069908
• Release Date: November 2009
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

So insightful!

I’m almost finished this book but cannot recommend it enough. It was a perfect read for ‘veganuary’ and I actually had to stop myself from reading. The personal stories, to me, pulled so many heartstrings. Trying to provide for a family but also trying to keep up with the times and animal welfare. The flow of the book is also done so well! Effortlessly transitions from one topic to another.

Well written.

Both a pleasure and a heartbreak to read. Should be required reading for anyone who eats.

A manifesto that doesn't PETA-preach.

This book is a valued addition to my library. It has a thoroughly researched look into the future of farming animals the American way while not resorting to PETA's militant entrail-tossing methods of vegetarian conversion which are so appalling. As a vegetarian, I would feel comfortable giving this book to my meat-eating friends if they were interested to learn why I chose a vegetarian path. Foer's book has a lighthearted beginning, getting its start by a mock-argument(albeit a well-researched one)for eating dog. This passage introduces readers to evaluate at why we as a culture eat some animals and not others. Where does our sentimentality begin and our desire for meat with every vegetable end? The book aims to open thoughts and dialog as well as provide facts of the current state of meat farming in the USA. The importance of this book isn't the potential of converting people over to vegetarianism or veganism, but it makes a compelling argument for how imperative it is ecologically and socially to get away from the factory methods of farming currently used in nearly ALL of America's meat industries. While the book largely does focus on animal suffering under the current factory model, it also highlights facts about how factory farms keep meat prices artificially deflated, and the health impacts of workers and residents. This book is an engaging read, supported by facts, but not drowning in footnotes. It inspired some good peaceful conversations among my omnivorous family and myself as to why I have made the choices that I have.

A catalyst..

I just finished this book, am becoming vegan, and feel 'humane' for THE first time in my life. This book was a catalyst where I wasn't looking for one. Jonathan doesn't scream this info to the reader--he tells it in his words, with statistical/historical data, personal research, true accounts from the field, and actual letters from varying opinions. Of course, he is not a farm worker, hasn't worked on a farm, and can't come from a place of truly understanding 'farming'. But, where he does come from is being a messenger...where many have failed to bring to light what humans are systematically doing to animals every moment of every day. His writing is heartwarming, but gut-wrenching. His occasional pieces of wit about the insanity of factory farming maked me laugh quietly, but kept me awake at night thinking. His info is thorough, continuously going back to how farming animals for food is responsible for 40% of global warming, and perhaps, how we can make sense of it on a personal level. What I felt, was that he did not preach about not eating animals. He presented information that I could personally relate to and grasp. He provided very important information about 99% of the animals I used to buy and eat for my family and friends. What woke me up most was, why is an author bringing this info to me? Where are the ongoing news specials on this? What Eating Animals did to push me over the edge into veganism is not only about animal rights, but the terrifying component of being lied to by these factory farms and the megacorporations that support them. I used to pay extra for organic milk & cage free eggs because I believed Horizon Farms. I thought I was making a better choice for the animals. Ultimately, the author woke me up from a deep, deep sleep. As he eloquently presents about turkeys, how can we celebrate 'thanks' and 'family' or whatever tradition you have on Thanksgiving while the main course never saw the sun, felt the earth, a breath of fresh air, had his beak seared off with a hot blade and no pain killers, lived on top of thousands of other turkey's and their excrement, thrown into trucks for transport hundreds of miles without food or water, and never had one true moment of 'love.' If having a better understanding of what love means to you, read this book.

Profound

I appreciate the honest look at the meat production industry presented in this book. Most of all I like the style with which Foer communicates his findings. The author reveals a lot of personal information but he also asks the readers to live by their own standards, not his. All that makes it for an easy and even enjoyable reading of a lifestyle book which nonetheless reads like a novel. Eating Animals is a very inspiring and informative book. I wholeheartedly encourage everybody to consider reading it. Even -- or maybe, especially if -- you are not a vegetarian. It definitely changed the way I view the world. It might do the same to you. And if not, you will at least enjoy reading a book that not only educates but also entertains. And one more thing that I can promise each and every reader -- THIS BOOK WILL REALLY MAKE YOU THINK AND FORCE YOU TO MAKE PROFOUND CHOICES WHICH WILL AFFECT THE WAY YOU LIVE THE REMAINING PART OF YOUR LIFE. I noticed that some reviewers mention "The Omnivore's Dilemma" as a companion to this book. In my opinion it would be reading the same just by another author. To get a broader view at nutrition and how it affects our health, our longevity, and the world around us I suggest reading "Can we Lve 150 Years" instead.

changing my ways

I wholeheartedly recommend this book. I identified with Foer as a person who really tries to eat ethically, but whose weaknesses often get the best of him. I've had strong intuitions that there is something wrong with Meat today, but, like Foer reports of his own journey, those intuitions have not been strong enough for me to really change what I eat. The woman in my life, by contrast, has been a vegetarian for over a decade and never wavers. Of the many changes I've made to accommodate our relationship, giving up meat was never one of them. I've generally let the smell of bacon silence any discomfort I had with meat. That is, until reading Eating Animals. Foer's personal narrative spoke to me more than any of the many exposes on factory farming slyly sent my way. At the same time, Eating Animals left me far more informed than I was before ... It's the standard cliché, but I really couldn't put the book down. In place of the didactic or moralistic, Foer welcomes the reader into his life and his story. Foer is his own main character, and his own self-examination inspires the same. You won't be the same after reading it.

Best Book on the Food Industry and Foer's Most Important

The buzz about this book was so incredible I had to get my hands on an advanced copy. The book is like nothing else ever written on the food industry. It reads like a novel, is funny, incredibly well documented, and lets factory farmers and animal activists speak in their own words. I've read a lot of books on the food industry and this is by far the best. It makes other writers, even Michael Pollan, look a bit timid. Foer never preaches. He shares his own beliefs and asks us to live by our own standards, not his. Foer reveals a lot of personal information here and, since this is his first nonfiction book, it its especially interesting for readers of his previous books to see some of the fact behind his fiction. The material about his grandmother and how she survived the holocaust is really powerful. The stuff about his dog George (Foer makes a mock case for eating dogs) is hilarious. His storytelling is so compelling that you hardly realize how much information he's conveying (there are 60 pages of notes documenting his sources, but the text itself is uncluttered by footnotes). Another unique thing about this book is that Foer actually sneaks into a factory farm in the middle of the night... Eating Animals is a serious book that could change the way you live. But what's most impressive about it is that it is also fun to read, which is exactly what we need on a hot button topic like the contemporary food industry.