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Summary: A startling eye-opener!!
Review: Erik Marcus, operator of Vegan.com (an excellent website, btw), reaches out to vegan and non-vegan alike with "Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating". As a previous vegeterian who still enjoyed ice cream and eggs, I thought that abstaining from meat still helped animals as well as my health. After reading this book, I can see my reasoning was flawed! The dairy and meat industries are closely linked.For example, if you shy from meat but still drink milk, you're continuing the endless cycle of cows being impregnated (like other mammals, cows don't produce milk unless they give birth). The cows are then milked for it all (pun not intended!), and when they're worn out after a few years, their exhausted carcasses are sold to be ground up into low-grade fastfood hamburgers. But wait, what about all the calves being born so the cow produces that milk? Female babies replace their mothers for years of endless pregnancy, milking, and infection. The male calves, who have no use in the milk process, are stuffed into veal crates and fed an anemic diet of watered-down formula for their short lives ... before they're lead to the slaughterhouse. Shocked? I know I was! I'd always disliked milk but loved ice cream (now, I enjoy Soy Delicious soy "ice cream" ... yummy!). Besides the ethics of eating these tortured animals, Marcus also points out the health aspects. Obesity, numberous cancers, heart attacks, angiograms, and many other diseases kill or severely limit the life quality of millions of Westerners. In Asian countries, where low-fat, plant-based diets are the norm, these diseases are virtually unheard of (and I'd like to point out that, at 19 years old, I no longer have perpetual headcolds or the baby fat from years of eating animal products). Included in the book is a chapter on how the beef industry routinely grinds up cattle into "protein concentrates" to feed back to the herd (thus spawning Mad Cow) and how the dairy industry targets young children from the moment they step into a school with tales of "milk is great for you!!". Neither industry mentions that the animals (and thus their products) are pumped full of chemicals, so the paying customer is also ingesting the same! For example, chickens have been genetically modified to grow HUGE in a shorter amount of time than they did 25 years ago. After six weeks of age, 26 % of chickens die from heart attacks thanks to the chemicals and increased growth spurts, which explains why broiler hens are slaughtered before then. Do you really want to eat that?? Also included is a chapter on how cattle ranching is gobbling up America's natural terrain and that meat production contributes to world hunger (I believe the exact number was it takes the same amount of water and land to produce 16 pounds of grain as to make 1 pound of beef ... you can definitely feed more people with that much grain!! Contrast that to 1 pound of beef ... how many folks can you feed that to??). So the book isn't totally filled by numbers and facts, Marcus smartly includes success stories: people who beat an unhealthy life through a switch to a vegan diet, tortured animals who escaped the slaughterhouse, and Marcus himself, who in the last chapter explains why he made the switch from omnivore to herbivore. It's a sweet, effective humanistic touch to a book that otherwise would be filled with a lot of disturbing data. It's an excellent book, including a complete biblography in the back with all of Marcus' sources so you can check his information yourself. I wish it was pocket-sized so I can carry it everywhere (I practically do, anyway!) and I've already given copies to family and friends who've found the book just as startling as I did. No, the book doesn't include recipes (check out the "Vegeterian Italian Cookbook" or "Vegan Delights" for those!); this book's sole purpose, which it succeeds admirably at, is informing the public what's REALLY in our food and how it affects us and our planet. This book is very empowering so while the facts are frightening, I find it a light of hope.
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Summary: The facts speak for themselves
Review: Erik Markus doesn't preach. He describes the conditions and methods used to produce animal "products" and leaves the reader to judge. After I learned how seemingly "harmless" products such as eggs and milk are produced, they ceased being food items. I gave them up immediately. In one week, my mom, my friend, and I read this book (two omnivores, one ovo-lacto veg.): now we're two vegans and the third's almost there. A tremendous book.
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Summary: Share this book with your meat eating friends
Review: Give a copy of this book and "Slaughterhouse" by Gail Einitz to everybody you love. It will save lives, both human and animal.
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Summary: A Masterfully Written Wonder
Review: I bought this book as a means of self-education on Veganism. The content within has proven itself valuable a million times over. Anyone who has questions about why a vegan diet could benefit them should get this. It also would make a great gift to an inquisitive friend, curious about veganism. In all a great buy with plethora of great information and well composed ideas.
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Summary: very important read for vegans/ anti animal rights activists
Review: i fell in love with this book. I was a lacto/ovo-vegetarian for over a year, then I was 90% vegan for a few months, and this book helped push me to the 100% mark. Not preachy at all, and very inspiring. The choice is up to you, no one else, but this book provides tons of information, and inspiring stories to help. i keep this one on my nightstand all the time!
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Summary: this is an excellent summary of why to become a vegan
Review: I had just finished Diet For a New America, by John Robbins before I read Vegan. John Robbins book is very detailed and in-depth while Vegan is a more recent, summarized version of the same issues. If you are short on time and want a concise summary, Vegan is the book for you. If you have more time, I'd advocate John Robbins' book, too. Even if you have no interest in becoming vegan or vegetarian, it still wouldn't hurt to read this. If you choose to eat meat, you should have all the information that's out there. It also will help you understand any vegetarian friends/acquaintances you have.
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Summary: Most touching and informative book I've ever read...
Review: I had the idea of becoming a vegan , and I am one. One of the few books I checked out from the local library was this book, by Erik Marcus. I read the whole book in the first day. Being a meat and a potatoes kind of gal it was a little hard to give up meat. One day i just decided that's it. I knew animals used for products, or meat were mistreated. I didn't know how much though. This book gave me enough motivation to never wish I had a hamburger or anything else again. When people ask me why I became a vegan. I told them that I want to save the animals. Now I can give them MANY reasons, not only to help save animals, but about all the health risks involved with eating meat or the products from it. I owe Erik Marcus a lifetime of gratitude for saying what needed to be said. Thank you!
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Summary: The Bible for Vegetarians and vegans
Review: I have been vegan for over 5 years and have come across many informative books, leaflets, phamphlets and articles that reveal the truth of the matter; Vegetarian/veganism is a non-issue. This book is a successful attempt to gather all the angles into one format. The only things I would improve would be to add more quotes from historical figures, add the "famous Vegetarian and vegan list", and add some physiological/ anthropological evidence to reveal our true dietary predisposition--herbivorous. The best book on the subject to date.
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Summary: This book changed my life!
Review: I have never read a book before that has had such an impact on my life. I read this book and almost immediately switched to a vegetarian diet, and now have almost completed my transition to complete vegan. I would highly recommend this book to anyone! It will raise questions and concerns in the most die-hard of meat eaters guaranteed!
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Summary: Highly suggested, a wonderful book!
Review: I read Erik Marcus's book, Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating a few months ago, and it's incredible. It's offered in a free web format from Erik's site, ... I originally read it there but have since bought the paperback. It offers so much good information, and made me incredibly happy to be vegan, and reassured me this IS the best decision I've ever made in my life. The first section of the book describes all the heath aspects of veganism, which I really wasn't that interested in previously, but made me glad I chose such a healthy lifestyle, and wanted others to do the same. It continues on through factory farming, ethics, and environmental aspects of veganism. It covers everything on why someone would choose this lifestyle. I highly suggest you all read it; you'll surely enjoy it. --Melissa Rose
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