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highly recommended |
THE book for vegetarians to argue their case 
Vegetarians I encounter are of two types. Cultural Veggies like me who grew up in vegetarian households. Then Veggies by choice, who deserve greater respect for following their convictions. Howard Lyman deserves the highest respect for his Ashoka (famous Indian Emperor who renounced Violence) like transformation to the vegetarian cause from being a cattle rancher.
Vegetarians often get queried about their reason behind being one. As Howard points out, there are three ways to go about explaining it. Moral reason, Self/Health Reason and lastly Ecological/Environmental reason. Howard realising that moral reasoning is the most vulnerable one, not easily defendable, ignores it and goes about brilliantly presenting how meat eating habits in America has led to deterioration in health and devastation of the environment, backing up with first-hand experiences and scientific references.
Personally I feel it is not just the meat-eaters who may have to make hard choices. Meat-Eaters may argue that Rice cultivation is also a major cause of Methane (Global Warming) gas and creates strain on resources in terms of land/water. One can argue that the Chinese and Indian demand for Rice may create severe problems in future. But it is hard to deny the Author's assertion: meat-eating diet and hence cattle ranching's negative effects are multi-fold, in terms of health, spread of pandemics, environmental , depriving land of nutrients and are of much more severe and immediate concern to us.
Wonderful Book!
Don't read it unless you're ready to give up eating animals! It's an easy to read, informative look at the dark side of the meat eating US culture and the effects upon our bodies as well as the environment. I would highly recommend it for anyone who is already vegetarian or thinking about becoming one, or for anyone concerned about our environment.
This is a MUST READ for people who want the truth.
My wife (dairy farmer family background) read and confirmed a small portion from the book, and I became an instant vegetarian. I cheat a little, yet rarely and carefully.
Most meat producers should be forced into bankruptcy and thrown into prison. What the meat industry is doing is criminal.
We've given out many copies of this book.
A must read for anyone thinking about vegan/vegetarianism 
This book belongs on every animal lover's shelf - a must read, that very easily could make the difference between a hesitant omnivore, and a full fledged veggie!
very interesting and educational
While overly emotional and more than a little biased at times, I found this book a very interesting read. It makes you look differently at the environmental and sociological as well as medical impact of our society's increasing use of beef. I think this book has a lot of information that people should be told, but that doesn't make it into most mass-media
reviews: 1, page 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
mad cowboy, cowboy
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based on 113 reviews
