Note: This is another installment in our series "Laura's 194-Word Book Reviews" wherein former Cool People Care intern Laura Cebula weighs in on books related to philanthropy, social activism, or community change. Please contact us to submit a title for review. Enjoy! I recently started a slow decline from vegetarianism and have since felt guilty abandoning a lifestyle I once so strongly believed in. In an effort to reexamine my values concerning not only my health but also the health of the environment, I’ve been rereading the books that convinced me being a vegetarian was the healthiest way to eat. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer is not one of those books. Foer presents no argument about the morality of being an omnivore and is judgment-free through his hybrid work of literature and investigative journalism. Facts, numbers, and interviews fill the pages, but the author does not push an agenda, a rare find for a book on a controversial topic.
Foer’s Holocaust-surviving grandmother influenced what he was going to feed his newborn son, as did his own experiences with vegetarianism, the media, and other factors. He began a research frenzy, discovering disgusting practices and shocking statistics, the standout one for me being that the average American eats the equivalent of 21,000 animals in a lifetime. Despite disturbing numbers and interviews, the message is positive and puts the choice in the hands of the reader.
Buy Eating Animals on Amazon.com.
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