Eating Animals

The author does a fine job here presenting the information in a well thought out and balanced way. Yes we have heard many of these horror stories about the factory farms and slaughter houses before and yet Jonathan Safran Foer presents all this in a provocative and dare I say friendly tone. This book actually caused me not only to think more about options but motivated me to make changes in the ways in which our household eats meat.
At first listening to thiese atrocities I felt powerless because we are meat lovers. We are not going to choose to become vegetarian yet I can no longer buy these factory farmed animal products.
Listening to this book has reminded me to be a better consumer. If we are going to eat meat we better be prepared to pay more for locally grown meats that come from small farms where the animals are treated kindly and in a humane fashion. I now am going to find out where the local slaughter houses are and be sure that any meats we consume are slaughtered in a humane way. So although this book was not fun or at all enjoyable I am glad I had a listen and I truly thank this author for reminding us to do the right thing and support our local family farms and encourage these farms to treat their stock with dignity and decency. This book was a difficult yet interesting listen, well worth the credit.

As the author points out within the piece, I picked up this book with the expectation that it would be a straightforward case for vegetarianism. I'm pleased to find out that I was wrong. Of the handful of books I've read on the subject of animal agriculture and food production, this has been by far the most even-handed. Does he have an agenda? Sure. What writer doesn't? But he is relatively fair in its delivery. For example, within books of this type, it's exceedingly rare to find a well-written, logically-convincing, morally-reasonable passage written from the point of view of someone in the meat industry. There were multiple in Eating Animals, which I appreciated. I'm willing to listen to anyone who can present a PETA activist, a normal citizen, a local farmer and an industrial agriculture businessman within the space of 50 pages, and allow each of them to sound equally reasonable (albeit in very different ways).

My only problem with this book was the narration. I'm relatively new to audiobooks -- I've read fewer than a dozen. I thought perhaps it was just my inexperience in the medium that made this narration so jarring to me. The narrator has unnaturally long pauses between words and sometimes seems to emphasize the wrong word within a sentence. It makes it harder to listen to. That said, if you're genuinely interested in the topic, the narration shouldn't be enough to deter you from reading this book -- the writing was strong enough to make up for the poor delivery, in my opinion.

This book is groundbreaking in revealing a dark side of human behavior and an industry that most people view as benign or is invisible. The parental command "Eat your food!" takes on entirely new meaning with this book. In a sense, it picks up the thread started by Upton Sinclair over 100 years ago, revealing examples of unbelievable human behavior and greed in the factory meat industry, first described in SInclair's The Jungle.
The book is very well written, well documented and technically correct. After listening to the audiobook, I bought the hardcopy to verify his references. The audiobook is well spoken and does not indulge in theatrical voicings like some nonfiction book readers like to do.
Foer develops two critical questions that impact individual health and character, and the well being of society as a whole: 1) is it possible to raise and then kill sentient animals for food in an ethical and humane manner; 2) if so, how do we do that? He does not preach answers to either question, but explores the thinking and emotions behind those issues. It is perfectly conceivable that a meat loving omnivore would read this book and choose not to change eating habits; but no thinking person could read this book and then fail to question the culture and institutions that put her meat on the table.
If you are interested in the relationship between what you and your family eat and your health, and in the ethical quality of the institutions - governmental as well as corporate - that subsidize and invest in the factory farming industry, you must read or listen to this book. Then see the the movie Food, Inc. I don't know if Foer and Kenner worked together to make a package, but Foer's book and Kenner's documentary synergize for an astonishing impact.

Safran Foer's work is personal, detailed, and broad. Therein lies its many strengths and some of its weaknesses. It's not a textbook or study so much as a personal reflection and personal investigation of how we produce (most of) the animals for consumption that we do.
In turns, it's horrific, painfully sad, and very funny--if darkly so. At points it meanders a bit and goes into detail that others may not. Over all, the detail and focus is riveting and well written.
The narration is performed at a rate, I feel, that matches very well the sense of reflection and poetic cadence of the book; and of course one has the option to speed up if one wants (at least with an iPod). I would not.
All in all, this is a book that you can turn back to again and again, that provides mental sustenance to support better choices in how you may choose to live and how to feed yourself and your family.

If you are curious at all about what goes on behind the scenes in the production of meat or if you want to understand the ethical, environmental, and epidemiological concerns of the meat industry then read "Eating Animals". I've read a few books on this subject already (Peter Singer, Gary Francione) and would recommend this book to anyone, particularly to those who are apprehensive about reading about such dark matters. Foer's style is engaging and highly readable. Though it's a book of investigative journalism it can also be enjoyed for its autobiographical digressions, philosophical speculation and Foer's fair treatment to the different actors in this drama.

I found out how little I knew what I was eating

Food Matters, The Omnivore's Dilemma, The Way We Eat

No, this is my first book by Ross. He did a great job.

The evil of corporate factory farm. In the interest of making a few dollars, animal suffers, people eat unhealthy meat and cause environmental catastrophe.

I am so glad that I stubble upon this book. It changed my eating habit and my life. I am now a vegetarian (I have stopped eating all meats and most dairy products. I will stop eat egg white and cheese soon) with the full intention transition into a vegan in the next few months. I am doing this slowly so it can be a sustainable lifestyle change for me.

Most of us sort of know about these compelling issues (animal suffering, personal health and environmental concerns) why we should not eat meat. Like most Americans, I did not wish to face it. I was in DENIAL.

This book made me take a much closer look of myself and helped me to discover my inner compassion for the animals. It brought tears in my eyes and mad as hell! It helped changed me from being part of the problem and empowered me to be part of “solution” by “opt out” of mainstream, big corporate food system. If you have an ounce of compassion for the animals we eat; a slight concern about your personal and your family health; and passionate about saving our environment, read this book and then your heart will direct you to do the “right thing”!

This book is not for the faint of heart. It exposes the factory farm system of meat supply in our country. If you are concerned about your personal health, the environment, and what you eat on a daily basis this book has things you need to know. Foer intersperses these accounts with personal and engaging stories about his personal life so it is not a total gloom and doom experience. I hope his book will have an equal or greater effect than Upton Sinclair's The Jungle did a century ago. It is an interesting and worthwhile read.

This book is really really good. The author presents the information in a very objective way and based on a lot of reasearch. The book is a hundred times better and more interesting than Michael Pollans books. One of the most interesting and well written books I've read on the subject. Its also been translated into several other languages all ready.

Otherwise known as My Leisurely Journey to Vegetarianism And Incidentally You're An Idiot If You Don't Convert To It Also

I was pretty let down by Foer's first stab at nonfiction, especially since the reviews said it was even-handed. This was not as detailed or remotely objective as Omnivore's Dilemma and Fast Food Nation. Although it had some interesting information - like the brief info about PETA and Smithfield - I felt like I was being force-fed (trying... to... avoid... puns) the conclusions instead of letting me have the facts and come to revelations/decisions on my own. And the conclusion-jumping was a bit much: If we stop eating meat > animals won't be hurt > factories won't pollute > Global Warming will cease > we'll be happy lettuce munchers.

With the two books mentioned above (which he openly criticizes) there was a pull instead of a push, and I didn't feel like I was being talked down to. This just made me feel entrenched in meat for no other reason than I was insulted... and it makes me want to bathe in steak and drink turkey blood.

Tone aside, this does present a good case against animal cruelty, which even meat-lovers would want to change. Reform is something we need to demand, but saying that the only way to change factory farming is to become a vegetarian is just plain naive.

This book makes some good points about the benefits of a vegetarian or at least ethically farmed omnivorous diet, but it's all been said before. For a better narrated, well written version of this book, I recommend "The Omnivore's Dilemma".