Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals

Before I read this book I was appalled by cock fighting and thought little about eating chicken, although I wouldn't each mammal meat.
Since I read that book, I have looked at cockfighting as an insignificant infraction to the law, and cannot look at packaged drumsticks without thinking "torture". It took me three months to finally eat some chicken after I "put the book down". And I made sure that the bird was organic and free-range. And I may not even do it again in a while. In that regard, it reminded me of the chapter on Potatoes in Michael Pollan's Botany of Desire. I never looked at a potato in the same way again, and certainly have never knowingly eaten a Russet Burbank ever since.

There are many other interesting things about animals in Herzog's book. Not the cutesy type of things. He is pretty down to earth, scientific, and factual. He destroys many preconceptions and forces us to face our cultural biases vis a vis certain creatures, mainly some that are good to pet and cuddle with in our culture might be good to eat in another. I actually recommended the book to some anti-Obama campaigners who vilified him for eating dog meat in Indonesia when he was 10 years old... A little knowledge of cultural tastes in food goes a long way, even in politics. And Herzog is a good source.

An enjoyable, entertaining read, that I would definitely recommend.

Thoroughly researched and thought provoking. Well written and narrated.
I thought I knew how I felt about animal issues but things are much more complicated than I thought! I hate it when that happens

What a breath of fresh air this book is! A non-technical book on the relationship between humans and animals that does not have a radical agenda is hard to find these days, and so I got this book with some trepidation. This book covers all aspects of the relations of humans and animals, to try to arrive at the how and why. It offers well-done research, clearly explained, and has been a delight to listen to from beginning to end. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

The title really says it best. We humans often suffer under the delusion that what separates us from the animals is our rational minds. This book deflates that myth. It lights the way with a detailed analysis of how we think as we do about our fellow animals on this planet. Herzog takes us through many of the ways that the human psyche leads us into cognitive traps.

It is good to be reminded that all our drives, preferences, and fears often have no basis in logic. It is hard to remain smug about one's own "superior" choices when faced with the fact that many of our own assumptions--whether we be vegetarians or carnivores, Republicans or Democrats--have no basis in fact or logic.

Herzog's book applies to vegans and carnivores alike--a thought-provoking look into why we feel as we do about our role on this planet, as it regards animals.

This book was BOTH light-hearted AND thought-provoking. Not a usual mix. Never thought the dissection of the psyche could be fun. I was wrong.

This book does a very good job covering the different relationships we have with animals, however, I felt is was lacking in depth. It provided a lot of instances to demonstrate our relationships with animals but not as much about how those relationships evolved or why we feel as we do as I would have liked to see. It does provide some explanations but I think I was expecting more. Overall, I'm glad to have read the information and did enjoy my time spent on this book. It may serve as a precursor to other books that research this topic more thoroughly.

In “Some We Love, Some We Hat, Some We Eat” Hal Herzog surveys the ambivalence we have toward animals. He thoroughly describes, analyzes and illustrates the battle we face between our heads and our hearts when we consider them in daily life. Blending research, philosophy, history and current events he walks the reader through the moral/ethical dilemmas faced by us all and we individually confront each one. Along the way, Herzsog opens points of animal/human contact which may be unknown to the general ready. I was surprised by the sections on cock fighting for example. The section on how persons who volunteer for animal rescue come to their decisions. In the end, Herzog comes across and even handed, but ambivalent himself. This may be frustrating to some who want hard answers to life’s issues. This is a terribly informative and well written book. The reading of Mel Foster is excellent.

I would, especially with other people, because each bit of information that Herzog has chosen to include in his books is very interesting, and will remain so. This book has given me so much to think about that I had never before considered.

Ok so the narration is the hardest part to get through in the beginning. He really does sound like a robot, and I had to check a few times to see if this wasn't a computer-generated voice. But, somehow, you get used to it and then it becomes the perfect voice for this somewhat geeky take on the relationship between humans and animals.

Not exactly, but a book that I was always happy to start. I actually listened to this book between listening to other books (I tend to listen and read several books at a time). This book was very easy to pick up after a week or two.

I loved this book, it was so interesting. Mr. Herzog has an ability to present studies and ideas, and even sometimes his opinion, but in a way that encourages me to think about it myself and cultivate my own opinion--or not. He has a way of just presenting the information, and it doesn't all need to generate an opinion. Just really well research, really well planned out, I enjoyed this book very much, Mr. Herzog, and I heartily recommend it to anyone who is considering purchasing this book.

Yes. Contains interesting stories and information on how we interact with animals. The author recognizes that we are inconsistent in the way we deal with animals. I expected the book to be lean towards animal rights but found the author to really wrestle with the implications of granting animals equal status with humans.

He struggles with the question of whether humans and animals are different in kind or different in degree. If different in degree, rather than kind, this argues for treating animals as we would treat humans. He recognizes this as overly difficult and therefore settles for being inconsistent. He will treat humans better than animals (eat them, use them for experimentation and work, etc). But he gave up too easily on the question of difference. I suggest reading Part 1 of "The Everlasting Man" by G. K. Chesterton for a great treatise on man being different in kind from animals. If you settle on this, much of the anguish the author struggles with would be more consistently resolved. Great stories but he gave up too easily on the foundational truth that would resolve the dilemma.

Truth in petting

Any of the authors even handed presentation of animal rights issues

no

The Human/Animal Bond ??

As a veterinarian of 52 years I have always wondered about many of these issues and just never taken the time to explore them.

I think this book could have been much shorter and with less Rhetoric. He just rambles on and on. skip this one.