Publisher's summary
A bold yet realistic vision of how technology and social change are creating a food system in which we no longer use animals to produce meat, dairy, or eggs.
Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals brought widespread attention to the disturbing realities of factory farming. The End of Animal Farming pushes this conversation forward by outlining a strategic road map to a humane, ethical, and efficient food system in which slaughterhouses are obsolete - where the tastes of even the most die-hard meat eater are satisfied by innovative food technologies like cultured meats and plant-based protein. Social scientist and animal advocate Jacy Reese analyzes the social forces leading us toward the downfall of animal agriculture, the technology making this change possible for the meat-hungry public, and the activism driving consumer demand for plant-based and cultured foods.
Reese contextualizes the issue of factory farming - the inhumane system of industrial farming that 95 percent of farmed animals endure - as part of humanity’s expanding moral circle. Humanity increasingly treats nonhuman animals, from household pets to orca whales, with respect and kindness, and Reese argues that farmed animals are the next step. Reese applies an analytical lens of “effective altruism”, the burgeoning philosophy of using evidence-based research to maximize one’s positive impact in the world, in order to better understand which strategies can help expand the moral circle now and in the future.
The End of Animal Farming is not a scolding treatise or a prescription for an ascetic diet. Reese invites listeners - vegan and non-vegan - to consider one of the most important and transformational social movements of the coming decades.
Critic reviews
“Reese’s work shows his deep concern for animals and makes clear why others should share it.” (Kirkus Reviews)
“Reese does a great job in inspiring his readers (and in making their mouths water) with the idea that a different, sustainable kind of meat is possible.” (Forbes)
“Places the issue of factory farming in the context of human progress and presents compelling arguments on how we should deal with it today.” (Steven Pinker, Johnstone professor of psychology, Harvard University, and author of The Better Angels of Our Nature and Enlightenment Now)
Related to this topic
-
Organic Manifesto
- How Organic Food Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe
- By: Maria Rodale, Eric Scholsser - foreword
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on findings from leading health researchers as well as conversations with both chemical and organic farmers from coast to coast, Maria Rodale irrefutably outlines the unacceptably high cost of chemical farming on our health and our environment. She traces the genesis of chemical farming and the rise of the immense companies that profit from it, bringing to light the government's role in allowing such practices to flourish.
-
-
those in power must read and work upon it.
- By Jaktip on 12-20-17
By: Maria Rodale, and others
-
The Humane Economy
- How Innovators and Enlightened Consumers Are Transforming the Lives of Animals
- By: Wayne Pacelle
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A major new exploration of the economics of animal exploitation and a practical road map for how we can use the marketplace to promote the welfare of all living creatures from the renowned animal-rights advocate Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States and New York Times best-selling author of The Bond.
-
-
For all lovers of animals--even the most sensitive
- By monique on 05-01-16
By: Wayne Pacelle
-
Denialism
- How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives
- By: Michael Specter
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New Yorker staff writer Michael Specter has twice won the Global Health Council’s Excellence in Media Award, as well as the Science Journalism Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In Denialism, he fervently argues that people are turning away from new technologies and engaging in a kind of magical thinking that is hindering scientific progress.
-
-
A compelling read
- By S on 05-17-11
By: Michael Specter
-
Pandora's Seed
- The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization
- By: Spencer Wells
- Narrated by: Spencer Wells
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This new book by Spencer Wells, the internationally known geneticist, anthropologist, author, and director of the Genographic Project, focuses on the seminal event in human history: mankind's decision to become farmers rather than hunter-gatherers.
-
-
Short and unfocused, but often quite interesting.
- By Alan on 06-23-10
By: Spencer Wells
-
Abundance
- The Future Is Better Than You Think
- By: Steven Kotler, Peter H. Diamandis
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Space entrepreneur turned innovation pioneer Peter H. Diamandis and award-winning science writer Steven Kotler document how progress in artificial intelligence, robotics, digital manufacturing synthetic biology, and other exponentially growing technologies will enable us to make greater gains in the next two decades than we have in the previous 200 years.
-
-
Perhaps multiply his time estimates by 10
- By Rick on 11-06-21
By: Steven Kotler, and others
-
Resilience
- Why Things Bounce Back
- By: Andrew Zolli, Ann Marie Healy
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Katrina. Haiti. BP. Fukushima. The Great Recession. Those are just a few of the catastrophic disruptions the world has endured in recent years. As we try to respond to such crises, key questions arise: What causes one system to break under great stress and another to rebound? How much change can a complex system absorb while still retaining its purpose and function? What characteristics make it adaptive to change? Provocative and eye-opening, Resilience sheds light on the nature of change.
-
-
Totally Misleading Title
- By Doug on 07-18-12
By: Andrew Zolli, and others
-
Organic Manifesto
- How Organic Food Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe
- By: Maria Rodale, Eric Scholsser - foreword
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on findings from leading health researchers as well as conversations with both chemical and organic farmers from coast to coast, Maria Rodale irrefutably outlines the unacceptably high cost of chemical farming on our health and our environment. She traces the genesis of chemical farming and the rise of the immense companies that profit from it, bringing to light the government's role in allowing such practices to flourish.
-
-
those in power must read and work upon it.
- By Jaktip on 12-20-17
By: Maria Rodale, and others
-
The Humane Economy
- How Innovators and Enlightened Consumers Are Transforming the Lives of Animals
- By: Wayne Pacelle
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A major new exploration of the economics of animal exploitation and a practical road map for how we can use the marketplace to promote the welfare of all living creatures from the renowned animal-rights advocate Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States and New York Times best-selling author of The Bond.
-
-
For all lovers of animals--even the most sensitive
- By monique on 05-01-16
By: Wayne Pacelle
-
Denialism
- How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives
- By: Michael Specter
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New Yorker staff writer Michael Specter has twice won the Global Health Council’s Excellence in Media Award, as well as the Science Journalism Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In Denialism, he fervently argues that people are turning away from new technologies and engaging in a kind of magical thinking that is hindering scientific progress.
-
-
A compelling read
- By S on 05-17-11
By: Michael Specter
-
Pandora's Seed
- The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization
- By: Spencer Wells
- Narrated by: Spencer Wells
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This new book by Spencer Wells, the internationally known geneticist, anthropologist, author, and director of the Genographic Project, focuses on the seminal event in human history: mankind's decision to become farmers rather than hunter-gatherers.
-
-
Short and unfocused, but often quite interesting.
- By Alan on 06-23-10
By: Spencer Wells
-
Abundance
- The Future Is Better Than You Think
- By: Steven Kotler, Peter H. Diamandis
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Space entrepreneur turned innovation pioneer Peter H. Diamandis and award-winning science writer Steven Kotler document how progress in artificial intelligence, robotics, digital manufacturing synthetic biology, and other exponentially growing technologies will enable us to make greater gains in the next two decades than we have in the previous 200 years.
-
-
Perhaps multiply his time estimates by 10
- By Rick on 11-06-21
By: Steven Kotler, and others
-
Resilience
- Why Things Bounce Back
- By: Andrew Zolli, Ann Marie Healy
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Katrina. Haiti. BP. Fukushima. The Great Recession. Those are just a few of the catastrophic disruptions the world has endured in recent years. As we try to respond to such crises, key questions arise: What causes one system to break under great stress and another to rebound? How much change can a complex system absorb while still retaining its purpose and function? What characteristics make it adaptive to change? Provocative and eye-opening, Resilience sheds light on the nature of change.
-
-
Totally Misleading Title
- By Doug on 07-18-12
By: Andrew Zolli, and others
-
The Future of Nutrition
- An Insider’s Look at the Science, Why We Keep Getting It Wrong, and How to Start Getting It Right
- By: T. Colin Campbell PhD
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why, despite the many advances in science and technology over the past few decades, does our health only seem to be getting worse? Why, despite so much time and energy spent studying the foods we eat, are we more confused than ever about nutrition - what good nutrition looks like, and what it can do for our health? The Future of Nutrition offers a fascinating deep-dive behind the curtain of the field of nutrition - with implications both for our health and for the practice of science itself.
-
-
His problem is the problem he has with others
- By abatista on 02-10-21
-
Meathooked
- The History and Science of Our 2.5-Million-Year Obsession with Meat
- By: Marta Zaraska
- Narrated by: Emily Durante
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the great science and health revelations of our time is the danger posed by meat-eating. Every day, it seems, we are warned about the harm producing and consuming meat can do to the environment and our bodies. Many of us have tried to limit how much meat we consume, and many of us have tried to give it up altogether. But it is not easy to resist the smoky, cured, barbecued, and fried delights that tempt us.
-
-
A very interesting book on why we crave meat.
- By Amazon Customer on 05-23-16
By: Marta Zaraska
-
The Vertical Farm
- Feeding the World in the 21st Century
- By: Dickson Despommier
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Columbia professor Dickson Despommier set out to solve America's food, water, and energy crises, he didn't just think big - he thought up. The vertical farm has excited scientists, architects, and politicians around the globe. These farms, grown inside skyscrapers, would provide solutions to many of the serious problems we currently face.
-
-
Excellent Brainstorming - Not reality
- By Texas Community Project on 01-25-11
-
Coffee
- A Comprehensive Guide to the Bean, the Beverage, and the Industry
- By: Robert W. Thurston, Jonathan Morris, Shawn Steiman
- Narrated by: Dan Kassis
- Length: 18 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leading experts from business and academia consider coffee's history, global spread, cultivation, preparation, marketing, and the environmental and social issues surrounding it today. They discuss, for example, the impact of globalization; the many definitions of organic, direct trade, and fair trade; the health of female farmers; the relationships among shade, birds, and coffee; roasting as an art and a science; and where profits are made in the commodity chain.
-
-
Everything you need to know about coffee
- By FW1978 on 11-03-18
By: Robert W. Thurston, and others
-
Blind Spots
- Why We Fail to Do What’s Right and What to Do about It
- By: Max H. Bazerman, Ann E. Tenbrunsel
- Narrated by: Kate McQueen
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When confronted with an ethical dilemma, most of us like to think we would stand up for our principles. But we are not as ethical as we think we are. In Blind Spots, leading business ethicists Max Bazerman and Ann Tenbrunsel examine the ways we overestimate our ability to do what is right and how we act unethically without meaning to.
-
-
Great book! Poor narration
- By Susie on 11-20-17
By: Max H. Bazerman, and others
-
The New Breed
- What Our History with Animals Reveals About Our Future with Robots
- By: Kate Darling
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There has been a lot of ink devoted to discussions of how robots will replace us and take our jobs. But MIT Media Lab researcher and technology policy expert Kate Darling argues just the opposite, and that treating robots with a bit of humanity, more like the way we treat animals, will actually serve us better.
-
-
The book is interesting, and makes good points, but Kate darling forgot about slavery in history
- By jeremy on 10-24-21
By: Kate Darling
What listeners say about The End of Animal Farming
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cora Woolley
- 05-11-22
Only read this book if you’re interested in making a difference
While most great books on animal welfare focus on *why* animal farming is wrong, Reese makes the case for *how* we can make a difference and which approaches are likely to be most effective.
Reese also makes the case for how everyone can play a role in making a difference. “In a burgeoning movement like this one, there’s room for everyone”
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Matt
- 11-24-18
Great, a trully humane food system!
The moral and ecological tragedy that is the current animal-centric food system needs to end soon, but corporate interests and consumer habits need more than just a little prodding to change. The author, an expert on the frontlines of the movement to end the cruel and unnecessary exploitation of animals, lays out a compelling vision for how this could unfold and the role that we, concerned citizens, can play in revolutionizing the food system. From technology (clean meat and plant-based meats, eggs and dairy) to social advocacy, it has everything covered.
A very commendable aspect of this book is that the author tries his best to carefully weigh all evidence and avoid bias and sloppy thinking.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sancho
- 11-14-18
Very insightful book
This book is a must have for anybody seriously thinking about the future of humanity and our fellow animals. It is full of solid information from different disciplines. I found it very engaging and could not stop listening to it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kevin luna
- 11-06-18
A must read for all animal lover!
Best animal book I have ever read! I will never eat animals again! thank you for all the educational information!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Rosetune
- 02-15-19
We must End Factory Farming
The End Of Factory Farming is not only a book that illuminates the countless reasons to end the horrors, brutality and tremendous waste of factory farming, but it raises awareness of the exciting promise of eliminating this outmoded industrial nightmare in favor of a sustainable, plant based diet. Jacy Reese also explores the latest food technologies that are developing awesome plant based alternative foods. The newest developments of cell based food technologies are also explored.
For those who care about ending the suffering of billions of innocent, intelligent, precious animals, those that want to improve their personal health and their families heath, as well as the health and sustainability of our planets limited resources, this book is for you.
Our collective humanity must learn from the information in this book so that we can broaden our moral circle and share our newfound knowledge with our social networks. Those of us who have fully awakened to the nightmare horrors of factory farming need this book to help reinforce our efforts to end the unnecessary suffering of animals globally and to deepen our level of commitment to create a better world in our lifetimes for all sentient beings.
As I continue to explore the many importan books focused on the imperative need for change on our planet, as I reflect and learn about the wonderful potential for human evolution and our future, one message emerges time and time again. A plant based diet is the most effective climate change solution we can all participate in right now. It is very hopeful to be a part of the growing global grassroots efforts to transform our planet and show our appreciation and love to our beloved Mother Earth.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful