WOW! This book totally blew me away. Sure, it's not like I was unaware of the problems of factory farming. I've read Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser, John Robbins and Carol J. Adams. But Safran Foer's eloquence and message ultimately made this book rise to, perhaps, my favorite book about food. It's easily the best book I've read all year.

One thing that I really loved about this book is that it brings to light all of the little things that annoyed me about The Omnivore's Dilemma that ...more WOW! This book totally blew me away. Sure, it's not like I was unaware of the problems of factory farming. I've read Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser, John Robbins and Carol J. Adams. But Safran Foer's eloquence and message ultimately made this book rise to, perhaps, my favorite book about food. It's easily the best book I've read all year.

One thing that I really loved about this book is that it brings to light all of the little things that annoyed me about The Omnivore's Dilemma that I couldn't really put my finger on at the time. I obviously disagreed with Pollan's decision not to advocate for (or become) vegetarian in light of all that he knew about factory farming, but Safran Foer is able to really poke into all of Pollan's moral holes and really bring them into the light.

The most exciting thing about this book, for me, is how many people have read, are reading or are going to read it. I had to wait at least a month to get my library copy as at least 200 people were ahead of me in the queue to read one of the 57 copies (there are an additional 26 copies at another local library system). There are another 200 people waiting in the queue behind me. If this book encourages even 10% of these people to change the way that they eat, then that is outstanding. If they decide to go vegetarian or vegan, even better.

Throughout the book, Safran Foer does expose gruesome things about factory farming, so don't read this book without expecting some nausea or chills of disgust from time to time. (I have read about animal abuse in many books and it still makes me feel sick.) He exposes the fallacy of a lot of arguments against vegetarianism or for factory farming. Brace yourself, because you are going to have to think about some disturbing aspects of your diet, if you currently eat meat. But throughout the book, Safran Foer doesn't evangelize. He just lays it out there and lets the reader come to her own conclusion.

I love how honest Safran Foer is about meat eating. He recognizes that 99% of the meat produced today comes from a factory farm, and acknowledges that even if we would like some ideal world where animals are raised humanely and then slaughtered in a way that brings the least amount of suffering to the animal as possible, continuing to support factory farms by eating meat is just not going to cut it morally. ( )

Read Vittles Vamp's review of Jonathan Safran Foer's "Eating Animals" on The Book Studio.

The first chapter reads like an update to A Modest Proposal; where instead of focusing simply on economics the author also comments on ethics and environmentalism. It's a very well-written book on the subject which elucidates some common ideals behind vegetarianism.

Everyone should read this book. Vegan, vegetarian, omniovore, carnivore - everyone. If you eat, you should read this.

I've read many books on the subject of factory farms, our health, and the food we eat. This one is by far the best. Foer didn't start out as an activist or even a vegetarian. He began researching this book because he was about to become a father and wanted to make the best and healthiest choices for his son. Because he had no preconceptions or agenda, the book is all the more honest and thought-provoking.

Many of my omnivorous friends have told me that they don't want to read this book. They don't want to know how their food is treated before it becomes their food because it's too appalling for them to handle. They don't want to consider that by purchasing factory farmed meat, they are supporting the very methods that they find so appalling.

The food we feed ourselves and our family each day is one of the most important choices we will ever make. Yet most of us know far more about the manufacturers of our TVs than of our food.

As consumers, our choices drive the market. If you purchase factory farmed meat (which is almost all meat, unless you are actively seeking alternatives), then you are supporting an industry responsible for horrific animal abuse, a major contributor to global warming and pollution, and the biggest reason for antibiotic resistance and new, dangerous viruses. The government regulation in these places is slim to none. And none of this will change unless and until the consumers make the demand.