The Ultimate Vegan Guide: Compassionate Living Without Sacrifice [Paperback]

Erik Marcus (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 18, 2008

YOU could be the world's next vegan. It's easy if you know how, and this uniquely helpful book tells you everything you need to know. Every topic related to vegan living is covered, including cooking, nutrition, food shopping, dining out, and much more. You'll get clear and straight-forward guidance from one of the world's most respected vegan authors. Going vegan is something you can easily accomplish; let The Ultimate Vegan Guide show you the way.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Thinking of going vegan? The Ultimate Vegan Guide has the information you need. Let Erik Marcus take you by the hand and show you the way. And to make an even bigger difference for animals, don't forget to read his far-sighted chapter on activism for animals. --Peter Singer, author, Animal Liberation

From the Publisher

A complete, current, and entertaining guide to becoming vegan.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (November 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1440464987
• ISBN-13: 978-1440464980
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,168,203 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I write about food politics and personal computing technology.

I devote most of my free time to hiking, ocean swimming, and camping. I also enjoy cooking, reading, Netflix, and a variety of outdoor activities.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Vegan Lifestyle 101 April 10, 2012

By David Hang

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is an excellent straight forward guide to those new to veganism (like myself). It's perfect in the sense, that it deals with the dietary and everyday aspects of adhering to a vegan diet; more so than the ethical and health reasons for becoming vegan initially (which he does deal with briefly in the beginning).

If one is looking for a book about the ethics and problems with modern factory farming and eating meat, then I suggest 'Eating Animals' by Jonathan Saffran-Foer. Or, if you're looking for a book detailing the health reasons, there is perhaps no more of a compelling book than 'The China Study' by Dr Colin Campbell and his son, and 'Eat to Live' by Dr Joel Fuhrman.

Like I said, the great thing about Erik's book, is the tidbits of information he provides regarding the everyday choices one faces, and the pitfalls to avoid whilst making this lifestyle change.

What puts most people off the notion of adhering to a vegan diet, is largely misinformation and not being well informed enough about what to do, and how to do it.

To be honest, initially, it won't be easy. We live in a world where everything is saturated with meat and animal products. Learning to avoid animal products initially is an exercise in sticktoitiveness. With time however, like all things, you'll become adept at it and won't give it a second thought.

If there is one piece of practical information that'll work wonders, in helping you stick to a vegan diet, it would be getting a hold of a few vegan cookbooks!

Whatever your reasons for wanting to become a vegan, this book will help you cross the chasm between theory and practical.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars good book April 10, 2012

By Louis M. Miller

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm halfway through the book The Ultimate Vegan Guide. I've been a junk food vegetarian for ten years, and this book is amazing. I think it might be ridiculous, almost, to compare it to Diet for a New America, but it is great! I got it with the Kindle App for Chrome, so it is really my first ebook purchase, and a steal at only $1. I'm glad I didn't have to spend money on the stupid Kindle. I'm a Linux user, and I don't like closed standards. I wonder if they will delete my review for criticizing the Kindle.

The book is like a good friend, who sits down with you for hours and patiently explains his hobby to you, helping you out with every detail, answering all your questions, listening to your fears, and telling you how he felt, with candor and sympathy and patience. I've never seen anything like it, before, and maybe I won't since. I enjoyed his other book Vegan: The new ethics of eating. In it, he came across as an intellectual, college educated and trying to prove a point and make a statement. With this book, it is like he is opening up much more and he comes across as a regular person, who has to shop and goes to restaurants and is disappointed with certain things and happy with other things. It is these little details that are missing from other vegan books. They are almost like they are written with a formula or an outline, rather than just written from the heart, so to speak.

I think this book may change my life. Being a vegetarian who eats whatever gunk is out there, and then moving towards eating healthy will be good. Also, there seems to be something in all the lousy vegetarian stuff I eat, the dairy and eggs that affects my mind and my mental state. It is like I feel safer eating vegan, though that seems like a strange thing to write.

The second thing that is amazing about his work, which is rare, is he addresses the contrast between being a vegetarian and being a vegan and why it is important to take that next step. I think that is something vegetarians need to learn about, then be reminded of.

70 of 88 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Beginners Guide to Being Vegan December 6, 2008

By Charles

Format:Paperback

The Ultimate Vegan Guide: Compassionate Living Without Sacrifice

Three months ago I was attending a professional conference at a university campus when a young man handed me a booklet titled "Even If You like Meat .. You Can Help End This Cruelty" from Vegan Outreach. The booklet had pictures and stories of factory farming and the cruelty and suffering that the animals are put through so we can eat them. It also gave suggestions to eat other foods and go vegetarian. I have to say that I've enjoyed my chicken in all forms, bacon, ham and beef in every fashion imaginable. However, after reading the booklet and doing some simple research online I decided that I wouldn't eat meat, eggs or dairy if the animals had to suffer. My innocent meat eating,egg and milk beliefs were shattered. I guess I thought those happy cows in California that talk were real. I didn't know much real dairy cows were suffering. It gives me the shivers every time I think about pigs being dropped into boiling water while still alive. The screams are echoing in my thoughts like a distant nightmare.

That was three months ago and I really wish that the Erik Marcus book "The Ultimate Vegan Guide" had been available as it would have saved me lots of money and time looking for information on how to get meat, dairy and eggs out of my diet. I bought and read "Becoming Vegan" by Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina but that book reads like a nutrition textbook full of scientific jargon and nutritional analysis. I felt frustrated on how to get started.

There are lots of websites, but the information is scattered and often on a specific topic. Like coming in mid conversation. So I bought a bunch of vegan cook books - thinking maybe I could learn about being vegan that way.

I wanted to get a good overview, what was this vegan thing all about, how do you get started, but the cook books only gave a few pages of intro and then listed ingredients and recipes, many of them with strange ingredients unfamiliar to me. The cook books assumed I had been vegan for years. How do I get started? Where do you get those ingredients and what if I don't have time to cook?

Finally I found this book and it set me straight. It gives great advice on how to get started. It covers what being vegan is all about, what to do and what to avoid. Forget doing like I did and bookmarking over 100 different vegan websites. The author points out the best sites on the web. He takes his twenty years of being vegan and lays out a plan for beginners like me. He gives great suggestions on how and what food to buy, where to buy it, and what cook books (just two or three) to get started. How to eat vegan if you don't cook all the time, how to get adequate nutrition. And most important for me, all the justifications and logical reasons from health to reducing cruelty to phase into a vegan lifestyle. Erik Markus clearly explains what to do and why you would want to do so. He lays out a very sensible plan for adopting vegan eating habits.

I think this is a great book for everyone to read, even if you think you will never give up meat,dairy and eggs. He has great suggestions for removing some of those from your diet. I hope lots of people read it. The book reads very easily without technical jargon and is a perfect guide for anyone even slightly interested and will get you started on the right foot.