108 of 112 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heal Body and Planet, October 6, 2002
This review is from: Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating (Paperback)
Erik Marcus has done a masterful job of introducing non-vegans to the vegan perspective. Along with John Robbins' The Food Revolution (which I also highly recommend), there is no better book on the subject. After reading both books, I have decided to become a vegan. It's healthy, ecological, and much kinder toward animals. That said, you need only care about one of the above to make the single most important change in your life. Allow me to begin with some facts: 1) A vegan diet can reduce the risk of heart disease to nearly zero. 2) Vegans have half the chance of getting cancer as meat and dairy eaters. 3) Vegans do not die from Mad Cows disease. 4) The meat industry teats animals so horribly I had to skip over that section in the book. Note that vegan diets do not harm animals at all. 5) 40,000 children die each day, mostly from starvation or hunger-related disease. 6) The entire world could be fed on a vegan diet; instead, we run our grain through cattle and sell it off to the rich. 7) Vegan diets consume much less of the earth's resources: less water, grain, and energy. 8) American rangeland is an ecological moonscape. Although by not means a rigorously proven scientific fact, it should also be noted that many vegans report increased energy levels, better brain functioning, higher self-esteem, and increased resistance to disease and colds after making the dietary switch. The author asks, "Is it reasonable to assume that the human brain...functions identically no matter how it is nourished? Is it logical that a diet of beef and chicken and ice cream will produce the same thoughts and emotions as a diet of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains?" As scientists learn more and more about the nutritional and healing powers of fruits and vegetables, we are gaining a better understanding of the relationship between diet and physical and mental health. In any event, there is a long list of great vegetarians that point toward this relationship: including Leonardo Da Vinci, George Bernard Shaw, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Mahatma Gandhi, Leo Tolstoy, and so on. Some of the most intelligent and kind-hearted people in the world were vegetarians before the -ism was even born. They intuitively grasped the relationship between a plant-based diet and health, and recognized the need to act compassionatley toward animals. A very disarming book, the author's writing style is easy-going and matter-of-fact, affecting a clear, earnest, scientific tone. The preface was even written by former rancher/300lb. football player turned vegan, Howard Lyman, who's story will move you. After meeting him, you be introduced to doctors, nutritional biochemist, epidemiologists, and ecologists who have discovered many objective reasons to make a leap of dietary faith. I cannot over-recommend this book. While you are at it, pick up a copy of The Food Revolution. Read them both, and then pass them on. Just as the cover promises, reading and internalizing this book is the surest way to heal our planet and your body.
Two birds, one stone. Give it a shot.
j.w.k.
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52 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I'm sending this book to all my meat-eating friends/family, May 6, 1999
By A Customer
I've been a vegetarian for about three years now and am just beginning to switch to a completely vegan diet. Not only has this book reaffirmed my decision but it has convinced me that I need to make a much stronger effort to educate my meat-eating friends and family about why they too should consider eliminating animal products from their diet. I'm going to begin by sending a copy of this book to all of them. Marcus delivers the message about the drawbacks and dangers of eating meat in a non-inflammatory but nonetheless imperative manner that even the most die-hard meat-eaters will find hard to ignore. In particular, I think Marcus was wise to spend the first several chapters of the book focusing on the medical problems associated with eating meat and the powerful healing effect of switching to a vegan diet. Although I believe concern for the environment and animal welfare are equally good reasons to go vegan, I appreciate the fact that diving right into those arguments can turn some people off. When Marcus does bring up those issues, he does so tactfully but without losing any of the poignancy needed to make people understand why the institutional slaughter of animals is so horrific.
This is a very important book because it has the power to help those of us who are already vegetarians explain to the people we love why they should become vegetarians too.
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34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hooray for Responsible Eaters!, February 15, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating (Paperback)
This is a fantastic book that gives a persuasive case for vegetarianism. The only books out there that are better are Kerry Walters's Ethical Vegetarianism from Pythagoras to Peter Singer and Mary Moore Lappe's Diet for a Small Planet. You can quit eating meat for health reasons, but the bottom line is that carnivorism inflicts suffering and death on innocent creatures. Read Marcus, Walters, Lappe, and others, and go veggie!
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