Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating [Paperback]

Erik Marcus (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

In this book, you will find the latest information about how what you eat affects your health, the environment, and the existence of the animals who share this planet, along with in-depth discussions of ground-breaking work by these internationally respected experts: Heart specialist, Dean Ornish, M.D.; Nutrition scientist, T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.; Weight loss expert, Terry Shintani, M.D.; Farm Sanctuary founders, Gene and Lorri Bauston; Vegetarian nutritionist, Suzanne Havala, R.D.; Population analysis, David Pimentel, Ph.D.; Mad Cow disease expert, Stephen Dealler, M.D.; Rangeland activist, Lynn Jacobs.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A must-read. ...debunks the myth that animal products are a necessary part of the human diet... -- Kevin Nealon, actor, comedian

"Reading Erik Marcus' Vegan is a critical first step for anyone wanting to extend both the quality and length of their life... -- Howard Lyman, Director, Eating with a Conscience Campaign, Humane Society of the United States

"This book is a treasure. . . . By focusing on facts rather than ethics, Marcus makes his case even more convincing . . ." -- Natural Health Magazine

"Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating is a cogent and vitally important guide to the many reasons for adopting a vegan diet..." -- Neal Barnard, MD, President, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

About the Author

Erik Marcus is a writer and public speaker who is dedicated to the advocacy of vegan and vegetarian diets. He is a graduate of Columbia University, where he earned his master's degree in teaching writing. He lives in Cupertion, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: McBooks Press; 2nd edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0935526870
• ISBN-13: 978-0935526875
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 0.6 x 6.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #388,325 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

110 of 115 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Heal Body and Planet October 6, 2002

By J.W.K

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

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. Read more ›

54 of 56 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

Format:Paperback

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.

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hooray for Responsible Eaters! February 15, 2001

By A Customer

Format: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!

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A startling eye-opener!! May 18, 2002

By Yggdrasil

Format:Paperback

Erik Marcus, operator of Vegan.com (an excellent website, btw), reaches out to vegan and non-vegan alike with "Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating". As a previous vegeterian who still enjoyed ice cream and eggs, I thought that abstaining from meat still helped animals as well as my health. After reading this book, I can see my reasoning was flawed! The dairy and meat industries are closely linked.

For example, if you shy from meat but still drink milk, you're continuing the endless cycle of cows being impregnated (like other mammals, cows don't produce milk unless they give birth). The cows are then milked for it all (pun not intended!), and when they're worn out after a few years, their exhausted carcasses are sold to be ground up into low-grade fastfood hamburgers. But wait, what about all the calves being born so the cow produces that milk? Female babies replace their mothers for years of endless pregnancy, milking, and infection. The male calves, who have no use in the milk process, are stuffed into veal crates and fed an anemic diet of watered-down formula for their short lives ... before they're lead to the slaughterhouse.

Shocked? I know I was! I'd always disliked milk but loved ice cream (now, I enjoy Soy Delicious soy "ice cream" ... yummy!). Besides the ethics of eating these tortured animals, Marcus also points out the health aspects. Obesity, numberous cancers, heart attacks, angiograms, and many other diseases kill or severely limit the life quality of millions of Westerners. In Asian countries, where low-fat, plant-based diets are the norm, these diseases are virtually unheard of (and I'd like to point out that, at 19 years old, I no longer have perpetual headcolds or the baby fat from years of eating animal products).... Included in the book is a chapter on how the beef industry routinely grinds up cattle into "protein concentrates" to feed back to the herd (thus spawning Mad Cow) and how the dairy industry targets young children from the moment they step into a school with tales of "milk is great for you!!". Neither industry mentions that the animals (and thus their products) are pumped full of chemicals, so the paying customer is also ingesting the same! For example, chickens have been genetically modified to grow HUGE in a shorter amount of time than they did 25 years ago. After six weeks of age, 26 % of chickens die from heart attacks thanks to the chemicals and increased growth spurts, which explains why broiler hens are slaughtered before then. Do you really want to eat that??

Also included is a chapter on how cattle ranching is gobbling up America's natural terrain and that meat production contributes to world hunger (I believe the exact number was it takes the same amount of water and land to produce 16 pounds of grain as to make 1 pound of beef ... you can definitely feed more people with that much grain!! Contrast that to 1 pound of beef ... how many folks can you feed that to??).

So the book isn't totally filled by numbers and facts, Marcus smartly includes success stories: people who beat an unhealthy life through a switch to a vegan diet, tortured animals who escaped the slaughterhouse, and Marcus himself, who in the last chapter explains why he made the switch from omnivore to herbivore. It's a sweet, effective humanistic touch to a book that otherwise would be filled with a lot of disturbing data.

It's an excellent book, including a complete biblography in the back with all of Marcus' sources so you can check his information yourself. I wish it was pocket-sized so I can carry it everywhere (I practically do, anyway!) and I've already given copies to family and friends who've found the book just as startling as I did. No, the book doesn't include recipes (check out the "Vegeterian Italian Cookbook" or "Vegan Delights" for those!); this book's sole purpose, which it succeeds admirably at, is informing the public what's REALLY in our food and how it affects us and our planet. This book is very empowering so while the facts are frightening, I find it a light of hope. Read more ›