His book definitely makes the battle lines clear – but the 99.9% issue is a very important one, that, he points out, essentially necessitates a genuine rethinking of how we conceive of, and treat, non-human animals.

My own values in this regard are more unconventional, I acknowledge. I just hope his book spurs more discussion and research.

And KFC: the laundry list of sickening practices becomes longer every day…It’s rather difficult to imagine. And that “difficult to imagine” part is, I think, what forces people to turn a blind eye to ALL of these issues, so often.

FYI, I heard JSF interviewed on Brian Leher this morning (for non-NYers, he has a talk show on WNYC). He stressed that his battle is with factory farms, not with sustainable, local farms. But he acknowledged that 99.9% of the world’s meat comes from factory farms so that is where the story needs to be told. He even talked about the values overlap between vegans and those who only eat meat products from farms they know and visit. He was clear: No supermarket meat, no restaurant meat, and watch out for marketing nonesense like KFC having a board to protect animal rights when those sitting are the board overseeing practices are the very same suppliers processing 1 billion chickens a year to KFC. Yuck.

While I’m with those who would want genuinely local, sustainable to be college students’ aspirational identity, vegetarian is a good start in getting people not to buy supermarket meat. And a little agreement is always better than none. I’m looking forward to his story.

That said, if people read the book and start asking questions, read more (Gary Francione’s work, in my opinion, is the definitive guide to animal rights), then I can’t complain.

I’ll be giving the book to a few family members who’ve found other books “too dense” and then talking to them about the content and the ideas. I think the discussion post-read is actually more important than the actual reading.

Well done on pushing Safron Foer a bit. I have not read his book yet, but I imagine that it is an important work in the direction of changing people’s minds about consuming meat. I am not a vegetarian, and so I may be guilty of being a hypocrite, but i do believe that one of the best ways to get people to listen to a message is by speaking to them with a concerned voice one can relate to, i.e. that of a father. It tends to go down better than messages associated with specific political or biased associations, which can make people pull back.

Before reading the first review my hopes were to give the book to a few select friends & family, that are not vegan, so they could get a better understanding of the world around them. I read N.Portman’s review and thought maybe the book might go too far. I don’t want to turn people off and I really want them to read the book (and think about what they are reading).

I think the true hard facts are too “hard” for people to grasp and it just gets their guard up (heck, me being vegan pisses people off, go figure) This sounds like it might just be enough info, and done in the right way, to not turn people off.
I’m eager to read it and hopefully give it to a few family members at xmas.

Remember….slow and steady wins the race