Scan barcode
dgonzo's review against another edition
2.0
2.5. This is an important book and definitely not a fun one to read, however, that’s not why my opinion of it suffered. The arguments made here are again important, confronting in a way that truly does make you think about how your individual actions impacts the collective or at least all of that is true for about 60% of the book if it had stopped there this would’ve been a 4- 5 star read. Instead it devolves into a hypothetical conversation with himself restating the same things over and over again in a way that takes away from the initial well crafted argument, when I finished the book instead of thinking about my impact on the world I was thinking about how awful the last half of the book was and in my opinion that self indulgence hurts the message and purpose of the book.
victoriadiesattheend's review against another edition
4.0
I find it hard to rate non-fiction but this was just good, I highlighted and annotated a bunch. I mean it was just a book about the fate of our planet and climate doom. It was sad and depressing but also inspiring and re-affirming. The whole point of the book was that humans need to eat less animal products and he even highlighted his own hypocrisy and shortcomings, but he managed to make the short book about a lot more than that.
I find I need to remind myself the earth is dying or else I get lazy with my ethics, we tend to not see what we ignore or tend to think it will all go away, that some smart scientist will invent something that will save us all soon enough. Reading this helped and outside of feeling doomed made me feel more inspired.
Love this author’s writing so I really want to read his fiction works soon :)
I find I need to remind myself the earth is dying or else I get lazy with my ethics, we tend to not see what we ignore or tend to think it will all go away, that some smart scientist will invent something that will save us all soon enough. Reading this helped and outside of feeling doomed made me feel more inspired.
Love this author’s writing so I really want to read his fiction works soon :)
xjoanacoelho's review against another edition
4.0
An utterly important reading mainly because it focuses in our inabilty to act despite of being aware of the tragic state of the planet. It trys to explain why is this so while giving proper insights and information that should, by itself, be enough for each of us to change our behaviours.
bookishnewfie's review against another edition
3.0
An essential message,but the authors admitted inability to take full responsibility for the very thing he is writing about.. bs. I’m sorry sir but not being fully vegan just because you like the taste of meat and crave it from childhood is bs. If you care enough about the cause it’s a no brainer. I feel like In saying these things he hopes to write a book that will not make people feel attacked or guilty for putting their taste buds over the environment and animal welfare,but for a vegan reading this, it just made me lose respect for you mr writer.
cyntismiles's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
I found this book more philosophically interesting than anything else. I listened to the audiobook so there could be footnotes etc in the book but from my perspective, it wasn't super fact based. The book more asks what we owe each other in the climate crisis and why we aren't currently taking collective action against the climate crisis via our food.
The book kind of assumes that we take it on faith that vegan or vegan-ish diets are more environmentally friendly than eating meat. The books main argument is that if we all (or most of us) eat vegan breakfast and lunch, it would significantly reduce our environmental impact.
Because of this, I think this book is most valuable for people who want to be vegetarian/vegan but are having trouble making the leap. It doesn't provide practical tips (nor do I think that was the books aim) but a lot of food for thought.
Being fresh off of reading Factfulness, I found the book interesting but wished there was a little more data/more guidence in actionable items. In my opinion, switching to full vegan (except for dinners) is not an easy, quick switch and even if I agree with the author or find their discussion interesting, I think it misses a number if reasons that people dont switch to veganism. It was an interesting thinkpiece but ultimatley read like a long opinion piece rather than informative nonfiction.
The book kind of assumes that we take it on faith that vegan or vegan-ish diets are more environmentally friendly than eating meat. The books main argument is that if we all (or most of us) eat vegan breakfast and lunch, it would significantly reduce our environmental impact.
Because of this, I think this book is most valuable for people who want to be vegetarian/vegan but are having trouble making the leap. It doesn't provide practical tips (nor do I think that was the books aim) but a lot of food for thought.
Being fresh off of reading Factfulness, I found the book interesting but wished there was a little more data/more guidence in actionable items. In my opinion, switching to full vegan (except for dinners) is not an easy, quick switch and even if I agree with the author or find their discussion interesting, I think it misses a number if reasons that people dont switch to veganism. It was an interesting thinkpiece but ultimatley read like a long opinion piece rather than informative nonfiction.
mrs_bonaventure's review against another edition
4.0
Oh God this is depressing. But motivating. It’s hard to read. Not just because of the subject but because the author uses the metaphor/ comparator of World War Two and specifically the Holocaust to create a sense of urgency. It does work, but it’s convoluted. The basic logic is that back in 1935 or so, some of the Jewish community could see the danger and so acted to save themselves and/ or their families, despite the threat being at that time somewhat distant and hard to predict - but their action turned out to be right. He also uses the idea of collective sacrifice in WW2 as something people can relate to - there was something people needed to rally behind and they did, even though for most Americans who weren’t deployed to war zones, the threat was far away and intangible. So it should be with climate change (although one could argue it is happening already, it’s just that the more privileged you are the more you are insulated from it). And the urgency is used to say to everyone that the simplest thing you can do is to stop eating meat and dairy (there is a chapter in the middle with the hard facts).
So. Another book that convincingly tells us to change our ways. As someone who has been vegetarian for two years for climate reasons, I’m now looking for dairy/ cheese substitutes, and wondering what it will take to convince the majority of the population.
So. Another book that convincingly tells us to change our ways. As someone who has been vegetarian for two years for climate reasons, I’m now looking for dairy/ cheese substitutes, and wondering what it will take to convince the majority of the population.