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leagueofrobots's review against another edition
4.0
I found the Ethical Carnivore troubling and inspiring in equal measure. I've seen videos of slaughterhouses but for some reason reading about Gray's visits turned my stomach. Just as she was unsure if she could visit another abattoir, I wasn't sure if I could turn the page to another scene of slaughter.
This isn't just a book about animal rights and the problems with our food chain, it's a book about reconnecting with nature. Gray's connection with the animals she hunts shows the human need for something deeper than plastic packaged chicken breasts from the supermarket and a wilting houseplant. Though I found the constant references to dinner parties a bit too British middle-class for my tastes.
Gray's prose is wonderful, I felt like I was walking in the woods alongside her, damp earth beneath our feet, all quiet until the crack of the gunshot. Her love of the British - especially Scottish - countryside is the best advert you could read for people who need a reason to holiday at home.
I worried at the beginning this book would be preachy, a bit 'holier-than-thou' like the stereotype of annoying vegans. Not so. Gray is grounded and lays out all the arguments for us to make decisions about whether to eat less meat and where to source it from. She won me over. I am much more wary at the supermarket, planning more trips to the butcher and eating less meat in general. The health-based evidence is clear, the animal rights evidence is clear, the planetary evidence is clear. Thank you, Louise Gray.
This isn't just a book about animal rights and the problems with our food chain, it's a book about reconnecting with nature. Gray's connection with the animals she hunts shows the human need for something deeper than plastic packaged chicken breasts from the supermarket and a wilting houseplant. Though I found the constant references to dinner parties a bit too British middle-class for my tastes.
Gray's prose is wonderful, I felt like I was walking in the woods alongside her, damp earth beneath our feet, all quiet until the crack of the gunshot. Her love of the British - especially Scottish - countryside is the best advert you could read for people who need a reason to holiday at home.
I worried at the beginning this book would be preachy, a bit 'holier-than-thou' like the stereotype of annoying vegans. Not so. Gray is grounded and lays out all the arguments for us to make decisions about whether to eat less meat and where to source it from. She won me over. I am much more wary at the supermarket, planning more trips to the butcher and eating less meat in general. The health-based evidence is clear, the animal rights evidence is clear, the planetary evidence is clear. Thank you, Louise Gray.
rose508's review against another edition
dark
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
old_tim's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting thoughtful look at meat and meat production. http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2017/02/if-loving-steak-is-wrong-i-dont-wanna.html
isering's review against another edition
4.0
This was quite an enjoyable ramble through different animals and ways of farming them. I came out feeling that unsurprisingly, factory farming was horrible (the experience traumatises her for months), shooting animals kind of okay and that with regards to fish it might be best to think about sustainability over sentiment (e.g. mussels - excellent to eat!). Because she avoids taking too strong a stance (although she does explain her position) I was left a bit "now what"-ish at the end but I preferred that.
kaydee's review against another edition
4.0
I read the first chapter of this and decided it wasn't for me (rabbit shooting a confronting way to kick things off if you a looking for an audience broader than your everyday omnivore) however for some reason I picked it up again a couple of weeks later and found it absolutely fascinating, although still very disturbing in parts.
An environmental journalist, Gray decides to spend a year only eating meat she has killed herself (or found, ie roadkill) while she investigates the ethical, social and environmental impacts of the west's high levels of meat consumption.
A good mix of investigation and personal experience this is an enlightening read and would be a good gateway (if you don't mind the UK bent) for those interested in the ethics of eating but who aren't quite ready for Singer levels of philosophising just yet.
An environmental journalist, Gray decides to spend a year only eating meat she has killed herself (or found, ie roadkill) while she investigates the ethical, social and environmental impacts of the west's high levels of meat consumption.
A good mix of investigation and personal experience this is an enlightening read and would be a good gateway (if you don't mind the UK bent) for those interested in the ethics of eating but who aren't quite ready for Singer levels of philosophising just yet.
lucytulloh's review against another edition
5.0
This is honest, well-researched, and thought-provoking non-fiction material about the vast industry that provides us with meat and fish. I had the opportunity just a few weeks ago to hear Gray speak about her time exclusively eating meat she'd killed herself, and was totally fascinated - if only by the practicalities! She said that she'd known eating less meat would ultimately be better for the planet, but she hadn't necessarily wanted to become a vegetarian, and that struck a chord with me. I bought the book that very same evening.
I'm a fairly unlikely candidate for becoming a veggie, and so I admit I was relieved to discover that Gray doesn't preach that you should. What she does do is present you with the current issues concerning our demand for meat and what it is doing to a) the animals, b) the environment and also c) the humans whose livelihoods depend on the industry. Gray patiently explains these issues without being too much of a cold hard statistician, instead embedding the facts and figures amongst her own personal experiences as a self-sufficient carnivore. She really holds nothing back on how she felt during her first experience in an abattoir, her first go at shooting a rabbit, her difficulty in stalking a deer, etc, and this makes all the difference, creating a real emotional connection with the reader and all the while imparting the important stuff. I'd sort of always thought, "Oh yeah, I could probably kill an animal to eat," but actually, I'm now not so certain. Apart from anything else, this is quite an uncomfortable uncovering of how removed we are from the process of how the things we eat actually end up on our plates. Perhaps meeting Gray and hearing her talk gave me a deeper insight into her experience, but the fact remains that her experiment and its findings resonated with me more far deeply than any documentary on climate change or animal rights has ever done. Indeed, I now feel pretty sure that I will be a much more conscious and, actually, infrequent consumer of meat. That's honestly without feeling like I'm losing anything from my lifestyle. I know!
Gray concludes that change in our eating habits is inevitable if we're to keep the biodiversity and general health of our planet and its inhabitants going. I'm inclined to agree! (...and not just because she signed my book.) Read it and decide for yourself - at the very least you'll enjoy her funny anecdotes and poetic descriptions of the British countryside, but hopefully you'll get much, much more out of it.
I'm a fairly unlikely candidate for becoming a veggie, and so I admit I was relieved to discover that Gray doesn't preach that you should. What she does do is present you with the current issues concerning our demand for meat and what it is doing to a) the animals, b) the environment and also c) the humans whose livelihoods depend on the industry. Gray patiently explains these issues without being too much of a cold hard statistician, instead embedding the facts and figures amongst her own personal experiences as a self-sufficient carnivore. She really holds nothing back on how she felt during her first experience in an abattoir, her first go at shooting a rabbit, her difficulty in stalking a deer, etc, and this makes all the difference, creating a real emotional connection with the reader and all the while imparting the important stuff. I'd sort of always thought, "Oh yeah, I could probably kill an animal to eat," but actually, I'm now not so certain. Apart from anything else, this is quite an uncomfortable uncovering of how removed we are from the process of how the things we eat actually end up on our plates. Perhaps meeting Gray and hearing her talk gave me a deeper insight into her experience, but the fact remains that her experiment and its findings resonated with me more far deeply than any documentary on climate change or animal rights has ever done. Indeed, I now feel pretty sure that I will be a much more conscious and, actually, infrequent consumer of meat. That's honestly without feeling like I'm losing anything from my lifestyle. I know!
Gray concludes that change in our eating habits is inevitable if we're to keep the biodiversity and general health of our planet and its inhabitants going. I'm inclined to agree! (...and not just because she signed my book.) Read it and decide for yourself - at the very least you'll enjoy her funny anecdotes and poetic descriptions of the British countryside, but hopefully you'll get much, much more out of it.
iamahmedkhalifa's review against another edition
4.0
Whether you are a meat-eater or not, it's important to know where your food is coming.
Even more important is to respect where it came and to do your best to care for the land that it came from.
Even more important is to respect where it came and to do your best to care for the land that it came from.
oliviaoverthinkseverything's review
5.0
I've always eaten meat, and probably always will--a farmer's daughter, through and through. However, I do feel that many of my fellow omnivores take the presence of meat on the dinner table for granted. We oftentimes don't think past the neat cellophane-wrapped packages we purchase at the supermarket, the ugly, sacrificial price of eating meat. Louise Gray tried to go vegetarian/vegan several times and usually stalled out, but this was still an issue she cared about gravely, so she decided to devise an experiment of sorts: for one year, she would only eat meat from animals she herself had killed. I found this book fascinating. The author and I have very different worldviews, so there were many times when I disagreed with her, but my respect for her never wavered. I admire her for sticking to her principles in ways that were inconvenient and upsetting.
As a Christian, I believe that animals are there for us to enjoy, but also that the act of killing to eat is a direct result of the Fall and that doing so does not relieve of us of our original job to take care of the animals placed in our care. Ethical treatment of animals being raised for meat, as well as the humane slaughter thereof, is imperative, and I hope that this book and others like it push the various industries at play into taking better care of the creatures in their charge. I definitely recommend this book.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
As a Christian, I believe that animals are there for us to enjoy, but also that the act of killing to eat is a direct result of the Fall and that doing so does not relieve of us of our original job to take care of the animals placed in our care. Ethical treatment of animals being raised for meat, as well as the humane slaughter thereof, is imperative, and I hope that this book and others like it push the various industries at play into taking better care of the creatures in their charge. I definitely recommend this book.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
sarahkomas's review
3.0
I’ve been wanting to read this book for ages and finally got it from the library. Really interesting book which presses all my buttons in terms of the very rational reasons why we should be eating less and better meat. Didn’t quite make me want to go hunting, but almost! Did make me think more about the fish that I sometimes eat. Very well worth reading v
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