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172 reviews for:
Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals
Hal Herzog
3.78 AVERAGE
172 reviews for:
Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals
Hal Herzog
3.78 AVERAGE
I liked this book a lot more than I expected to (it wasn’t some treatise on how people who eat meat are evil or anything) and there were a lot of really great insights as well as just fun facts and fascinating accounts about bizarre things I knew nothing about (like Appalachian cockfighting).
Highly recommend. It’s very fair and measured and will NOT make you feel too guilty about your leather watchband or your burger. Probably. Maybe. Yeah I’m gonna go with probably.
Highly recommend. It’s very fair and measured and will NOT make you feel too guilty about your leather watchband or your burger. Probably. Maybe. Yeah I’m gonna go with probably.
This is an interesting little book exploring the relationships between humans and animals, and the hypocritical behavior that is unavoidable in anyone who tries to care for animals. Why do we feed mice to snakes, but not kittens? Why do cockfighters love their birds, but sentence them to death? How did humans come to have pets?
The book doesn't have a ton of answers, it is content with raising the questions and telling the stories of people whose lives revolve around animals: from animal rights activists to meat farmers. Overall, I found it an enjoyable read.
The book doesn't have a ton of answers, it is content with raising the questions and telling the stories of people whose lives revolve around animals: from animal rights activists to meat farmers. Overall, I found it an enjoyable read.
So this was a weird one for me. I initially looked into getting this book because I thought it was a vegan book (it's not). I decided to read it anyways and it had some good, bad, gross, and somewhat annoying parts.
I can't say it was bad just because I disagree with a lot of it. Facts are facts, and opinion are opinions!
I can't say it was bad just because I disagree with a lot of it. Facts are facts, and opinion are opinions!
Hal Herzog's book is filled with anecdotes, most of them personal, regarding animals that we love, hate and eat. He has exhaustively researched his topic, both intentionally and just through living life.
I was drawn to the book since 20 years ago, I was a staunch defender of animal rights myself. It didn't go as far as throwing blood at people wearing fur, or protesting outside the Capital for animal rights. But I must admit, it was a passionate belief of mine that we must treat animals well, as how we treat animals (and the young and elderly, basically, those unable to fight for themselves)reflects how we treat human beings in a society. And to some extent, I still believe that. Much like Herzog, however, I never went so far as to become vegan. Why? Because as Herzog points out, in today's society, it is almost impossible. But there is a more moderate view, which is the one Herzog is presenting for the reader in his book.
I had a hard time with this book, though. While the writing was okay (not great, not terrible....), the exhaustive anecdotes and accompanying viewpoints and reflections wore me down. The structure of the book never varied, which is to be expected, but it became wearing upon this reader. I just couldn't embrace the style of Herzog presenting a never ending list of talking to people from every employment field and walk of life about their experiences with animals; whether it was rats or fighting roosters. I have never found myself so wishing for an actual expert opinion in a book like this before--not to say there weren't any, but this book is truly about Herzog (as an American 'Everyman') and his experience researching this book! He totally lost me with the cock fighting. It simply wasn't interesting enough to really hold my interest. Maybe this is a book for a man, or a PETA member, or someone who(still )passionately embraces animal rights (although that is not the view Herzog takes), but he just wasn't able to truly engage me in this story. Although I really wanted to be.
This isn't a bad book. I'm sure it hit the mark with many readers. It just wasn't the book for me.
I was drawn to the book since 20 years ago, I was a staunch defender of animal rights myself. It didn't go as far as throwing blood at people wearing fur, or protesting outside the Capital for animal rights. But I must admit, it was a passionate belief of mine that we must treat animals well, as how we treat animals (and the young and elderly, basically, those unable to fight for themselves)reflects how we treat human beings in a society. And to some extent, I still believe that. Much like Herzog, however, I never went so far as to become vegan. Why? Because as Herzog points out, in today's society, it is almost impossible. But there is a more moderate view, which is the one Herzog is presenting for the reader in his book.
I had a hard time with this book, though. While the writing was okay (not great, not terrible....), the exhaustive anecdotes and accompanying viewpoints and reflections wore me down. The structure of the book never varied, which is to be expected, but it became wearing upon this reader. I just couldn't embrace the style of Herzog presenting a never ending list of talking to people from every employment field and walk of life about their experiences with animals; whether it was rats or fighting roosters. I have never found myself so wishing for an actual expert opinion in a book like this before--not to say there weren't any, but this book is truly about Herzog (as an American 'Everyman') and his experience researching this book! He totally lost me with the cock fighting. It simply wasn't interesting enough to really hold my interest. Maybe this is a book for a man, or a PETA member, or someone who(still )passionately embraces animal rights (although that is not the view Herzog takes), but he just wasn't able to truly engage me in this story. Although I really wanted to be.
This isn't a bad book. I'm sure it hit the mark with many readers. It just wasn't the book for me.
This was a super compelling examination of the paradoxes associated with how we treat animals - as a source of companionship, food, clothes, fun. It reminded me of Malcolm Gladwell: a successful mélange of anecdotal and scientific evidence that made arcane studies in anthropology, zoology, sociology, psychology, and anthrozoology lucid.
Eh. This wasn’t a terribly written book, but the research (if you can even call it that) was really shoddy and lacking real substance. More importantly, the format of this book—a bunch of brief “essays” strung together in a really incohesive way—made it difficult for me to sink my teeth into anything. The author would’ve been much better served to select a few of these stories to really flesh out—giving the reader a “character” or two to invest in—instead of these rather banal fleeting thoughts, opinions, and feelings.
I've reached that point in life where I just cannot force myself to finish crappy books. I used to try to get to the end just to make sure I had a well-rounded review. But this pile of steaming bull dung is something that I refuse to wade through any longer.
Herzog is a psychologist and anthrozoologist who is going to take the reader through some ambiguous territory in regards to animals. Why do we love, hate, and eat some animals (right there in the title!) and moreover, how can you love animals but still eat meat? Why don't you want to do experiments on mice in labs, yet call the exterminator if there is a mouse in your house? The description of this book had me hooked and I grabbed the audio version from the local library.
What you end up with is Herzog trying to walk the middle-of-the-road on all of these debates. Animal experiments are generally frowned upon, but if one were being done to test a cancer drug that could cure cancer, well maybe then a few mice should be sacrificed. We should probably reduce the amount of meat we eat, switch to healthily raised meat, but the truth is the world will likely always eat meat. I'm fine with these middle ground analyses. I think most of his middle analyses are founded in human nature, reflect cultural differences, etc.
So why one star?
Because in certain areas Herzog tries to justify things that he should actually be pretty firm on and condemn. At one point he is discussing the myth that all serial killers started their violence by maiming animals. This is a myth and doesn't fit all serial killers. Rather than continue to say any torture of animals is wrong ... the author (in summary) insists that some torture of animals is normal for different children. Blowing up a bullfrog is natural, a curiosity, exploring one's world, a childhood right of passage .... NO.
He suggests that if we keep spaying/neutering dogs and cats eventually there will be no dogs/cats for us to have as pets. Wait a damn minute. Animals at shelters are dying by the thousands each day -- spaying and neutering is one of the only proven ways to reduce unwanted pet populations. There are many verified, honorable breeders of dogs and cats out there (look up the AKC breeder registry, for example, and you can find plenty of purebred dogs there which are not made in puppy mills). For any rational person to start suggesting we shouldn't spay/neuter.... NO.
The research is shoddy. Citing small studies (and sometimes adapting those studies to fit his goals but I think perhaps he's summarizing them incorrectly, or only pointing to a small study that is actually a quite bigger analysis he's only using part of). By the middle of the book you're getting the feeling that "our relationship with animals is complicated." That's in the title. We all know that. Telling us again and again "it is complicated" isn't anything breathtaking... we all knew that already when we picked up this book looking for more answers, or at least a deeper answer an analysis.
Overall.... a snooze fest surrounded by lunacy in some of its claims.
As Bob Barker would say, please remember to spay and neuter your pets!
Herzog is a psychologist and anthrozoologist who is going to take the reader through some ambiguous territory in regards to animals. Why do we love, hate, and eat some animals (right there in the title!) and moreover, how can you love animals but still eat meat? Why don't you want to do experiments on mice in labs, yet call the exterminator if there is a mouse in your house? The description of this book had me hooked and I grabbed the audio version from the local library.
What you end up with is Herzog trying to walk the middle-of-the-road on all of these debates. Animal experiments are generally frowned upon, but if one were being done to test a cancer drug that could cure cancer, well maybe then a few mice should be sacrificed. We should probably reduce the amount of meat we eat, switch to healthily raised meat, but the truth is the world will likely always eat meat. I'm fine with these middle ground analyses. I think most of his middle analyses are founded in human nature, reflect cultural differences, etc.
So why one star?
Because in certain areas Herzog tries to justify things that he should actually be pretty firm on and condemn. At one point he is discussing the myth that all serial killers started their violence by maiming animals. This is a myth and doesn't fit all serial killers. Rather than continue to say any torture of animals is wrong ... the author (in summary) insists that some torture of animals is normal for different children. Blowing up a bullfrog is natural, a curiosity, exploring one's world, a childhood right of passage .... NO.
He suggests that if we keep spaying/neutering dogs and cats eventually there will be no dogs/cats for us to have as pets. Wait a damn minute. Animals at shelters are dying by the thousands each day -- spaying and neutering is one of the only proven ways to reduce unwanted pet populations. There are many verified, honorable breeders of dogs and cats out there (look up the AKC breeder registry, for example, and you can find plenty of purebred dogs there which are not made in puppy mills). For any rational person to start suggesting we shouldn't spay/neuter.... NO.
The research is shoddy. Citing small studies (and sometimes adapting those studies to fit his goals but I think perhaps he's summarizing them incorrectly, or only pointing to a small study that is actually a quite bigger analysis he's only using part of). By the middle of the book you're getting the feeling that "our relationship with animals is complicated." That's in the title. We all know that. Telling us again and again "it is complicated" isn't anything breathtaking... we all knew that already when we picked up this book looking for more answers, or at least a deeper answer an analysis.
Overall.... a snooze fest surrounded by lunacy in some of its claims.
As Bob Barker would say, please remember to spay and neuter your pets!
Really fascinating book. Our relationships with animals are so paradoxical and culture driven. Not only did I learn a lot (love when sciencey things are framed through a historical lense) but it also made me think. Didn’t really change my perspective on things, if anything I feel almost more comfortable in my contradictory feelings about animals.
a lively and lighthearted interrogation of animal-human ethics
as advertised
plane book
as advertised
plane book
This should have been right you my alley, but frankly I didn't find it all that engaging.