Animal Liberation

I was a bit hesitant to read a 40 year old book on the subject of animal liberation, even knowing it was a classic and seminal work. It holds up, Singer's arguments are persuasive and compelling.
My main complaint- why I'm not giving it 4 stars, I read the 2009 edition but it really felt like no substantial updates had been made since the 1990 edition. Singer frequently talks about progress made in the late 80s, new developments in the last 15 years (since the book was published), etc, but little to nothing is said about what happened between 1990 and 2009. The basic premise still holds true and the arguments are valuable but I wish the figures were a bit more up to date.

This classic makes its case in excruciating and stomach-turning detail, which of course is its intent. Piling on the data may be more persuasive than the mere logic behind the argument for veganism. Essentially, that's the conclusion the book comes to, and I have to say I am convinced. Whether I can put the conclusion into practice is another story.

A book that “ought” to be read if interested in vegetarianism for any reason, because it's a bit of a landmark, no matter how one might feel about Singer. I'd say he develops his points pretty thoroughly, but there are some places where I think he takes his conclusion for granted (mainly w/r/t ‘hypocrisy' and species/sex/race-ism). I find the “interests” argument pretty compelling. However, I started reading this already mostly-convinced, so I can't really speak to the conversion power of this book.

●○ Animal ●○ - a living organism that feeds on organic matter, typically having specialized sense organs and nervous system and able to respond rapidly to stimuli.
●○ Liberation ●○ - freedom from limits on thought or behavior.

This book focuses on the treatment of animals, the processes of factory farming, product testing, and touches on their philosophical history. If you are so inclined to read it, know that it is pretty heavy material. Material we should all know about, but extremely graphic in its own right. This isn't really the place to have a full on conversation about the issues brought up in this book, but they are extremely important and I will be mulling them over in mind for a very, very long time.

For the past five years, I have been transitioning to a plant based diet and will be fully in by the end of this year. The reason I bring this up is because I have a hard time explaining my reasons to friends and family in a way that helps them understand. Now, I'll just point them to this informative book.

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