Meatonomics: How the Rigged Economics of Meat and Dairy Make You Consume Too Much―and How to Eat Better, Live Longer, and Spend Smarter (Men Birthday Gift, for Readers of Comfortably Unaware)

[This review is copied directly from my review of Greta Thunberg's, The Climate Book, to which I added an editorial update today,3/30/23, having now gotten well into reading this book, Meatonomics, by David R. Simon. At a little past 6/10s of this review, my review of David's book proper begins. But both parts are to be taken as a whole.]I am only up to page 50 of 436, as I write this. But with some 85 essays written by legitimate climate authorities, and each section punctuated with one of 18 rallying-calls written by Greta, '"telling it like it is," this is a book we need to read slowly, like a new standard edition of the bible.With due respect for the effort required then, and intending to leave no leaf unturned, I checked with Amazon about the page margins. According to the Amazon fellow I spoke to, who was talking to me from South Africa, nobody has yet said anything about them. See the image of an open book attached to this review. What you will see, and throughout the book, is that every even-numbered page has its margins skewed to the right. A pointed statement calling out the reason why our world is in so much trouble?In any event, the left margin is 1 1/2 inches from the left side of the page. The right margin is a little less than 1/4 inch from the seam, so close to the seam that you have to make considerable effort to keep the right edge of the text in view where you can read it. The fellow from South Africa and I, all we could think, is that this was not likely just a bookbinder’s oversight. But seems more to be perhaps a nicely suggestive way to say that this book is meant to ‘put us on edge,’ nevertheless. That we might be provoked to take action! That we must pay greater attention now to what’s really going on as far as the climate is concerned, and in fact to everything else that is connected to it. Also as the book cover graphically suggests, with its red-hot letters perilously close to the right edge, or perhaps just one step further and we’re at ‘no man’s land?’ Where all life on earth could disappear, all burned up, and every species gone extinct?Yet, not to fret. We’ve got this. All we need do is to summon up our best selves, wherever we may have misplaced them, shake ourselves into waking mode, read this most important book cover-to-cover, and make every effort humanly possible to save this planet, and all our lives living on it. Call this God’s will, and this book our newly revised ‘climate bible,’ and we wouldn’t be wrong. As let’s say, maybe this is the way His kingdom is supposed to come. And our world finally owned by everyone.I cannot recommend this book more highly. Share it with everyone you know.I would only add, at this late date (3/30/23) beyond having read The Climate Book about a month ago, and based on my further reading so far up to page134 in another great book, Meatonomics (2013) by David R. Simon, that Greta could have gone further. I have counted in the index at the end of her book, only eight citations referring to the plant-based diet that several of her contributors and she mention as important, but it would seem only in passing. While in Simon's book, the underlying problem with our climate is clearly, and with his lawyer’s hand, shown to be all about the impact of animal agriculture that has morphed into a monster sickness affecting all aspects of our daily lives and society.Though the USA is the home of the "American dream," as we are seeing, it has fast turned into our "worst nightmare," well on its way to upsetting the whole world with its same sickness, its penchant for animal agriculture gone wild with factory farming (CAFOs) and its shameless, shady politics so far kept out the public’s eye. While all along, the perfect solution, as Simon and many others have effectively proved, is for us all to just stop buying and consuming meat, dairy, cheese, eggs, even fish, all animal products of any kind. The science has been known for decades that plants, plus a Vitamin B-12 supplement and flaxseed meal for you Omega 3s, have all the protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals that we need to live supremely healthy, productive lives. That, as we switch to an exclusively plant-based, organic diet, as I did eight years ago, the rest of the world around us will relax, with more than plenty of nutritious plant-based foods to go around, as everyone quietly wakes up into a brand new day, living life on our earth as it is absolutely meant to be lived.

I want to start by saying that I was an omnivore for most of my life. I was born and raised in the US Heartland. (Iowa, to be specific.) For a long time I thought the issue of eating meat was simply an issue of ethics and morals. Consequently, I had no problem consuming meat and dairy because, in principle, it seemed entirely ethical. And I thought, incorrectly, that the industrialized reality of the industry was much, much smaller than the 99 percent it actually is. I personally know small families that have their own cows, chickens, and hogs. It can't be that bad, can it?Man, I have never been so wrong and had my moral core so shattered than when I stumbled upon the truth."Stumbled" is the perfect word in this instance. Like a growing number of people lately, I've been trying to keep myself informed on whatever I can. This has been a burgeoning effort on my part in recent years because, like many Americans, I find myself becoming more and more disillusioned with my government's ability to actually govern effectively. Then, in a surprising turn some several months back, I found myself falling over article after article and study after study about the catastrophically terrible model of the meat and dairy industries. It seems this is true the world over, but the US is on an entirely other level of corrupt, so bad that it must be put in a category all its own.After a couple of months of finding nothing but heart-wrenching data about how bad this industry is, I decided that I would no longer participate, at least on the retail side. (Unfortunately, my tax dollars still go to this government-sponsored disaster.) I no longer consume meat or dairy, and while I don't aggressively encourage others to do so, I have tried to inform those who ask (people who have known me all my life and would thus notice such a drastic change) and have certainly reaped some immediate benefits, including lowering my food expenditure and improving my health.The reason I mention any of this is because Meatonomics serves as a very handy, one-stop shop when it comes to this issue. Simon, a lawyer, is incredibly thorough in his findings and provides a bevy of sources that would make an encyclopedia blush. It was exactly the thing I was looking for to bring everything together. It no doubt took a great effort to write, and I will be sharing it with everyone I know since it serves as the succinct catalog of information that I had been looking for.The good news is that, as stark as the situation is currently, we CAN change it, and Simon does a good job outlining alternatives and what you can do. This is a book that every American should have to read. Don't be afraid of your ignorance, and don't be afraid of Big Business that tries to jam consumerism down your throat; this book is well worth your time. I only wish I had come across something like this years ago.

Full of interesting info. Perfect for people who want to wake up and stop pretending killing animals is ok

I wish stuff like this was more widely available to the public. This is an important read and unfortunately not enough people are going to read this.

eye opening, and about time somebody said it - we eat way too much meat!

Backs up Cowspiracy numbers very well. Researched and written by a lawyer. Thank you for this very important work.

Everyone needs to read this book to understand the full impact of continuing to consume animal products.