The Vegetarian Myth
"Part memoir, nutritional primer, and political manifesto, this controversial examination exposes the destructive history of agriculture-causing the devastation of prairies and forests, driving countless species extinct, altering the climate, and destroying the topsoil-and asserts that, in order to save the planet, food must come from within living communities. In order for this to happen, the argument champions eating locally and sustainably and encourages those with the resources to grow their own food. Further examining the question of what to eat from the perspective of both human and environmental health, the account goes beyond health choices and discusses potential moral issues from eating-or not eating-animals. Through the deeply personal narrative of someone who practiced veganism for 20 years, this unique exploration also discusses alternatives to industrial farming, reveals the risks of a vegan diet, and explains why animals belong on ecologically sound farms"--Provided by publisher.
Stats for nerds
3recommend
8mentions
6people
2010–2020years
38% recommend38% neutral25% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- However tasty meat may be, it’s ethically and environmentally bad.
I disagree entirely, but there is no need to relitigate this debate here. If by any chance you have never read the pro-meat argument, the book The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith is a pretty good primer.
- I don't know if this answers your question, but do read The Vegetarian Myth when you get a chance. It is one of the most profound and wonderful books I've ever read about the subject of sustainability/ethics for vegetarianism vs. omivoreism. Lierre Keith, while rather radical, makes a beautiful argument as to why meat (in moderation and humanely raised) is preferable to a veg-only diet. This is one of the top five books that's changed the way I see the world. Cheers!
- I started eating primal/paleo/low carb (I prefer the latter) after reading 'good calories, bad calories' by Gary Taubes. I've been linking people to these notes for a while now: http://higher-thought.net/complete-notes-to-good-calories-ba... you miss some nuances, explainations and a boatload of references from the book, but it's a nice intro.
As far as being vegan goes, check out 'the vegetarian myth' by Leirre Keith, I've been reading parts of it and it's both entertaining and it really gets under your skin.
- I read his "Practical ethics" at 20 and it changed my life in many ways. I was extremely sceptical of the arguments for veganism and tried looking for arguments to refute the claims made in the book. People online were raving about "the vegetarian myth" by Lierre Keith, so I went to the library and borrowed it.
I really wanted the book to be good, but found probably the most anti-intellectual garbage ever produced. After getting about half way through, trying to fact check as I went along, I went vegan over night.
That is probably the largest change I have made, but Peter Singer is probably the one author that has made the biggest impact on my life and has affected many of my daily choices.
- I realize that sourcing wikipedia is kind of lazy but I lack the time to read entire books full of every sort of misinformation that happens to be going around.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vegetarian_Myth
From the article:
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For the earth to survive, Keith thinks, the human population needs to be reduced by more than 90 percent. She also argues that the human food-supply needs to come mainly from hunting and small-scale animal husbandry.[4]
Criticism:
Sami Grover, referencing "Jason V", says Keith's book is filled with "factual errors and fallacious thinking". Furthermore, Jason V writes that Keith fallaciously uses her ex-vegan status in an attempt to depict herself as an authority on the subject.[11]
Patrick Nicholson writes that the book misinterprets scientific articles, cherry-picks facts, uses strawman arguments and relies heavily on anecdotes and faulty generalisations.[5] Ian Sinclair writes that Keith's arguments are "full of lazy thinking, willfully ignorant logic and glaring omissions".[12]
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My thoughts:
I think its meaningful or even sane to suggest that virtually everyone stops having babies or dies and all the survivors go play hunter gatherers in the woods.
I think our present trajectory is obviously unsustainable but that doesn't make any alternative suggestion reasonable.
Our future is the stars or extinction. In between we have to find a sustainable reasonable way to live civilized lives. This probably isn't horrifically complicated we don't have to reduce our population by 90% we just have to not keep increasing it and make do with simpler and less.
- Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price
The Hunting Apes: Meat Eating and the Origins of Human Behavior by Craig B. Stanford
The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability by Lierre Keith
Craft Beef: A Revolution of Small Farms and Big Flavors by Joe Heitzeberg, Ethan Lowry, and Caroline Sanders
Don’t Eat the Oil! The Health Consequences of Consuming “Vegetable” Oils by Thomas L. Copmann, MS, Ph.D.
Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes by Jennifer McLagan
The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes
Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson
This year I became ex-vegan and the books I read center around nutrition as such. I would recommend all of them. The Vegetarian Myth was the most shocking, one woman's struggles with health which finally opened my eyes. The Case Against Sugar was surprising for the depth of how many people and corporations were involved in promoting sugar on an unsuspecting public. Skin in the Game is Taleb's insightful observations as usual. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration is thorough and prescient, intriguing to see the drastic physical changes due to nutrition, and was I impressed by the dedicated research to study the effects of what was not known at the time but is now believed to be vitamin K2.
