Eating Animals

by Jonathan Safran Foer. 267 pp plus Notes and Index.

Eating Animals explores vegetarianism and the horrors of factory farming. I do not normally read non-fiction and chose this title because I enjoyed Foer's other two books, Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I have always been a meat-eater and have never considered seriously becoming a vegetarian . . . until I read this book. I was aware of how awful factory farms and slaughterhouses are, but I chose to put it out of my mind. Foer discusses the meat industry from chickens to beef to shrimp and tuna. He doesn't say everyone should be a vegan, but he makes a very convincing argument. Nothing is sugar-coated and it definitely left me thinking about what I choose to eat.