Rating

★★★★★

Category

non-fiction

Read

2019-12-05

Pages

288

Stand out book of the year. Loved the author making a genuine attempt at introspecting his dissonance between “I believe climate change is real” and “I’m not changing my behaviour”. It’s directly written to people like me - I already accept the science … what now?

Surprisingly not about veganism so much, which was unexpected but welcome - it’s a much better and deeper book than “eating animals is bad for the environment”. Kind of wish they hadn’t given it the subtitle it has. (Or maybe I read through those parts because I already “knew” it?)

Author took some stylistic risks and they paid off - in particular the Socratic dialogue with his soul in chapter 4 hit hard.

Feeling very seen: “If I’d read the previous sentences in high school, I’d have dismissed them as a bursting sack of self-serving bullshit—messiness of life?—and been deeply disappointed by the flimsy person I was to become. I’m glad that I was who I was then, and I hope that other young people have the same inflexible idealism. But I’m glad that I am who I am now, not because it is easier but because it is in better dialogue with my world, which is different from the world I occupied twenty-five years ago.”

Some good comparisons between sacrifices made during the war and what is needed today: “When Americans turned off their lights during WWII, they weren’t protecting their houses—the blackouts had little utilitarian value—they were protecting their homes. They were demonstrating solidarity, and therefore protecting their families and cultures, their safety and freedom.”

YES “What is the opposite of someone who eats a lot of meat, dairy, and eggs? A vegan. No. The opposite of someone who eats a lot of animal products is someone who is attentive to how often he eats animal products. The best way to excuse oneself from a challenging idea is to pretend there are only two options.”