Reading

These are some of my favourite books about farmed animals and factory farming. Feel free to look them up on Amazon for publishers’ descriptions and reviews (I’m not suggesting you buy from Amazon…buy wherever you like, maybe even from an independent bookseller!). I’ll update this periodically.

• Farm Sanctuary by Gene Baur. This book turned me vegetarian half-way through — not because it’s graphic, but because Baur shows the reader what true individuals animals are and why they’re worth fighting for.
• The Emotional Lives of Animals by Marc Bekoff. Bekoff, a professor emeritus and ethologist, has a gentle writing style that is consistently educational and inviting.
• The Inner World of Farm Animals by Amy Hatkoff (foreward by Jane Goodall). Beautiful illustration of who animals are.
• Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer — this book may change your life. I can’t recommend it enough.
• Slaughterhouse by Gail Eisnitz — not an easy read, but a truly illuminating look at the way slaughterhouses routinely treat animals…and the people who work there, as well as the devastating effect slaughterhouse work can have on the individuals who do it.
• CAFO: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories by Daniel Imhoff. Mind-boggling look at where our animal-based food comes from.
• Bleating Hearts by Mark Hawthorne. Eye-opening even for the initiated. Incredibly well researched and written. Doesn’t pertain strictly to farmed animals, but they’re in there — as is nearly every other animal you can think of.