“This is an important book that deserves a wide readership, including policy
makers and others who care about our future. For animal activists it is an
educational tool that expands our ability to engage with omnivores –
reaching out to them with informed financial, environmental and health
arguments. And for the omnivores or wavering vegans this is a wake-up call,
especially for meat-eating environmentalists, exposing the phrase as an
oxymoron.”
– Our Hen House
“I just finished reading your book MEATONOMICS. This book will change my
life …. I am 67 years of age, and have survived a major heart attack, and
had quintuple bypass open heart surgery. Thank you for your book, which has
had a profound impact on my thinking.”
– Robert H.
“Each sentence, paragraph, and chapter heaps evidence upon evidence to
support his arguments. Simon’s writing style is intelligent and well-sourced
without being academic and dry. The research and clear thought shows his
expertise and easily wins readers’ trust. ”
– ForeWord Reviews
“This assessment of the powerful animal food industry and the myriad
government policies that support it is well researched and
thought-provoking.”
– Library Journal
“Meatonomics deserves a prime spot in the library of everyone who cares
about the politics of food.”
– The Huffington Post
“Simon’s voice is riveting, that of an outsider looking in – more than once,
I was reminded of Diet for a New America and The Food Revolution in Simon’s
ability to convincingly convey inside information … with an outsider’s
vision.”
– VegNews
“This is not an economy book. It is not a law book. It is not a dieting
book. It is the mix of the best from all the above and much more … the book
kept me interested literally from cover to cover.”
– The Elephant Journal
“Provocative and persuasive … a well-researched, passionately written book.
Readers will be hard-pressed not to wonder if something sinister is playing
out in America’s farms and grocery stores.”
– Publishers Weekly
“Meatonomics is a book every vegan activist should read and take to heart,
because it could become one of the strongest tools in our belts as we
continue to move forward.”
– Vegan Street
“We like to think we live in a democracy, where public officials tend the
general welfare. But increasingly, corporate lobbyists write our laws, and
corporate interests dictate what we are allowed to know. David Simon’s book
is spectacularly important, because it lifts the veil and shows how the meat
and dairy industries rig the game, and thus are able to stuff us with foods
that imperil our health, devastate the environment, and cause unrelenting
cruelty to billions of animals. He reveals the massive subsidies that make
industrial meat and dairy products seem cheap, when in fact they are
destroying our lives and our future. He lets us see what these industries
don’t want us to see–the true cost we are paying for their products. And he
shows us the steps we need to take, as individuals and as a society, to
restore both our economic sanity and our health.”
– John Robbins, author of The Food Revolution, No Happy Cows, and Diet For a
New America
“A lively, well-researched look at society’s many misconceptions about the
production and consumption of meat. If you eat meat, you owe it to your body
and your planet to read this book.”
– Rory Freedman, author of Beg and co-author of the Skinny Bitch series
“Bringing cheap meat to the American table not only degrades the American
palate, but it requires a series of corrupt bargains. David Robinson Simon
exposes this corruption with impressive research, incisive prose, and the
passion of a muckraker. The ultimate novelty of Simon’s book is to portray
our excessive consumption of animal products as a profound governmental
failure, one abetted by corporate greed and systematic consumer deception.
Depressing as the story of meat can be, Simon leaves the leader feeling
empowered and inspired to eat in a way that reflects our deepest values as
concerned consumers. One finished this book ready to make a change.”
– James McWilliams, Ph.D., author of Just Food
“Meatonomics will grab you and not let you go. It’s a critically important
and absolutely fascinating and astonishing in-depth look into the
devastating effects of an industry’s economic take-over of our culture and
our well-being. Dave Simon not only cogently and systematically exposes the
many facets of cost externalization by the meat, dairy, egg, and fishing
industries, but he also makes a compelling case for practical solutions that
we can all work for, discuss, and implement, including a meat tax, changes
in government subsidy programs, and personal food choices. Meatonomics has
my highest recommendation–a book that liberates as it illuminates.”
– Will Tuttle, Ph.D., author of The World Peace Diet
“Consumers can only make wise purchases of meat if the price they pay
reflects the full cost of producing it—when there are no ‘hidden’ costs like
subsidies or environmental damage. Simon is the first author to attempt a
complete accounting of all these hidden costs, something that should be
applauded by the vegan and meat-lover alike.”
– F. Bailey Norwood, Ph.D., author of Compassion By the Pound and Professor
of Agricultural Economics, Oklahoma State University
“The need to transform the unhealthy, unsustainable, and unjust food system
that prevails today runs deep. It will require food activists and
researchers to undertake what will constitute a long march through the
entire food chain. A critical starting point involves the
corporate-dominated meat production system. Dave Simon takes us on that
journey and helps us identify what we will need to confront and the changes
that will need to be made.”
– Robert Gottleib, co-author of Food Justice and Professor of Urban &
Environmental Policy, Occidental College
“This important book joins the ranks of T. Colin Campbell’s Whole and The
China Study in its power to expose the truth and begin to repair the health
care crisis.”
– Patti Breitman, co-author of How to Eat Like a Vegetarian, Even If You
Never Want To Be One
“Meatonomics clearly shows how the price of meat, dairy, eggs, and fish
represents a massive market failure – one that is costing you not just
money, but years of healthy life. Dave Simon’s thorough research and
shocking statistics prove that powerful industries are manipulating
government. Agencies that should be protecting you instead tell you to eat
more of the foods that cause you to be overweight and sick – then make it
financially irresistible for you to do so. Romantic images of small family
farms have nothing to do with the reality of animal agriculture today, yet
industry exploits this fantasy to take money out of your pocket and put it
into theirs. The knowledge in Meatonomics will free you and put you in
control of your own food choices and health.”
– Janice Stanger, Ph.D., author of The Perfect Formula Diet
“Feeding a human meat and dairy and then wondering why it is sick is like
putting syrup in a Ferrari and complaining that it won’t start.”
– Dan Piraro, illustrator of the syndicated comic strip Bizarro
David Robinson Simon is a lawyer and advocate for sustainable consumption. He works as general counsel for a healthcare company and serves on the board of the APRL Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting animals. David received his B.A. from U.C. Berkeley and his J.D. from the University of Southern California. He is also the author of New Millennium Law Dictionary, a full English legal dictionary. He lives in Southern California with his partner, artist Tania Marie, and their rabbit, tortoise, and two cats.
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