Cover Image: How to Love Animals

How to Love Animals

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Member Reviews

I’m not a huge fan of non-fiction, and I am a huge fan of animals, so I wasn’t particularly eager to immerse myself in a book which would explore the myriad ways in which humans cause animals to suffer! However this was well researched and well written and I came away feeling a lot better informed which is about as much as I can expect from non-fiction.

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***ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley.co.uk in return for an honest review ***

A really thought-provoking, insightful read, delivered using current scientific data as well as anecdotal experiences in the real world from the author. If you liked "Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals" by Hal Herzog, immediately add this to your "to be read" pile!

I think it would be difficult to read this book and not re-evaluate our relationship with, and consumption of, animals. Whilst I'm not currently vegan, I have definitely made a more concerted effort to eat more plant-based meals day to day and as the author himself says: 

"Individual action is not the opposite of collective action; it is the forerunner."

I would definitely recommend this book to friends and family.

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This is a strange book and definitely not a polemic. The author looks at all aspects of animals and their place in the world and how and why we interact with them and how we can improve or alter that relationship. Mr Mance looks at life and death and everything in between. I found lots of interest and lots to think about. I particularly resonated with the part about zoos. The life span of an African elephant in the wild could be 56 years but in a zoo, it is 16.9 years. Where Asian elephants are used in the Burmese logging industry they live to an average of 42 years but in a zoo, the average is 18.9 years. Zoos aren’t doing these animals any favours. Damian Aspinall inherited two zoos and is slowly trying to close them. Given the life span of some of the animals and the fact they are ill suited to life in the world, it could take him over 30 years.

Animals also learn. On a Scottish estate the red deer come for food from late October because they know the hunting season is over. In Canada, there is a ban on shooting bears with cubs. As a result, mother bears have been found to stay with their cubs an extra year to protect themselves.

The author also says "Loving animals cannot mean imagining a fantasy land - without death, without suffering. It is about balancing our needs, with the welfare and abundance of animals." He says hunting is acceptable within certain parameters to ensure the wellbeing of a herd.

There is a lot here to challenge you and get you thinking and I would recommend this book if you feel you need to do more but you’re not sure what.

I was given a copy of the book by Netgalley

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This book has real Wow factor. If I wasn't a long-term vegetarian, I am pretty sure How to Love Animals would make me one. I can never understand how people can love their pets and continue to eat meat either. I would recommend this book to anyone considering becoming a vegetarian or a vegan. It is especially relevant now we have a shortage of carbon dioxide which assists in the 'humane' killing of animals. In our country, we just don't need to eat meat.

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I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

To be fair I have no idea why I requested this book as someone who really is not a big animal fan at all. I am trying to round out my reading genres and to include more non=fiction and that may have been my reasoning here.

As non-fiction it is very readable, it does not tie the reader in knots trying to unravel meaning and is blessedly free of foot notes. I don't agree with everything the author says and I do feel there are some sweeping generalisations in there and some things that are very demeaning to humans "A dog becomes another way to show who you are to people, and unlike with children you can choose" this is in my view a dreadful comparison.

It has not changed my mindset which is anyone can choose to love animals BUT when you start to put animal needs above human needs there is something wrong. It is all about the balance.

I find the book difficult to rate but have chosen 2 stars. There will be many people out there who find this book to have parallels with their own thinking and rate it much higher

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Eye-opening if you don't know this information, and a good reminder if you do..

I've been veganish for the past 40 years, not eating, meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk, but sometimes eating cheese.
Why? After reading the Peter Singer's book Animal Liberation at the age of 18, I could not be hypocritcal and say I loved animals yet still ate them. Which is what the vast majority of people do. That's cognitive dissonance in action, folks.

This book doesn't come from a respected philosopher, and it doesn't come from the same perspective. Singer's argument was about animal cruelty. This book covers animal cruelty but also the environmental issues involved in consuming animals and animal products. it doesn't hit you over the head like the Singer book, but comes from an understanding and compassionate perspective - compassionate to animals, the environment, and to people who have grown up consuming animals.

It's well written and easy to read

I enjoyed (if enjoyed is the right word) in reading about this from another perspective. If you are unaware of how animals are treated, and of the environmental consequences you will be horrified reading parts with this book.

I always say that Singer's book Animal Liberation is the only book that has made me cry. It also made me ashamed to be a member of the human race. It made me want to do better. So I did.

I hope this book has the same effect on you. We can all do better, and there is so much choice out there now that you really don't have many excuses - no, scrub that, you don't have ANY excuse.

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I wanted to like this book but I found it so 'preachy' and designed to shock that I gave up reading about a quarter of the way through. I hope the approach got more balanced as it developed but I couldn't face any more

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This is probably my book of the year.

I consider myself to be well-read when it comes to environmental writing, and the majority of what Mance writes about is not new to me. In some ways I found it strikingly similar to 'Eating Animals' by Jonathan Safran Foer (not least because both books were written by men who felt compelled after becoming fathers). But my goodness, does Mance package his messages and his research well. He cuts straight to every point, and moves on to the next without unnecessary belabouring (because, of course, there is an enormous amount to cover when it comes to human relationships with nonhumans). And the most satisfying thing about this book is that it hits every single note that I wanted it to hit. Like the perfect melody. Every time I thought to myself "I wonder if he'll cover this particular thing..." - BAM. This is absolutely a book that anyone who considers themself to be an animal lover needs to read - and everyone else too, although that'll sadly never happen.

The icing on the cake is how nuanced the book is. Mance argues mostly against seafood, but comes up with clear reasoning for why eating shellfish is pretty good in ethical and environmental terms. He agrees with hunting when done properly, and castigates those who abuse it and those who condemn it without also condemning the horrors of modern animal farming. He argues that people who consume the most need to also cut back the most, and acknowledges the difficulty of encouraging people to eat less meat in other parts of the world.

Ultimately, the book is preachy, but it needs to be. Anyone who can grasp the magnitude of the self-made suffering that humanity is facing this century will understand the passion behind Mance's writing. It helps that his writing is often dryly witty, and I adored the final vignette about Patilda, his rescue broiler hen.

Personally, I already only eat game meat (and once every two months or so at that), and my dairy consumption is lower these days. I do eat a fair few free-range eggs. I can't go fully vegan because of several health conditions, but I wish I could - and I will do my very best to do everything I possibly can to limit how much money I pay into animal product industries.

Thank you, Henry Mance, for writing this book.

(With thank to Jonathan Cape and NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review)

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Henry Mance sets out to see if there's a fairer way to live alongside other species. He goes to work in an abattoir and on a farm to investigate the reality of eating meat and dairy. He explores our dilemmas around hunting wild animals, over-fishing the seas, visiting zoos, saving wild species and owning pets. He meets chefs, farmers, archivists, philosophers, scientists and tech visionaries.

What an interesting eye opener this book is. With factory farms, climate change and deforestation making it probably the worst time to be an animal - i had not really thought much about it until i had read this book. Some animals can be so clever. I've watched tv shows where a monkey beats a human doing puzzles and dogs sniffing out cancers. This book is also quite witty. I really enjoyed this thought provoking read.

I would like to thank #NetGalley, #RaandomHouseUk #Vintage and the author #HenryMance for my ARC of #HowToLoveAnimals in exchange for an honest review.

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An excellent combination of first-hand experiences and comprehensive global statistics. I found the chapter on the oceans very eye-opening, as it went far beyond the usual salmon fish farms.
The Publisher gave me a free sample of this book and this review is my honest feedback. The book truly makes you think............. give it a go.

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When we do think about animals, we break them down into species and groups: cows, dogs, foxes, elephants and so on. And we assign them places in society: cows go on plates, dogs on sofas, foxes in rubbish bins, elephants in zoos, and millions of wild animals stay out there, somewhere, hopefully on the next David Attenborough series.

I was going to argue. I mean, cows are for cheese (I couldn't consider eating red meat...) and I much prefer my elephants in the wild but then I realised that I was quibbling for the sake of it. Essentially that quote sums up my attitude to animals - and I consider myself an animal lover. If I had to choose between the company of humans and the company of animals, I would probably choose the animals. I insisted that I read this book: no one was trying to stop me but I was initially reluctant. I eat cheese, eggs, chicken and fish and I needed to either do so without guilt or change my choices. I suspected that making the decision would not be comfortable.

And it wasn't comfortable. Henry Mance does not spare your feelings. Paul McCartney said that if slaughterhouses had glass walls everyone would be a vegetarian. Mance didn't have the benefit of a glass wall - he went and worked in a slaughterhouse. The facts are dealt with sensitively but you'll be left in no doubt about what happens and how the animals must feel about it. Before we get there we have a brief history of man's relationship with animals and the twin developments of conservation and factory farming.

For such a serious subject, the style of writing is engaging whilst still being thought-provoking:

We warm to politicians who cuddle animals; their pets would be re-elected more easily than they would.

I don't want to tell my daughters that the reason we destroyed the natural world is because it tasted delicious.

Sometimes I felt guilty for laughing out loud, particularly over the fishing lesson.

This is one of the most thought-provoking books I've read in a long time. I've never liked the idea of hunting in any form but Mance shows that it is, in fact, necessary. Where predators have been removed through human intervention and a species gets out of control it's often necessary to cull some animals for the greater good of the herd. Yes - I could see that - and I revised my thinking on hunting. Then Mance flipped the subject on its head and pointed out that the most-out-of-control species on the planet is the human: how's your neighbour going to feel about being randomly picked off whilst on his way to the shops?

As I read, my guilt-free food choices dwindled both from the point of view of the lives of the animals concerned and ecologically. Clothing and footwear became problematic: I eventually decided that Oxfam (or another charity shop) would suffice as I would, at least, not be buying new. Strangely enough, even a vegan can eat mussels, oysters and clams: I'll let you read the book to understand the reasoning behind the statement. Fish is not a starter, either the farmed or the wild varieties.

Going to the zoo is not going to be the pleasure some people have thought it to be: I never liked it any more than I ever liked circuses. I much prefer my animals to be in the wild, but I'd never before thoroughly examined the claims about conservation and breeding and - frankly - they don't stand up.

So, where was I at the end of the book? Going vegetarian is the first step but I do see it as a step on the way to becoming vegan. This book has been truly life-changing and I'd like to thank the publishers for making a copy available to the Bookbag. I've already bought a copy for my niece and I suspect that it will be the first of many.

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‘There are countless things that animals can do better than us: dogs can detect the presence of diseases, including coronavirus’.
Any dog owner can attest to the above quote, but this book is full of such fascinating facts about all species, not just pets. If reading these amazing gems of animal behaviour don’t convince you to stop eating meat,, then nothing will.

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