Most influential Books you've read

VeganGirl2006 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 23, 2006 9:34 am

JW wrote:

probably Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

It was the first book I read that "woke me up"
I was appalled enough to want to learn more and ultimately become vegan

Ditto. Fast Food Nation was what caused me to go vegan.

CrispyQ · **Posted:** Mon Apr 24, 2006 5:05 pm

"101 Things You Can Do to Save the Animals" -- a Peta book. Probably the hardest book I've ever read. The chapters were short, 1-2 pages only, but each one left me weeping. I was stunned at how all encompassing animal cruelty & exploitation is in our society.

I read it shortly after becoming vegetarian & even though I continued to eat cheese for some years afterwards, I switched to rice milk & I got rid of all my clothes & beauty products that were not vegan.

Another moving book, Mad Cowboy by Howard Lyman. The chapter titled Bovine Planet is our future if we don't alter our course.

on edit: I'm about half way through When Elephants Weep. Another great book -- one that was recommended by someone here, btw.

andesuma · **Posted:** Thu Jun 15, 2006 10:23 pm

wow....I wouldn't know where to begin...
I read, a lot! I am a research and information guru/seeker,
so I try and read as much as possible.
(on average I read 1-4 books per week, and about 5-50 articles per day, depending on the time I have to spend..)

A few favorites are:

"The Sexual Politics of Meat- A feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory" -- by Carol J. Adams
The bibliography in this book alone is almost 20 pages long!
This book revealed to me an entire new world of veganism that I wasn't as
aware of, like for example.. the cultural manipulation of language to
promote acceptablity in food, one of the reasons I believe we experience a
large number of chicken eating veggies and fish eating veggies, is because we drop the word "meat" from what we're really eating.
(ie. it's not "chicken meat", it's "chicken", it's not "fish meat", it's "fish")
Pretty amazing and profound, highly recommended.

"Vegan: the new ethics of eating" -by Erik Marcus
I am a big Erik Marcus fan and promoter of his work(except one article
I read in VegNews lately..), but I think if you want something lasting that
will help "convert" others to the vegan lifestyle, or for information in general, this book is IT.
I give this book to anyone I know who is interested in the veggie
way of life, I've probably bought it at least 5 times.
He is also a very good writer.

"Beyond Beef- The rise and fall of the cattle culture" -by Jeremy Rifkin
Speaking of beautiful writers, Jeremy Rifkin is one of the best.
This book is written wonderfully, and is loaded with factual information.
He also writes a lot of articles for Organic Consumers, so of course
I am a big supporter.

"The Detox Solution - by Dr.Patricia Fitzgerald"
By all means, NOT a vegan book.. but very very informative, none the less.
I am also a detox enthusiast, & this is one of the better books I have
read on the subject.

"The Body Electric -Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life" -by
Robert O. Becker, M.D. and Gary Selden
Recommended to me by Bo Rinaldi(owner of Blossoming Lotus), and is
an amazing read. Anyone interested in reiki, massage, physiology, and anatomy will enjoy it..I am sure... : )

"The Top 100 Immunity Boosters -by Charlotte Haigh"
Also, not entirely vegan, but 98% of this book is full of herbs, fruits, veggies, etc.
It not only talks about all of the beneficial properties of
fruits and veggies, but it dissects nutrients, and goes in depth on how to
cure ailments with food.
I have had first hand experience with food being my medicine, and continues to be.. so this book is a definite read for anyone interested in feeling euphoric.

ok...since I am obviously going to write long experiences of some of my favorites, I'll briefly mention just a couple:
Thrive -by Branden Brazier,
Selling Sickness - by Ray Moyniham/Alan Cassels,
Big Pharma -Exposing the Global Healthcare Agenda -by Jacky Law
Any article from: www.organicconsumers.org
www.notmilk.com
www.newstarget.com is also informative and worth checking out.

As for childhood influential books, "The Lurox" by Dr.Seuss
would have to be at the top of my list ; )

PETACANABIS · **Posted:** Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:55 am

Mannual for an animal right campaign

Human zoo Desmond Morris

belleadonna · **Posted:** Mon Jun 19, 2006 6:13 pm

Anyone ever read, "The China Study", by T. Colin Campbell. This is an awesome book.

Evan · **Joined:** Sun Jan 22, 2006 1:35 pm **Posts:** 207

The Pokey Little Puppy which I hate to say I got with a Happy Meal

itofu · **Posted:** Fri Sep 01, 2006 8:52 pm

I read a lot.

As far as veganism and health concerns go:

Diet for a New America
The Food Revolution
Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating
Fast Food Nation
The Detox Solution

Inspirational:

The Alchemist

itofu · **Posted:** Fri Sep 01, 2006 8:59 pm

I read a lot.

As far as veganism and health concerns go:

Diet for a New America
The Food Revolution
Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating
Fast Food Nation
The Detox Solution

Inspirational:

The Alchemist

Odidnetne · **Posted:** Sat Sep 16, 2006 9:51 am

The Food Revolution and Fast Food Nation were probably the 2 biggest "veganism" type books that are inspiring to me, that I've read anyway.

SeaSiren · **Joined:** Mon May 23, 2005 11:05 pm **Posts:** 2652

Through darkest America ~Neal Barrett
This one isn't for the faint of heart. I got a hold of a copy when I was 12 years old. And although there is no way I could have understood the complexity of the book. I still vividly rememer it. I will be re-reading it as an adult: in a world that nuclear war has almost decimated of cities, technology and large animals. To replace farm livestock, the country's sole source of meat is genetically altered humans, without intelligence or speech.

Sink Reflections ~Marla Cilley
Taught me how to painlessly keep my house in check

The Complete Tightwad Gazette ~Amy Dacyczyn
This one is a bit learning curve for me. But it teaches me to not only save money, but help the environment in the process of less use and creating my own natural cleaning products. My Depression era Great Gram would be so pleased.

Skinny Bitch by Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman
Simply the best in your face weight loss book I have ever read!

Kathryn · **Posted:** Sat Sep 16, 2006 2:19 pm

Back when I became a vegetarian, (waaay back!), I found a lot of articles by Victoria Moran (in Vegetarian Times, which used to be less of a recipe magazine than a magazine promoting vegetarianism more actively) really spoke to me. She seemed to be following the same path I was on at about the same time (so they didn't really influence me as much as reinforce what I was feeling).

Thrive is a recent book that has influenced some directional changes in my diet.

Other books are not as much influences (as in causing me to change in some way), but rather reinforce my beliefs:
The Diet Revolution (as well as Robbins' previous "Diet for a New America"), The China Study (T. Collin Campbell), Eat to Live (Fuhrman).

Going way back, I think one story (not a book) that influenced me (because I still remember it) was a short 1/2 column in a comic book!) that was a first person-story from the perspective of a puppy, who loved everyone and had many animal friends, and at the end, there was something about how he didn't understand hatred and not accepting others (other animals, in this case) because (last line).. "you see...I'm blind." Maybe corny, but my impressional pre=adolescent mind thought it was very touching and it brought tears to my eyes.

minimalistica · **Posted:** Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:21 pm

vegan books:
The Vegan Sourcebook, by Joann Stepaniak
The Vegan Handbook

- - -

Seeing as it wasn't a book that convinced me to be vegan but the fact that I was raised in a vegan household, these books were more like guides in a how-to sort of sense.

- - -

Other books worth mentioning, since I'm a multifaceted person and there's more to me than what I eat...

Highly Sensitive People by Elaine Aron
Nickeled and Dimed (forget author)
(Currently reading: Democracy Matters by Cornel West)

CashOverAss · **Posted:** Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:03 pm

Diet for a new america is definitely the book that caused me to go vegan. It would be hard to believe anyone on this board hasnt read it yet, but if you havent read it, you should LITERALLY, get up right now, get in your car, and go to the book store. buy both copies of it that they have on the shelf cause you are gonna want to give one to a friend.

Lindsay76 · **Posted:** Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:33 pm

Core Performance by Mark Verstegan

Diet for a New America . . .

Eat to Live - Joel Fuhrman

Vegan with a Vengeance

Vegan Freak

The Ashtanga Yoga Manual - John Swenson

the Asocial Ape · **Posted:** Wed Aug 08, 2007 7:16 pm

ha! i was just writing about this the other day! the top ten works (i include a poem and short story) that made me me are:

The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck
Quantum Reality, Nick Herbert
'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', Coleridge
Animal Liberation, Peter Singer
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey
The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway
'The Snows of Kilimanjaro', Hemingway
The Inheritors, William Golding
The Hobbit, Tolkien

(I know that's only nine - I like to leave a slot open for the book i haven't yet read)

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