http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/w/index.php?title=How_to_Love_Animals_in_a_Human-Shaped_World_by_Henry_Mance&feed=atom&action=historyHow to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World by Henry Mance - Revision history2024-03-29T10:23:46ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.34.2http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/w/index.php?title=How_to_Love_Animals_in_a_Human-Shaped_World_by_Henry_Mance&diff=164742&oldid=prevSue at 19:22, 11 April 20212021-04-11T19:22:49Z<p></p>
<table class="diff diff-contentalign-left" data-mw="interface">
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<col class="diff-marker" />
<col class="diff-content" />
<tr class="diff-title" lang="en">
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #222; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #222; text-align: center;">Revision as of 19:22, 11 April 2021</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l21" >Line 21:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 21:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>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.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>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.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>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. <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Before </del>we get there we have a brief history of man's relationship with animals and the twin developments of conservation and factory farming.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>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. <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">But before </ins>we get there we have a brief history of man's relationship with animals and the twin developments of conservation and factory farming.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>For such a serious subject, the style of writing is engaging whilst still being thought-provoking:</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>For such a serious subject, the style of writing is engaging whilst still being thought-provoking:</div></td></tr>
</table>Suehttp://www.thebookbag.co.uk/w/index.php?title=How_to_Love_Animals_in_a_Human-Shaped_World_by_Henry_Mance&diff=164657&oldid=prevSue: Created page with "{{infobox1 |title=How to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World |author=Henry Mance |reviewer=Sue Magee |genre=Politics and Society |summary=This might be the most important boo..."2021-03-29T13:06:04Z<p>Created page with "{{infobox1 |title=How to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World |author=Henry Mance |reviewer=Sue Magee |genre=Politics and Society |summary=This might be the most important boo..."</p>
<p><b>New review</b></p><div>{{infobox1<br />
|title=How to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World<br />
|author=Henry Mance<br />
|reviewer=Sue Magee<br />
|genre=Politics and Society<br />
|summary=This might be the most important book I've ever read - it's already changed my life by facilitating a decision I've been pondering for years. It gets the highest recommendation possible.<br />
|rating=5<br />
|buy=Yes<br />
|borrow=Yes<br />
|pages=320<br />
|publisher=Jonathan Cape<br />
|date=April 2021<br />
|isbn=978-1787332096<br />
|website=https://www.ft.com/henry-mance<br />
|cover=1787332098<br />
|aznuk=1787332098<br />
|aznus=1787332098<br />
}}<br />
''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.''<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
For such a serious subject, the style of writing is engaging whilst still being thought-provoking:<br />
<br />
''We warm to politicians who cuddle animals; their pets would be re-elected more easily than they would.''<br />
<br />
''I don't want to tell my daughters that the reason we destroyed the natural world is because it tasted delicious.''<br />
<br />
Sometimes I felt guilty for laughing out loud, particularly over the fishing lesson.<br />
<br />
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?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Further reading:<br />
<br />
You could shelve ''How to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World'' next to [[21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari]] and hope that this is a lesson we do learn.<br />
<br />
If you'd like to better understand your dog, try [[Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know by Alexandra Horowitz]]<br />
<br />
[[We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler]] if you'd like some related fiction.<br />
<br />
<br />
{{amazontext|amazon=1787332098}}<br />
<br />
{{amazontextAud|amazon=B08W98FJYQ}}<br />
<br />
{{amazonUStext|amazon=1787332098}}<br />
<br />
{{foyles|url=https://tidd.ly/3dd2k2m}}<br />
<br />
{{waterstones|url=https://tidd.ly/3rf0BOP}}<br />
<br />
{{commenthead}}<br />
[[Category:Cookery]] [[Category:Animals and Wildlife]]</div>Sue