Animal Liberation

'An extraordinary book which has had extraordinary effects... Widely known as the bible of the animal liberation movement' Independent on Sunday

In my mind, it is one the most important books of the last 100 years. It expands our moral horizons beyond our own species and is thereby a major evolution in ethics

Peter Singer has been called the most influential philosopher alive. He is professor of bioethics at Princeton University and has published numerous books, including The Life You Can Save (2009), The Most Good You Can Do (2015) and Ethics in the Real World (2016). He became well known internationally after the publication of Animal Liberation in 1975 and has been a leading thinker and campaigner in the field of animal rights ever since. Animal Liberation was included in TIME Magazine's list of 100 Best Nonfiction Books published since 1923. In 2012 Singer was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, his country's highest civilian honour, and in 2021 he was awarded the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture.

How should we treat non-human animals? In this immensely powerful and influential book (now with a new introduction by Sapiens author Yuval Noah Harari), the renowned moral philosopher Peter Singer addresses this simple question with trenchant, dispassionate reasoning. Accompanied by the disturbing evidence of factory farms and laboratories, his answers triggered the birth of the animal rights movement. 
 
'An extraordinary book which has had extraordinary effects... Widely known as the bible of the animal liberation movement' Independent on Sunday 
 
In the decades since this landmark classic first appeared, some public attitudes to animals may have changed but our continued abuse of animals in factory farms and as tools for research shows that the underlying ideas Singer exposes as ethically indefensible are still dominating the way we treat animals. As Yuval Harari’s brilliantly argued introduction makes clear, this book is as relevant now as the day it was written.

Eating

By leading philosopher Peter Singer and environmentalist Jim Mason, a hard-hitting and thought-provoking exploration of the ethics of our diets.

In their new book - commonsense in its approach, easy to read, packed with information - Peter Singer and Jim Mason show how market forces inexorably drive farmers toward cruel practices. But their overall message is not bleak. Factory farming is under pressure to justify itself. The day may not be far when we will return to a more ethical treatment of fellow animals, and there are many practical things that ordinary consumers can do to bring that day nearer.

An absolutely indispensable book for anyone who thinks about what they eat. Eating is that rare combination of lively read and thorough research and investigation. It is a masterpiece, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

In this well-researched and deeply troubling book, Peter Singer and Jim Mason paint a devastating portrait of the meat industry that is bound to change the way you eat.

It has changed the way i think about food.

Written with investigative vigour, provocative and controversial but always accessible, Eating is a hard-hitting exploration of our eating habits, making us look at what we eat as a moral issue. 
 
Organic foods are the fastest growing section of the food industry, and it is estimated that vegans are now almost as common as vegetarians. Veal consumption in the US has fallen by more than 75% since 1975, and in the UK, sales of free-range eggs have now passed in value sales of eggs from caged hens. Evidently we are concerned. But how concerned should we be about where our food comes from? Does the food we buy really affect the world around us? And what can we do? 
 
In Eating, philosopher Peter Singer and environmentalist Jim Mason follow three families with varying eating habits, from fast-food eaters to vegans, to explore how the food we eat makes its way to the table, and at what expense. The authors peel back each layer of food production, and examine how they ought to factor into our buying choices. Recognising that we are not all likely to become vegetarian or vegan, they go on to offer ways to make the most ethical choices within the framework of a diet that includes animal products.

Peter Singer

Animal Liberation started a worldwide movement when it revealed the abuse of animals in factory farms and laboratories. It demonstrated that these and other practices were the cause of appalling and unnecessary suffering and therefore morally indefensible. In the fifty years since, science has further vindicated Peter Singer's arguments about animal sentience, vegetarianism has become widespread, and the book has helped change the minds of millions. But the situation for animals has in many ways grown worse. 
 
Despite improvements in animal welfare in some regions - brought about in large part by this book - in many others the scale of their abuse has reached staggering new depths. This revised edition, of which about two-thirds is entirely new, documents these and other developments, such as the impact of meat consumption on climate and the spread of dangerous new viruses. It refines its arguments in light of new evidence, equips the reader with fresh tools and advice, and shows us all the road ahead. The result, Animal Liberation Now, is a book of galvanising power, relevance and importance.

Peter Singer

Animal Liberation Now

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