Why we love dogs, eat pigs, and wear cows cover

Why we love dogs, eat pigs, and wear cows

by Melanie Joy

This groundbreaking work explores the psychology of carnism. Our willingness to eat animals--and only some animals at that--says social psychologist and professor Melanie Joy, is enabled only through blocking out what we know--about their capacity for consciousness and their ability to feel pain: about the inhumane husbandry practiced all over the world simply to satisfy our taste for foods we don't need in our diet: about the health risks involved in eating flesh of any kind; and on and on. In other words, we continue to eat meat and fish only out of a seemingly intransigent denial.

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?