Project Animal Farm Paperback – September 27, 2016

I wish all humans were required to witness and experience what this author did voluntarily She has so much courage to face the horrific things she witnessed to report them to us on behalf of the animals. And has written this wonderfully crafted book about it. It is a heartbreaking read but so important for anyone who cares at all about animals. I bought 10 copies to put in other people's hands in the hope that this information would keep getting out. Before I read her book, I had changed to entirely plant based food because not only better for animals but MUCH better for the environment AND for our health. Because most people will not make this change, I am cnverting a small farm that I recently inherited to regeneration agriculture and am going to raise some animals on rotational pasture grazing so they have good lives before they die. And I will make sure they are humanely slaughtered even if I have to do it myself -- so that the people who insist on eating animals will not be able to make these animals suffer. And I will use my animals to educate others on the importance of not buying meat, eggs, or dairy from factory farms. The cruelty that the humans who own and work at these awful places can inflict on these poor creatures makes me livid and overwhelmingly sad. Thank you for your courage, Sonia Faruqi -- for walking into and witnessing this horrific suffering that had to cause you so much pain from your compassion for these tortured beings. And thank you for your very beautiful writing.

Author Sonia Faruqi composed a masterpiece. Her prose is artistic with rich and frequent use of colorful metaphors. In this book, Sonia recounts her extended visits to animal-production farms ("factory" farms) situated around the world. The unexpected start to her journey was an internship near the beginning of her Wall-Street career. Sonia boldly followed her intuition to explore the deep recesses of industrial farms rather than sit in her tech-driven, comfortable office.In Project Animal Farm, Sonia reports on the horrors that she witnessed at these "family farms" (hens, chickens, pigs, turkeys, sheep, cows, calves). There were 10% success stories (pasture, regenerative, diverse) with 90% heartbreaking reality. This book was masterfully littered with educational content about farming with emphasis on animal husbandry (breeding and caring for farm animals).You'll learn about artificial insemination, selective breeding, and intensive confinement. You'll learn about the horrors of slaughter. You'll learn about how developing countries are following our lead on industrial agriculture (God help them). You'll learn about disgraceful pig-crate practices, castration, veal confinement, and much, much more.As a consumer lawyer, I just starting to address corporations' dishonest practice known as "humanewashing" (making misleading "humanely raised" claims). I dove into this book upon the suggestion of a respected colleague. I was blown away by Sonia's writing. Her writing is exquisite and her storytelling is suspenseful.Look at the abundance of notes that I wrote in the back of the book (above). I also recorded plenty of Sonia's gold into my phone so I can listen to it later.This content is penetrating and investigative. Sonia's tone is relatable. I'd recommend listening to the audible version while reading the hard copy. The narrator's voice was perfect for this project.This book will awaken your conscious and stir you into action. Let's stand up for these animals.

I've read many books on animal welfare and rights. This is simply one of the best written and fairest accounts out there. She also focuses on solutions near the end of the book. She fairly takes a look at animal welfare from the perspective of the farmers. Sonia does not preach she just writes the facts.Another great book is Gene Bauer's.

The writer of this engaging book is a young woman who decided to investigate animal agriculture after finding herself unemployed after the Wall Street debacle in 2008. Her journey took her to a wide range of farms in Canada (her home country), the United States, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.By overcoming imposing obstacles, sometimes at considerable personal risk, she witnessed factory farming at contemporary chicken, egg, pig, cattle, and dairy farms, as well as observing the practices of a slaughterhouse. She was welcomed by several farmers who clearly believed that they treated their animals with compassion and respect, at least up to the point of slaughter. She needed to use subterfuge to gain access to factory farms. What she saw clearly haunts her, and for good reason.Faruqi witnessed horrors that exceeded my worst nightmares. These are the conditions under which the vast majority of animals raised for food live. Distressingly, the percentage of animals raised in factory farms continues to rise, and their degree of suffering continues to increase as producers find new ways to squeeze money from the flesh of these doomed creatures.Adding considerable flavor to the book are the descriptions of the many warm, friendly, and sometimes rather strange people she met, some of whom she grew to like despite their participation in abusive practices. She noted that bad institutions can make good people do bad things. As a society becomes technologically developed, the amount of cruelty toward animals in public diminishes while the amount of hidden cruelty toward animals perpetrated by institutions increases. The net effect is a vast increase in the amount of cruelty toward animals, because industries can harm many more animals than individual citizens.A vegetarian herself, Ms. Faruqi encourages others to adopt such a diet. But, she does have some thoughts about how those who find themselves unwilling or unable to take this step can minimize their contribution to animal suffering. To find out, you’ll need to read Project Animal Farm.

An excellent read with first-hand reporting of all types of farms. Highlights perfectly both the ethical & practical issues with the choice to farm animals. Both extensive & Intensive farming have their own issues & with 8billion+ global citizens it simply isn't either feasible or safe, for neither animals, wildlife, nor humanity. If we hadn't already eliminated animal products from our lifestyles, this would have convinced me to, that's for sure. It's been easy to earn to eat wholefoods plant-based & that's what humanity would be best advised to do imho.

Read this book, if you do nothing else before you die. Sonia has a very readable, entertaining writing style, which carries you with her as she explores farming in various situations and countries. But be warned: what you will discover about how animals are treated is shocking, alarming and distressing. This book requires commitment to finish, and your life will never be the same after finishing it. An extremely important work of exposing the truth.

I have only just recently finished reading Sonia Faruqi’s book, Project Animal Farm. I read it as a library book, and by the time I finished it, simply had to get a copy of my own. It is an amazing story. An important story. A story that can make any reader stop and think about what they eat, but more importantly, where what they eat actually comes from.I read the book over an extended period of time, because sometimes, a book needs to be savoured and absorbed slowly. I was continually astonished by the people, the farmers, the variety of personalities, characters, and by the campaigns conducted to gain access to their operations. A recurring theme in the book is the acute necessity for privacy in these industrial farming operations. Their secrecy is necessary. We are not supposed to know, as consumers, just what they are up to. One wonders, if we all did know, how this might change our consumption habits.A true odyssey was conducted by the author to investigate industrial farming in a diverse assortment of locations, countries, hemispheres, spanning many different customs, cultures and nationalities. It very quickly became clear to me as I progressed through the book that this is no ordinary examination of a conventional kind. Ms. Faruqi’s background is in economics. Indeed, she spent some time on Wall Street before the financial affairs leading up to the meltdown of 2008 sent her on her way to other adventures – notably, the project of Project Animal Farm.Having no particular background in farming, animal husbandry, agriculture or agribusiness, she approached the industry with a fresh outlook and a wonderful lack of bias or conventional presumptions. This becomes more and more apparent as she takes us through different forms of animal production, and we meet the people who do this work. It is a well-told story that wanders through the lives of many different characters, none of whom grace the pages as typical stereotypes, to be dismissed out of hand. She comes to respect many, and admire a few.Yet what seems to be a constant driving force in the story as it unfolds, is the incredible maltreatment of the animals we eat. Any meat eating person must then stop and wonder, what and how is the effect on the very food substance we consume? But from a moral and ethical point of view, it becomes painfully obvious, reading from chapter to chapter, that this is something that is completely discarded as inconsequential. Discarded by the people who are the driving force that maintains this industry, for the multitude of consumers that not only hold it up, but help it to create great wealth for the corporations at the top. For the rest of us, out of sight, out of mind, is the key.This is a thing borne out through the book, leading a reader to realize, that if they knew the facts and realities behind how their food gets to the table, they might pause and reconsider. The animals we eat are not just mistreated. As Ms. Faruqi shows us, most of them are afforded no more consideration than we would give a school of fish caught up in a net. In fact, there is an eerie similarity to this, in what she describes.As saddened as I was by the conditions she found in many of the places she investigated, and as shocked as I was by her account of the killing floor, I was also gladdened by her summary at the end – that pastoral farming is indeed, far more possible than many now would suspect.I consider that. Have we all become immersed in this idea that a 7+ billion and growing global population requires food production on an economy of scale that produces such misery? I think many people would believe so. And this book so passionately challenges that.I must admit, I have read far too much about industrial farming from a truly labour-intensive, blue collar fixed, worker-related focus on the actual conditions of the work (mostly in meat-packing), and the processing side of the industry as a whole. A workforce largely populated by immigrant (often undocumented) people whose desperation forces them into such awful circumstances, and absolutely wretched working conditions.Some of these books are great passionate tributes to the human side of the story, and often enough, the animals themselves are a side issue. And this is the place where we disconnect, as consumers, from the reality of what it is we consume. I think many people would automatically assume that to solve this issue would drive the cost of food through the roof. Which is why I think is it so very important to challenge that idea, and to prove that this does not have to be the case, at all. Ms. Faruqi’s book does exactly that. In summary, I would not describe this book as an easy one to read, but not at all because it is not well written. It is indeed, written in a language and a style that does its topic justice. Whether you love or hate animals, or are somewhat indifferent to them, this book will make you stop and think about cost effectiveness and efficiencies that maintain and equate brutality and cruelty with the substance of our sustenance. The consumption of mere protein, in its base form, should require an understanding that leads us to a better human dignity, and to our place on earth within the domain of all its creatures.

Great read for someone interested in animal farming. I've read a few books on this topic in the past and what I really like about this one is that it's very readable without really pushing an agenda. Doesn't tell you to become vegetarian or anything, just eye-opening more than anything else. You won't regret the purchase.

As a person who lives with and depends on animals, I could hardly put it down. What an amazing experience and what incredible persistence and determination she describes! Like so many animal lovers, I tend to close my mind to avoid thinking how our friends are mistreated in the pursuit of food and profit. In her collection of hugely interesting and sometimes amusing stories, Sonia Faruqi visits farms around the world and captures the startling contrast between "industrial" operations, where farm animals lead a miserable and boring existence caged, confined and forced to live in indescribably filthy and insanitary conditions devoid of human care or attention, and "pastoral" operations where they lead happy, productive lives in reasonable care and comfort. She briefly pulls aside the veil of secrecy that surrounds factory farms and explores a some of the myths that attach to descriptions such as "organic", "farm fresh", "natural" etc. associated with meat and dairy products as well as some ominous and scary portents for the future in over-use of antibiotics and hormones. A "must read" for anyone concerned with food production and sustainability.