Skinny (Vegan) Bitch(es)

I admit that I first heard about this book when it first came out, but was never inclined to read it. I saw the authors in some little clip from one of their television appearances and decided from the content probably wasn’t anything I hadn’t already read somewhere else.

So imagine my surprise when my sister came home spouting information about modern food industry carnage and carcinogens and credits her newfound horror to this book! There really wasn’t any choice after that; I had to find out why this book suddenly opened her eyes to all the same things I’ve been saying (ineffectually) for years.

It didn’t take long to figure out: the authors are dramatically liberal with their fact selection and foul language. While I appreciate just about any honest attempt to reach the misinformed general populace with the reality of what humans eat these days, the extensively unnecessary crudeness was a little hard to swallow.

My primary issues come down to three key points:
1. The facts are selective. The best books acknowledge and refute challenges to their precepts (or at least give all the facts). The SB authors were ready with graphic descriptions and foul epitaphs for every dirty secret of the mainstream food industry except one – they were noticeably dismissive of evidence regarding the damage soy does to your body (see my previous post on that here). Vegan-ism as an informed personal choice as fine, but as an alternative lifestyle based on food industry lies it's just a different form of the same blind slavery.
2. My brain now needs scrubbing. Ignoring the fact that their crude language wasn’t even creative, it’s ironic that people who tout the “garbage in, garbage out” principle don’t apply it to their own writing. The last things people need to find in a book that’s supposed to improve their lives are ugly words and insults.
3. Huge, yawning gaps in information. No book can cover everything, and some readers only want the quick and dirty version to begin with. Still, I found myself appalled more than once at the jumps the authors made in cause/effect and implication where it was convenient or incendiary.

If you are looking for some quick material to incite your young friends to change their food habits, pick this up and throw some of the juicy bits their way… Just keep a sponge handy to clean out your brain afterwards.