January 2006 | Conscious Culture
Book Reviews
By Christine Mangan & Deborah Straw
MAKING KIND CHOICES: Everyday Ways to Enhance Your Life Through Earth- And Animal-Friendly Living (St. Martin’s Griffin, $13.95). Ever wonder where to purchase vegan shoes? Or how to avoid using cosmetics that contain animal ingredients? The engaging new reference book, Making Kind Choices, answers both of these questions and much more. Written by Ingrid Newkirk, founder and president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Making Kind Choices serves as a how-to guide for anyone interested in living a life that is both Earth- and animal-friendly.
Newkirk covers everything from the importance of making environmentally safe choices in cleaning supplies to the preparation of what she refers to as “kind cakes,” desserts made without the use of animal products. At the conclusion of each chapter, Newkirk includes websites, contact information and an occasional recipe, all designed to assist readers in making enlightened everyday choices. But perhaps the most compelling part of the book is the narrative. Newkirk’s easy-to-read prose provides the reader with some surprising facts. After all, how any people actually know that the production of some wool harms lambs? Newkirk explains how, in an effort to rid Australian-raised Merino lambs of maggot infestations—caused because the breed was intended for colder climates such as Scotland—farmers remove a large chunk of the lamb’s rump with the wool. The process is so painful that it takes several days before the lambs are able to stand. And what about the declawing of cats? The practice, Newkirk notes, is already illegal in England, where one veterinarian proclaimed, “I wouldn’t declaw a cat if you paid me $1,000 a nail.”
Making Kind Choices promises to make readers think twice about how just small, everyday decisions can affect the larger web of life on Earth. (Christine Mangan)
THE BEST AMERICAN SPIRITUAL WRITING 2005, edited by Philip Zaleski, introduction by Barry Lopez (Houghton Mifflin, $14). Barry Lopez, who has taught many of us to pay closer attention, defines spiritual writing this way, “It seems to me that this experience with the numinous, of release into a world that stands outside human comprehension, is what lies at the heart of ‘spiritual writing.’”
The 34 writers in The Best American Spiritual Writing 2005 take on many topics: connection to nature, connection to a mentor, connection to faith, connection to travel, connection to avocation, connection to God. Patricia Hample writes about being an American tourist in an area where gawking attention is not wanted. Margaret Erhard, an entomologist, writes about the dilemma she faces in her profession: “If I can catch it, I do, in order to kill it.” Natalie Goldberg, everyone’s favorite writing guru, tells about losing her Buddhist mentor to cancer. Heather King writes about choosing to live intentionally as a poor person to become more aware. Essays and poems are included.
This book will appeal to those on a spiritual quest. It should also appeal to readers who believe that this country has taken a bad turn. As Lopez writes, “What we must ask of spiritual writing, I think, is that it be of some practical value in a culture as ethically conflicted as ours.” These works are just that—valuable. (Deborah Straw)
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