sarahxify's Reviews (703)

This book is brilliant for its unapologetic examination of the impact of religion. Hitchens is a bold writer and thinker, spurring the reader to consider more harshly the traditions and beliefs they may have grown up with or are otherwise accustomed to. For this, it earns five stars.

This book was really frustrating. They were trying to argue for veganism and for being "skinny" (lean), both things that I really agree with. They just did it so badly. They basically threw everything into this book, aggressively listing endless things that you shouldn't eat and saying you suck if you don't. I feel like someone who had this as their only resource to eating both vegan and really organically/clean/"chemical free"/whatever, would feel totally lost and that they couldn't eat anything aside from water and avocado. They attempted to use evidence-based arguments at the start which was good, citing biases in the food industry and the reason why dairy and meat have been marketed as being oh so good for us. However, the book then derailed into a generic fear of "chemicals" and saying being thin will make one happy.

I was actually glad to read something so brutal about diets, but this book just kept letting me down. It is such a shame because some parts of it are so important for people to learn about, but in my opinion the importance of that message was watered down and lost among all the other crap.