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Pig Tales
- An Omnivore's Quest for Sustainable Meat
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
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Publisher's summary
Barry Estabrook, author of the New York Times bestseller Tomatoland, now explores the dark side of the American pork industry. Drawing on his personal experiences raising pigs as well as his sharp investigative instincts, he covers the range of the human-porcine experience. He embarks on nocturnal feral pig hunts in Texas. He visits farmers who raise animals in vast confinement barns for Smithfield and Tyson, two of the country's biggest pork producers. And he describes the threat of infectious disease and the possible contamination of our food supply. Through these stories shines his abiding love for these remarkable creatures. With the cognitive abilities of at least three-year-olds, they can even learn to operate a modified computer. Unfortunately for the pigs, they're also delicious to eat.
Estabrook shows how these creatures are all too often subjected to lives of suffering in confinement and squalor, sustained on a drug-laced diet just long enough to reach slaughter weight, then killed on mechanized disassembly lines. But it doesn't have to be this way. It is possible to raise pigs responsibly and respectfully in a way that is good for producers, consumers, and some of the top chefs in America. Provocative, witty, and deeply informed, Pig Tales is bound to spark conversation at dinner tables across America.
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A major new exploration of the economics of animal exploitation and a practical road map for how we can use the marketplace to promote the welfare of all living creatures from the renowned animal-rights advocate Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States and New York Times best-selling author of The Bond.
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For all lovers of animals--even the most sensitive
- By monique on 05-01-16
By: Wayne Pacelle
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An Hour Before Daylight
- Memories of a Rural Boyhood
- By: Jimmy Carter
- Narrated by: Jimmy Carter
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Abridged
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In an American story of enduring importance, former President Jimmy Carter re-creates his Depression-era boyhood on a Georgia farm, before the civil rights movement that changed the country.
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A rare view of rural America
- By Samantha on 07-05-03
By: Jimmy Carter
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The Big Necessity
- The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters
- By: Rose George
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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We prefer not to talk about it, but we should. Disease spread by waste kills more people worldwide every year than any other single cause of death. Even in America, nearly two million people have no access to an indoor toilet. Yet the subject remains unmentionable. Moving from the underground sewers of Paris, London, and New York (an infrastructure disaster waiting to happen) to an Indian slum where ten toilets are shared by 60,000 people, The Big Necessity breaks the silence, revealing everything that matters about how people do - and don't - deal with their own waste.
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Utterly fascinating
- By Clayton on 03-31-19
By: Rose George
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Citizen Canine
- Our Evolving Relationship with Cats and Dogs
- By: David Grimm
- Narrated by: Graham Hamilton
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In this fascinating exploration of the changing status of dogs and cats in society, pet lover and award-winning journalist David Grimm explores the rich and surprising history of our favorite companion animals. He treks the long and often torturous path from their wild origins to their dark days in the middle ages to their current standing as the most valued animals on Earth. For pet lovers or anyone interested in how we decide who gets to be a “person” in today’s world, Citizen Canine is a must-have. It is a pet tale like no other.
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Cats and Dogs Unite!
- By Gillian on 03-03-15
By: David Grimm
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Poached
- Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking
- By: Rachel Love Nuwer
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Our insatiable demand for animals - for jewelry, pets, medicine, meat, trophies, and fur - is driving a worldwide poaching epidemic, threatening the continued existence of countless species. Rachel Nuwer, an award-winning science journalist with a background in ecology, takes listeners on a narrative journey to the front lines of the trade: to killing fields in Africa, traditional medicine black markets in China, and wild meat restaurants in Vietnam. Through exhaustive first-hand reporting that took her to 10 countries, Nuwer explores the forces currently driving the demand.
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Fascinating
- By Annie on 11-30-18
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The Good Food Revolution
- Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities
- By: Will Allen, Charles Wilson - with, Eric Schlosser - foreword
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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A pioneering urban farmer and MacArthur "Genius Award" winner points the way to building a new food system that can feed - and heal - broken communities. An eco-classic in the making, The Good Food Revolution is the story of Will's personal journey, the lives he has touched, and a grassroots movement that is changing the way our nation eats.
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This story teaches how to take back the soil
- By Shawn Borup on 11-09-19
By: Will Allen, and others
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Lab 257
- The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Germ Laboratory
- By: Michael Christopher Carroll
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Strictly off limits to the public, Plum Island is home to virginal beaches, cliffs, forests, ponds - and the deadliest germs that have ever roamed the planet. Lab 257 blows the lid off the stunning true nature and checkered history of Plum Island. It shows that the seemingly bucolic island in the shadow of New York City is a ticking biological time bomb that none of us can safely ignore.
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More Politics Than Science
- By A Customer on 05-26-17
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Lentil Underground
- Renegade Farmers and the Future of Food in America
- By: Liz Carlisle
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The story of the "Lentil Underground" begins on a 280-acre homestead rooted in America's Great Plains: the Oien family farm. Forty years ago, corporate agribusiness told small farmers like the Oiens to "get big or get out." But 27-year-old David Oien decided to take a stand, becoming the first in his conservative Montana county to plant a radically different crop: organic lentils. Unlike the chemically dependent grains American farmers had been told to grow, lentils make their own fertilizer and tolerate variable climates, so their farmers aren't beholden to industrial methods.
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Fingers on the pulse of sustainable ag
- By shakinfist on 06-30-20
By: Liz Carlisle
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Sheepish
- Two Women, Fifty Sheep, and Enough Wool to Save the Planet
- By: Catherine Friend
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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What do you do when you love your farm...but it doesn’t love you? After 15 years of farming, Catherine Friend is tired. After all, while shepherding is one of the oldest professions, it’s not getting any easier. The number of sheep in America has fallen by 90 percent in the last 90 years. But just as Catherine thinks it’s time to hang up her shepherd’s crook, she discovers that sheep might be too valuable to give up. What ensues is a funny, thoughtful romp through the history of our woolly friends, why small farms are important, and how each one of us - and the planet - would benefit from being very sheepish, indeed.
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We're all a little sheepish
- By Pam on 12-23-14
By: Catherine Friend
What listeners say about Pig Tales
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- D. Spencer
- 02-25-16
Enlightening and well done
Some sections were dry but interesting; while others were very memorable. Comprehensive, journalistic, valuable.
Given the title, and that I'm vegan, the author's quest is not completely mine. Nonetheless, I really appreciate the author's integrity and commitment.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Sam DeSocio
- 09-10-15
A helpful and focused book.
If you've read the omnivores dilemma and the third plate you probably have a basic guess as to where this book is going, and that's OK. this is a helpful addition to those works, but not as robust. If you care about stewardship issues it is worth reading. the first few chapters of the audio book were cut poorly but things sounded better after a few chapters.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Jami
- 05-28-23
Intersting and Horrific
This was an informative book about the pork industry. I enjoyed the stories about pigs as I didn’t realize how intelligent they are. I was also horrified at some of the information about the pork industry’s practices.
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- Shawn C313
- 03-18-17
Excellent read. Engaged from start to finish.
Great book for those hoping to educate themselves on the pork industry. Engaging presentation of the information.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jonathan Kring
- 06-02-23
Very well written! Easy to listen to! As a farmer, I’d recommend this book!
Very well done book! As a farmer myself, I believe the author did a good job of trying to place people in the best light possible but still getting give the facts of different styles of farming! Definitely recommend!
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- Devlin Faust
- 09-30-15
Nary a Squeal About This Book
Any additional comments?
First and foremost, this book is a documentary. If you are looking for a book about a magic hog or perhaps a novel about an over-sexed vampire pig, you will have have to look elsewhere.
That said, what we have here is a well-done documentary that touches not only on current meat processing practices but also on the history of swine. Some of what was written is interesting, surprising and even somewhat disturbing.
There are no 'recipes' in this book, but there's little doubt that the author has an abiding love of bacon and other cuts. There's a brief section in the book about how cute some of the young pigs are, and they seem to be on the verge of almost becoming something like pets, but they get slaughtered eventually, albeit in the nicest way possible...sort of.
I would imagine that someone who is very deeply committed to animal rights and/or vegetarianism would have problems getting through this book, as it can be rather graphic in examining methods in the pork-processing industry. By the same token, if someone is wedded to the idea that big corporate farms and big corporate processing is the only way there is to go, then they are likely to be 'disappointed' in some of the conclusions in this book.
On the whole, it seems as though the author does a pretty good job of being 'balanced' in his approach, and what is produced appears to be an honest attempt to describe the current situation for raising and processing pork, which is something most of us probably don't want to think about when we sit down for a nice meal featuring ribs or when we grab a ham sandwich to go. It gets bogged down just a bit in some statistics, but this is short-lived and mostly the book is interesting. The narration is very good, as well.
If you are looking for a book that is everything you wanted to know about the pork industry-but was afraid (or reluctant) to ask, then by all means, dig in!
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6 people found this helpful
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- Ryan
- 09-17-21
Great insight
The brute honesty of farming and industrial farm was well written. Easy listen and spoken in a way to learn. I would like a follow up book on the current industry and vertical integration. Great talking points. Good book.
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- mru2
- 01-05-24
Read by a robot?
I had to see if the performance was human or not. Any vocal tone changes (few) almost seemed in the wrong places. It was distracting. Also some of the technical words were mispronounced.
As far as the subject, it was interesting and fairly well researched. Some of the points made clearly missed qualifications that would make them accurate. It’s clear the author had an agenda in writing the book. That’s not uncommon but frustrating for the consumer who knows a few things about the subject.
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