The Gist: Welcome to the second month of the VegNews Book Club! This month, we are changing the tone a bit and reading Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. This book became quite popular when it was published in 2005—it was on The New York Times bestseller list for more than a year—among vegans and non-vegans alike. It caused a bit of controversy, which I hope to discuss throughout the month. You may also know Rory Freedman as a past VN contributor with her column Skinny Bitching.

I asked you to read the first four chapters this week, which I think read quite quickly. In the first chapter, "Give It Up," Freedman and Barnouin list several vices that we should give up, including cigarettes, coffee, alcohol (except for sulfite-free, organic wine), soda, junk food, and OTC pills. In "Carbs: The Truth," they say that carbs are a good thing, as long as they are complex carbohydrates, and not simple carbohydrates. In the third chapter, "Sugar is the Devil," they say that refined sugar should definitely be nixed from your diet, and replaced by natural sweeteners such as agave, Stevia, and maple syrup, to name a few. Finally, in "The Dead, Rotting, Decomposing Flesh Diet," they encompass Mad Cowboy's themes in one chapter, talking about the unhealthiness of meat as well as delving into the many problems with factory farming.

The Discussion: Now for the discussion! Here are two discussion questions that I found pertinent to these chapters and the book as a whole.

1. What are your feelings on the tone of this book? Do you think it's effective in getting the point across?

2. Freedman and Barnouin mention a lot of things to forgo. Have you gone beyond being vegan and given up coffee, cigarettes (if you smoke or have smoked), sugar, or alcohol? If so, which was the most challenging? How did you feel afterward?

The Assignment: Please read chapters 5 to 8 for our first discussion on Monday, August 9.

~VN Book Club Hostess Lyndsay Orwig

The Summary: Happy Friday everyone! It has been a great first month for the VegNews Book Club, and we have reached the end of our discussion of Mad Cowboy. I have very much enjoyed being in conversation with you about this thought-provoking book, and I'm looking forward to discussing more titles with you in the months to come—next week, Skinny Bitch!

As mentioned last Tuesday, we were very lucky to have Mad Cowboy author Howard Lyman agree to answer some readers' questions for us, and without further ado, here are the top five questions with Howard's response. Have a great weekend!

Susan Bran: I am an American living in Guatemala. I have seen first hand the destruction of the forests here for cattle. We live on top of a mountain close to a volcano, and every time we drive down we see trees burning to make more land for grazing cows. However, if I try to talk to the people here and in the States about the tragedy of destroying natural forests for one season of food for cows, they look at me like I'm crazy. How do I get the importance of this across to them?

Howard: Susan, always talk in the first person, such as what you saw and what it meant to you. When you talk about what they should do, it causes them to stop thinking. Talk about yourself, and they will get the picture.

Alice: As someone who certainly had connections with other factory farmers, have you been able to convince any of your former colleagues to go vegan? Thanks!

Howard: I have changed a handful, but most have gone out of business or died.

e___abeth: It's been 12 years since Mad Cowboy was first published. How do you think the meat industry, and conversely the public consciousness around the hazards of eating meat, has changed in that time? What shifts do you foresee happening in the future?

Howard: The meat industry is on the defensive. Health, environment, and global warming are on our side. I believe the majority of Americans will be plant eaters in my lifetime. I'm 72 today.

Anonymous: What's your favorite vegan recipe?

Howard: Rice and beans without a doubt.

Sarah O: Hello Mr. Lyman! I really enjoyed your book, and I want to thank you for taking your time to answer some questions! I attended the Lyman vs. Niman debate this past May where you talked a little about your lobbying efforts in Washington, DC. What are you currently working on?

Howard: Today I spend the majority of my time educating at the grassroots. This is the mother lode for success.

~VN Book Club Hostess Lyndsay Orwig

Special Post: Howard Lyman Q & A

I am very pleased to announce that Howard Lyman has offered to respond to a few questions from readers about his book, Mad Cowboy! This is a very exciting chance to get answers straight from the source, and to find out more about the author of the book that we've enjoyed this month. Please submit a question via the comments section by 9 am tomorrow morning, and I will pick the top five to send to Howard to answer. I look forward to seeing your questions!

~VN Book Club Hostess Lyndsay Orwig

The Gist: Hello VegNews Book Clubbers! It's good to be back at the VNHQ after a week off in the Midwest. It is the final week of the first month of the VegNews Book Club, and we will be discussing the last two chapters of Mad Cowboy. I can't believe how fast this month has flown by! I hope you're as excited as I am to discuss the book's conclusion, as well as to start reading next month's book, Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin.

The last two chapters were definitely not as heavy as the previous chapters. In chapter 8, "Skip the Miracles and Eat Well," Lyman brings up the health benefits of adopting a vegan lifestyle, and also discusses how fad diets—particularly the "Zone" diet—just don't work and are very unhealthy, to say the least. In the shorter final chapter, "Going Home," he discusses his experience of going back home to Montana after several years away, and how all the family farms were gone. He ends the book with some final questions about what we as a generation will leave behind for future generations.

The Discussion: I'm going to leave you with two discussion points, which will conclude our conversation of Mad Cowboy. I look forward to reading your thought-provoking answers and comments!

1. (Chapter 8) Lyman talks about fad diets and how they can be very unhealthy. Unfortunately, some may view the vegan lifestyle as a fad diet, or see it as very restrictive. How do you break these stereotypes?

2. (Chapter 9) I think that Lyman asks some very good questions in the final chapter. What positive changes would you like to see by 2050—covering all aspects of society, including environmental, technological, social, etc.?

The Assignment: We will be discussing Skinny Bitch next week! Please read chapters 1 to 4 for our first discussion on Monday, August 2.

~VN Book Club Hostess Lyndsay Orwig

The Summary: Welcome to the end of Week 3 of Mad Cowboy by Howard Lyman! This week, even though our usual Book Club Hostess Lyndsay was out, the conversation was as fast and furious as always. Before she left, Lyndsay posed a couple of tough questions. One, if factory farms had never existed, would there still be a vegan movement, and would everyone participating here still be vegan, and two, will the world's population eventually consume so many resources that it will have to adopt a plant-based lifestyle out of necessity?

As you can see, these are a couple of heavy hitters, and the responses they elicited were just as thought-provoking as the questions themselves. Perhaps the most interesting insight came from an anonymous poster who grew up on a family farm. The commenter noted that even family farms use land, water, and other resources that could easily be used to feed humans directly, and in a more eco-friendly fashion at that. Paul mentioned that everyone can hope for (and work toward) a world without factory farms in efforts to lessen the suffering of animals. And, perhaps most tellingly, everyone said they'd still be vegan, even if factory farms had never existed. Personally, I agree with Nina, who said that she simply no longer considers meat to be food.

As for the world eventually going vegan out of necessity, the comments swayed toward the "yes" side. The UN recently recommended that a worldwide vegan diet might be one of the only changes that can be made that will alleviate both global hunger and the effects of climate change. I'm pretty much all for something that can remedy hunger, climate change, and animal suffering in one fell swoop! Here's hoping you're enjoying the final chapters of Mad Cowboy! Lyndsay will be back on Monday with her latest round of book-based brain teasers from chapters 8 and 9. Happy reading and have a great weekend!

The Gist: Good morning VegNews Book Clubbers! I am actually reporting from Toledo, OH this week, so you will not hear from me for the remainder of the week. Not to worry! VN Managing Editor Elizabeth Castoria will take over moderation and summarizing our discussion at the end of the week.

We are nearing the end of Mad Cowboy, and will be discussing chapters six and seven this week. In chapter six, "Biotech Bullies," Lyman covers the dairy industry and provides an introduction to recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH)—a drug used to increase milk production. Multi-national corporation Monsanto was the main force behind rBGH, which was clearly a risk to the health of both humans and cows, yet the hormone was still able to get passed by the FDA due to shady negotiations. The seventh chapter, "Bovine Planet," goes into detail about the environmental effects of animal industry, including deforestation, pollution, and fresh water shortage.

The Discussion: Here are a couple discussion points for these two information-packed chapters. I look forward to reading your thoughts!

1. (Chapter 6) Lyman brings up the fact that we are losing about 150,000 family farms a year. If factory farms never existed, and all of our food was grown or produced on family farms, would you be a vegan/vegetarian? Do you think the concept of veganism would still exist?

2. (Chapter 7) Lyman states that we could feed so many more people with a plant-based diet than a meat-based diet. Do you think that once the population outgrows the amount of resources available to sustain it, we will have no other choice but to switch to a plant-based diet—for those who haven't already?

The Assignment: Read the rest of Mad Cowboy for the July 26 discussion.

~VN Book Club Hostess Lyndsay Orwig

The Summary: It's the end of the second week of reading Mad Cowboy by Howard Lyman, and I am really loving the conversation so far. Thank you to those who participated this week in our discussion of chapters four and five. I know this is a pretty serious book that raises serious issues, which aren't always fun to think about.

I brought up three discussion questions last Monday. The first asked if it is easy to lose focus nowadays in our society, and the consensus was yes, but both Lola_318 and Z.aira brought up the fact that it is also pretty easy to regain that focus, either by surrounding yourself with nature, or even by the same thing that made you lose focus in the first place (the television, in Z.aira's case). I, for one, can lose focus very easily, and I've found that riding my bike, reading, and listening to music have helped me maintain, and regain, when needed, perspective.

Second, I asked how will the rights of animals will ever be respected when we can't even respect the rights of all human beings, which I know is a tough question, and one that doesn't necessarily have an answer. I appreciate the thoughtful responses to this question, and I do agree that it's important to try to stay positive about this issue, and to focus on the good things that people are doing to help both fellow human beings and animals.

Finally, I asked about the validity of the fear of Mad Cow Disease now after the 12 years that have passed since the book was published, and whether there are more contemporary concerns at hand. Readers were in agreement that there are probably more pressing concerns at the moment, such as Salmonella, but that it's still important to be wary of the threat of Mad Cow Disease. It was also mentioned that we can fight each one of these problems by choosing a cruelty-free diet.

So that is it for this week! This Monday I will post the discussion questions for chapters six and seven of Mad Cowboy. I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend. Happy reading!

~VN Book Club Hostess Lyndsay Orwig

The Gist: Hello VegNews Book Clubbers! I hope you guys had a great weekend and have devoured the next two chapters of Mad Cowboy. I find this book a fast read, maybe due to the fact that it's a topic that I'm very passionate about, or maybe Lyman's writing style is easy to absorb. In chapter 4, "From the Farm to the Capital," Lyman recalls his experience with a cancerous tumor in his spine, and the risky surgery he had to undergo to remove it, which nearly left him paralyzed. This traumatic event led him to reassessing his life and career, changing his farm and lifestyle completely, and begin his lobbying efforts in Washington, DC. In "Mad Cows and Bureaucrats," Lyman summarizes the rise of Mad Cow Disease in England, and how the English government denied and tried to cover it up for several years, causing many people to become infected and die of the disease. He then talks about his Beyond Beef Campaign, in which he investigated the US Department of Agriculture for information on chemical contamination of meat and animal illnesses entering the food chain. When he discovered a report possibly dealing with Mad Cow Disease, it was quickly covered up by the government officials he was working with. Lyman ends the chapter expressing his concern of Mad Cow Disease spreading in the US, and posing the question of whether our government will act similarly to that of the English government.

The Discussion: So let's get the conversation going! Here are three discussion points that I find relevant to these two chapters. Please respond to one or all of them, and read the comments of others and respond if you feel strongly about something said. I look forward to chatting with you guys throughout the week!

1. (Chapter 4, p. 68) Lyman expresses losing focus in his life, which I find is easy to do nowadays. Do you agree? What do you do to maintain focus?

2. (Chapter 4) The last sentence of p. 69 reminds me of an experience I had several years ago in the Dominican Republic, where I spent four months volunteering in impoverished Haitian villages. While there, I noticed that there were a ton of stray dogs and cats who were very malnourished and mistreated. This saddened me, but I realized that human beings in this country were not even cared for, so wanting to care for the animals seemed hopeless. It's a very solemn fact, but one that I find true. In this world, human-rights violations are everywhere. How will the rights of animals ever be respected when we can't even respect the rights of all human beings?

3. (Chapter 5) This book was published in 1998. Twelve years have now passed, and Mad Cow Disease is still mentioned in the news along with Bird Flu, but no epidemic has occurred as of yet. Do you think Lyman's fear of the spread of Mad Cow Disease is still valid? Are there now more contemporary concerns?

The Assignment: Read chapters 6 and 7 of Mad Cowboy for the July 19 discussion.

~VN Book Club Hostess Lyndsay Orwig

The Summary: It's been a great week for the VegNews Book Club, where we've been conversing about the first three chapters of Mad Cowboy by Howard Lyman. I have really liked the book so far, and though the book covers a serious and somewhat depressing issue, I appreciate the wit and humor that Lyman throws in throughout the book.

I brought up five discussion points this past Monday, and many of you answered each one with well-thought-out answers that helped to spark scintillating conversation. In the future I definitely suggest that you respond to other readers' comments, as well as my questions, so we can get a real dialogue going.

When I posed the question how Lyman differs from other farmers, responses ranged from him running his farm into the ground, his upbringing and education helping him to see the light, to his quality of life changing. These are all intriguing points and help to show who Lyman is, and why he chose to change his ways. It will be interesting to see if he talks more of why he changed and how he feels about his past.

There was a resounding "Yes" to my third question on whether you would give up your livelihood to speak your mind or tell the truth, but there were a couple readers who talked it through. For example, financial stability and homelessness were brought up. It may be hard for some of us to imagine not having a home. What if you weren't in a financial situation to quit your job, even if you didn't feel right about it? These are difficult questions, even hypothetically.

Finally, I really appreciate all of the participation this week, and look forward to more fascinating dialogue in the following weeks and months! If you have any other questions or discussion points for the first three chapters, please feel free to post them. On Monday, we will be discussing chapters 4 and 5 of Mad Cowboy. See you then!

~VN Book Club Hostess Lyndsay Orwig

The Gist: Welcome to the first month of the VegNews Book Club! I hope you're as excited as I am to get started with our conversation of Mad Cowboy by Howard Lyman—the fourth-generation cattle rancher-turned-vegan. In chapter one, Lyman talks about his experience on The Oprah Winfrey Show, where he spoke out about Mad Cow Disease and how it was very possible that the US would follow in the same footsteps as England, where Mad Cow Disease spread quite rapidly. Both he and Oprah were subsequently sued by Texas cattlemen for "food disparagement" after Oprah claimed she'd never eat another hamburger. (Lyman and Oprah eventually won the case.) In chapter two, he points out the "simple facts" of eating meat and animal products, and how it contributes a variety of illnesses including atherosclerosis, high cholesterol, stroke, osteoporosis, diebetes, and hypertension. Finally, in chapter three Lyman talks about his personal history of growing up on an organic family farm, eventually taking over after reaching adulthood. Once in his control, he turned it into a much larger operation by using chemicals of all kinds in order to "improve on nature."

The Discussion: Lyman brings up many important issues in these first three chapters, five of which I've summarized below. Feel free to answer only one or all of them in the comments section. I will be moderating the discussion throughout the week, responding to comments, and posting a summary of everyone's thoughts this Friday, July 9.

1. (Chapter 1 and 3) What makes Lyman different from other farmers? How and why do you think his consciousness emerged while most farmers don't or will not change their views on agribusiness?

2. (Chapter 1) Do you think the Oprah event was a turning point in how factory farming was viewed by the public?

3. (Chapter 1) If it would cost you your livelihood, would you speak your mind or tell the truth about something?

4. (Chapter 2, p. 42) Hypothetically, what do you think would happen if the world went veg/vegan overnight?

5. (Chapter 3) How could we separate the concepts of money and power (where agribusiness comes into play) from consciousness and morality? Is this even possible?

The Assignment: Read chapters 4 and 5 of Mad Cowboy for the July 12 discussion.

~VN Book Club Hostess Lyndsay Orwig

Let's Open Our Books

The Intro: Welcome to the VegNews Book Club! I'm Lyndsay Orwig, VN's office manager and an avid reader, and I am very excited to be your hostess for our brand-new blog! We will be reading both fiction and non-fiction works, hosting discussions, and chatting with superstar authors. We'll read one book per month with a new discussion every week, and build your knowledge of the cruelty-free lifestyle we all know and love. Can't wait to get started? Without further ado, here are the first three titles that we will read during the next three months:

July: Mad Cowboy by Howard Lyman
August: Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin
September: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

So get into your comfiest reading chair and hit those books! We'll be back with the next post on Monday, July 5, for our first discussion of Mad Cowboy.

The Assignment: Read chapters 1 to 3 of Mad Cowboy for the July 5 discussion.

~VN Book Club Hostess Lyndsay Orwig