THE VEGAN NEWS 

BOOK REVIEWS

CHILDREN'S BOOKS

Everyone Can Be a Hero by J R Birch (Inside Outsider Publications, 2007)
This is an eco novel from the future by June  Birch. The people eat vegan  food, organically grown and their lifestyle  is sustainable... but there has already been a nuclear accident and  now four teenagers need to find out where the nuclear waste trains are  going and why? The people are trying to live better, kinder lives, but  does the government share their aspirations?   To find out more, please visit http://www.insideoutsider.co.uk (a solar  powered website), where you can also read a chapter and buy copies of the book.  Price:  £10.00 including postage in  the U.K, or  £8.00 for 'your own covers' book.  You can pay by PayPal, cheque, or  postal order.   Please email us at inoutpublic@aol.co.uk if you are overseas, for extra postal charges. We only take payment by PayPal invoiced bill, or by cheque. The book can be purchased at Waterstone's online, or order  in shop or from other main online stores.  

Added:  March 2010

Organic Alice and the Wiggly Jiggly Worm by Jenny Hall (2008)

For preschool and Key Stage 1 children complementing the National Curriculum.  Readers discover an actual organic farm where wildlife characters are as real as the people.  The author is a vegan organic farmer.  Price £4.99.

Added:  Dec 2008

Tommy Tofu Saves The Day! by Joanne Rose (November 2008)
Meet Tommy Tofu and find out how the Veggie Bunch discover the secret treasure in this simply illustrated yet colourful children's book.  The little smiley veggies are irresistible! As well as being a nice story, this book also contains quite a lot of nutritional information in the form of Veggie Fun Facts.  Available from Vegan Vision for $10.00.

Added:  Dec 2008

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COOKERY

Easy Vegan: Simple Recipes for Healthy Eating (Ryland, Peters & Small, 2010)
 
A rather nice cookery book with plenty of appetising and inspiring photographs. This collection of over a 100 recipes contains tasty dishes from all over the world, all beautifully presented and bursting with simple, easily available and nutritious ingredients. This book shows just how easy it is to produce balanced vegan meals without resorting to convenience foods or meat substitutes. Included are recipes for Soups, Snacks, Salads, Main Meals, Desserts and Drinks and most of the recipes are quite unique.  Available from Amazon for £6.03. ISBN: 978-1-84597-958-4.  

Added: Nov 2010

Raw Food for Real People:  Living Vegan Food Made Simple by Rod Rotondi  (New World Library, September 2009)


Written by Rod Rotondi, the chef and founder of Leaf Organics, this newly published raw recipe book tells the story of the author's own transition to the raw food diet and contains many helpful hints on how to successfully follow a raw food lifestyle. Providing general guidance on basic raw food preparation techniques such as sprouting and dehydration and offering useful advice on how to set up a raw food kitchen, it also contains a discussion of the possible health benefits of the raw-food diet, covering issues such as whether the raw food diet heal Type II diabetes as claimed by raw food experts like Gabriel Cousens MD, who wrote the book Cure for Diabetes.

The second part of this book contains around 70 simple-as-slicing-an-apple recipes, all made from natural, organic, raw and additive-free ingredients, including nourishing breakfast ideas, recipes for appetizers and entrées, filling salad meals, soups, smoothies, nut mylks, breads and yummy desserts. This inspiring book would be particularly useful for raw food beginners. It's also nicely illustrated with many mouthwatering, coloured photographs. Price $24.95.  ISBN: 978-1-57731-673-2.

The book can be ordered at major booksellers, from the New World Library website at http://www.newworldlibrary.com, or by calling 800-972-6657.

Added:  23 Sept 2009

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HEALTH

More or Less? Discover the Secrets of Lifetime Weight Control by Donald Norfolk (Self Help Alliance Ltd, 2011)

Most of us are getting fatter. This interesting, informative and easy-to-read book aims to solve the obesity epidemic once and for all. However, rather than being just another crash diet book, it offers a new, fun approach to tackling obesity. This simple 39 step programme gradually turns bad habits into sensible habits to produce lifetime weight control without the need for following diet sheets. Well set out and easy to follow, the nine month, Ess Vee programme has a box summarising each week's task at the end of every chapter. This book had me nodding my head in agreement as it seemed to confirm most of the common sense things that I had always suspected. This is not a vegan book, but most of the advice could be useful to overweight vegans. However, I must point out that in Step 38 'When a Cow Becomes Man's Best Friend'  the author does promote dairy products as being a vital part of a healthy, balanced diet.  ISBN 978-0-9569789-0-5.  Price £10.00.  

Added: 21 Jan 2012

Copies of the book can be obtained by filling in a form at the bottom of the home page of the Self Help Alliance web site. For every book that is sold from this page £1.00 will be donated to a registered Lanzarote charity, which provides food, water and schooling facilities for starving children in Kenya.


The Protein Myth - Significantly reducing the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke and diabetes while saving the animals and building a better world by David Gerow Irving (O Books, September 2011)

Do we really need to consume lots of protein? This thought-provoking book looks at the connection between consumption of animal protein and Western diseases focusing particularly on the much-ignored results of the China Study. It discusses why information that could prevent or even reverse disease is often kept from the public, or is simply given out as diluted advice by health professionals to reduce meat consumption rather than to switch to a completely plant-based diet. Although based largely on American data, this book should be of interest to UK vegans and should be read urgently by all health professionals, prescription drug takers and meat and dairy eaters everywhere. Contains descriptions of the animal exploitation prevalent in factory farming systems and research facilities and also looks at how animal protein consumption creates world poverty, profits the drug companies, contributes to global warming and affects other aspects of planet health. Hopefully the publication of this book will highlight the benefits of a plant based diet and encourage a much-needed debate on the subject.  ISBN: 978-1-84694-673-8. Price £18.99.  For more information visit: O- Books.

Added: 23 Aug 2011

Available from Amazon UK from the 30th September 2011 for £10.79 (Pre-order available).

Quick & Easy Face Massage by Beata Aleksandrowicz (Duncan Baird Publishers (London), 2008)


Anybody can benefit from this little book of five minute face massages that enable you to discover your own face.  These straightforward massages, which can be tackled in any order, can be used anywhere, at anytime, in order to de-stress, re-energise, or simply to slow down the aging process. Use them to tone your face muscles, boost your circulation and to release any tension and tiredness stored in your face. Ideal also for blocked sinuses, aching shoulders, tensed up neck muscles, or for bringing back the sparkle to your eyes! Use them everywhere: at work, before an exam, in bed, in the shower, when travelling, or on holiday.  In fact why not share a massage with your partner when you want to spend some extra time together? The compact size of this book makes it easy to carry around with you everywhere you go.  I liked the book's magnetic closing mechanism and the menu of massage sequences at the back of the book.  Price £5.99. ISBN:  978-1-84483-658-1.
 
To find out more about this book click here. It's also available from Amazon UK for £4.49.

Other Health & Well-Being books published by Duncan Baird Publishers include: Overcoming Diabetes, Overcoming High Blood Pressure (both by Dr Sarah Brewer), The Top 100 Healing Foods, Meditation Bliss and Food Is Medicine.

Added: Nov  2008, Updated August 2009

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STOCKFREE & ORGANIC GARDENING

The Allotment Book: A Practical Guide to Creating & Enjoying Your Own Perfect Plot by Andi Clevely     (Collins, 2008)

This is a nicely illustrated, clearly written and informative guide to crop planning and allotment growing techniques. It also includes a useful seasonal guide to key allotment tasks to help you organise and co-ordinate your cropping programme and a list of seed and plant suppliers.  Ideal for beginners. Price £12.99.  ISBN: 978-0-00-727077.  

Added:  Oct 2009

21st Century Smallholder: How To Go Back To The Land Without Leaving Home by Paul Waddington (Transworld Publishers, 2008)

This is an interesting little book that should be read by anyone who is thinking of purchasing and running their own smallholding.  Even if you don't want to go this far, or are operating on a much smaller scale, perhaps just growing some food on an allotment or in patio containers, it nevertheless contains plenty of useful information to enable you to reduce your environmental impact. Covering most aspects of food production and storage, it also offers tips on how to increase biodiversity and provides a good introduction to other aspects of sustainable living such as building an eco-home, energy saving and generating methods, water harvesting and recycling of grey water.  A useful month-by-month year planner provides sowing, planting and harvesting times and the book also contains two interesting case studies of people who run their own smallholdings. Be warned though, there's a chapter on raising animals and keeping bees for food. Best to skip this chapter!  ISBN: 978-1-905-81116-8.  Price £7.99.

Added: 16 June 2009

Salad Leaves for All Seasons: Organic Growing From Pot To Plot by Charles Dowding (Green Books, 2008)

Why pay a fortune for supermarket bags of mixed salad leaves when it's easy to grow your own? This comprehensive book guides you through the whole process of producing your own supply of fresh and tasty salad leaves. Learn all of the tricks of salad leaf production, including how to obtain high yields from small spaces. Find out how to deal with slugs and other pests; how to make and plant up a raised bed and when and how to sow and harvest the leaves. The author then goes on to describe in detail the many plants that can be used for salad leaf production: lettuces galore; endives and colourful chicories; tasty brassicas and beets; herbs; flowers and other more exotic possibilities. The final chapters cover the more tricky production of salad leaves in winter.  An interesting, informative and inspiring little book.  My raised salad bed has now been made and planted up (more on this later) and I have developed a profound fascination for chicories!  Highly recommended.  I obtained my copy from the public library. However, there is often a long wait for this popular book. Incidentally, it's currently available by mail order from Amazon UK if you would like to purchase a copy. ISBN: 978-1-900322-20-1. Price £10.95. 

Added: 14 April 2009

Grow Organic In Association With Garden Organic (Dorling Kindersley, Made With Care,  2008)


Written by Garden Organic (formerly known as HDRA), this beautifully illustrated, practical and informative reference book provides clear guidance on organic growing methods.  It  covers topics such as organic soil management, use of green manures, watering, weeding, mulching, composting, wildlife gardening and information on how to grow vegetables, herbs and fruit organically.  It contains a little non-vegan information, providing advice on the use of animal manures, for example. However, it emphasises the importance of feeding the soil rather than feeding plants directly with fertilisers.  I found the advice on how to prune fruit bushes and fruit trees to be much clearer than in most of the other books I have read on this topic. I especially liked the simplicity of the brown cardboard FSC cover and the use of vegetable inks for printing.  This book is very similar in content to the Reader's Digest book entitled Food from Your Garden & Allotment I reviewed in an earlier issue, but perhaps not so detailed. A well presented and environmentally friendly book! Price £17.99.

Added: 30 Jan 2009

ISBN: 978-1-4053-3091-6.

Permaculture: A Beginner's Guide by Graham Burnett (Second Edition, September 2008)

Find out: What is permaculture? Why do we need permaculture? What are permaculture ethics and the principles of working with nature's patterns?  What are the basics of the permaculture design process? How can you use permaculture practically in your life, home, garden, land or community, whatever your situation?  Plus many practical tips, including: reading your land, saving energy, year round food from your garden and how to use your weeds...  

This new edition of this highly popular book has been revised and updated and significantly upgraded in terms of production values and has a new section of colour photographs illustrating 'permaculture in practice!' Foreword by Brigit Strawbridge of BBC TV's 'It's Not Easy Being Green'. ISBN 978-0-9553492-1-8. Price £8.00.  Available from Spiralseed, 35 Raleigh Avenue, Westcliff on Sea, Essex SS0 7DS.  It can be purchased online from Spiralseed.  

Added:  Dec 2008

Growing Green: Organic Techniques for a Sustainable Future by Jenny Hall and Ian Tolhurst (Vegan Organic Network, 2006)
This is an excellent and comprehensive reference book for anyone who wants to have a go at stockfree organic growing and would also be useful to anyone who simply wants to find out more about the subject. This clearly written, step-by-step guide covers the following topics, all set out logically in the form of organic standards: 

• Stockfree-organic systems.
  
• Methods of soil protection.
• Ways of increasing soil fertility.
• Composting procedures.
• Propagation.
• Rotation.
• Weed control.
  
• Disease control and non-harmful ways of controlling competitors.
  
• Ways of attracting wildlife and beneficial insects.
• Clear instructions on how to produce the most commonly grown UK vegetables.
• Season extension and crop storage techniques.
• How to market stockfree-organic produce.

It's available online from October Books and from Eco-logic Books. Price £18.99. ISBN: 0-9552225-0-8.

Updated: Dec 2008

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OTHER BOOKS

The Forager Handbook: A Guide to the Edible Plants of Britain by Miles Irving (Edbury Press, 2009)


Why not rediscover how to forage? This informative and useful book  must be my favourite book on the subject of seasonal foraging for wildfood.  It offers an in depth coverage of the many edible and nutritious plants that grow in our woods and hedgerows, both in the countryside and in our cities. The plants are grouped into families for easy reference and unlike most other books on the subject, this book leaves you with a fairly clear idea of how to prepare and use the foodstuffs in the kitchen as well as how to find and identify them. Providing information on a variety of tasty nuts and berries as well as on common edible plants you'll soon begin to see the potential in wild plants and realise that they aren't all weeds after all. Unfortunately, it doesn't cover wild mushrooms, but roasted chestnuts, blackberry jam and hot nettle soup could soon be yours! ISBN: 978-0-09-191363-2.  Available from Amazon for £16.72.
 

Added: Oct 2010

Wild Food For Free by Jonathan Hilton  (Gaia, 2007)


Another useful foraging book and this book does include woodland fungi! It has many nice colour photos to inspire and help with identification, plus each plant has a useful checklist and there is also a section on edible seaside plants. I think this book is better for identification purposes, but the instructions on how to use each item aren't as detailed as in The Forager Handbook. However, you could always purchase a copy of each!   ISBN: 978-85675-285-5. Available from Amazon for £6.74.



 

Added: Oct 2010

The Woodland Way: A Permaculture Approach to Sustainable Woodland Management by Ben Law (Permanent Publications, 4th Edition, Reprinted 2010)

This fascinating book on sustainable woodland management is also an inspiring account of how the author became a forest dweller in his own coppiced wood, Prickly Nut Wood. Clearly written and easy to read The Woodland Way looks at what has gone wrong with Britains woodlands and shows how by returning to traditional and more sustainable woodland management techniques such as coppicing, the health of our woodlands could be greatly improved. Topics covered include:

• Woodland Assessment
• Creating New Woodland 
• Permacultural Design
• Management of Coppice and High Forest
• Felling, Extraction and Processing 
• Woodland Products and Local Marketing 
• Grants, Licences, Tax and Planning Law
• Vision for the Future 
• The Trees and their Products
  

Added: Sept 2010

ISBN: 1-85623-009-0.  RRP:  £18.95. You may be able to obtain a copy of this book through your local public library.  It can be purchased from Amazon for £16.09 or from Green Shopping for £16.00.

Ben Law has also written Roundwood Timber Framing, The Woodland House and The Woodland Year.


 Vegetarian and Vegan Diets (Issues Series Vol. 140).  Editors: Lisa Firth and Cobi Smith (Independence 2007)

Did you know that a lifelong vegetarian following a balanced vegetarian diet saves the NHS about £45,722? Want to find out more about this? This easy to read and informative book covers most aspects of vegetarianism including types of vegetarian diet,  how to meet nutritional requirements, vegetarian substitutes,  the reasons for following a vegetarian diet, animal welfare and health issues and the environmental effects of meat consumption.  It contains articles by various organisations such as the British Nutrition Foundation, the Vegetarian Society, PETA and the Vegan Society and offers a more balanced approach by discussing the pros and cons and including opposing views. Find out more about the link between IQ and vegetarianism, what 'free range' really means, the attitudes of vegetarians and meat eaters, red meat cancer risks and discover which supermarkets are the most vegetarian friendly. This is a good all round and practical book that would be especially useful for anyone who is considering changing to a vegetarian diet.

ISBN: 978-1-86168-406-6.  I obtained my copy from the public  library.

The Animal Manifesto by Marc Bekoff (New World Library, February 2010)

This manifesto is a call for action for animals, an invitation to treat animals with more respect, dignity, kindness and love.  It  presents six compelling reasons for expanding our compassion footprint and explains how by making small step by step changes to what we buy, eat and wear,  how we entertain ourselves and how we conduct scientific research we can greatly  improve the lives of animals. This book contains detailed accounts of how human behaviour affects animals, looks at the many ways humans use animals and produces numerous examples that show that animals are sentient and emotional beings.  Chapter 6 includes a detailed list of reasons to treat animals better. Of these reasons the three I liked best were:

• because we don't have to use or abuse them
• because they bring us joy
• because animals do not harm Earth, humans do 

Indeed it is the overconsumptive ways of humans that damage the Earth. Perhaps the time has come for us all to mend our ways?  This optimistic and persuasive book should motivate many people to think about how they can reduce their carbon footprint, whilst simultaneously expanding their compassion footprint for animals.

ISBN: 978-1-57731-649-7.  Price $14-95. Available online from: New World Library.  

Added: Feb 2010

The Heretic's Feast: A History of Vegetarianism by Colin Spencer (Fourth Estate Ltd, 1993)

This well researched book commences by looking at the primarily vegetarian diet of the early hominids and then moves steadily through the ages showing how the human diet evolved to at times include large amounts of meat. It covers many aspects of the vegetarian diet including the Pythagorean diet, that of the Essenes and the Cathars, how the wars and rationing influenced diet and at the vegetarian traditions linked to Hinduism and Buddhism. It also contains information on the diets of many famous people including Tolstoy, Gandhi and perhaps more surprisingly Hitler.

What makes this book more interesting though, is that it not only looks at what people in various cultures have historically eaten, but also at the psychology behind food choice, showing how what people eat is connected with what they believe, which is influenced by the society in which they live. In high meat-eating societies, vegetarianism seems to be strongly connected with a questioning of established values and throughout history radical thinking, vegetarians living in such societies have often been viewed as heretics and persecuted, or even killed because of their beliefs. Whereas in cultures where vegetarianism is more highly respected (such as in India where it was viewed as an ethical choice and as part of the Hindu and Buddhist religions) vegetarians were not seen as a threat and vegetarianism flourished.

I must admit, I did find some sections of this book rather dull and hard going at times, but other sections were extremely interesting and informative.  On balance this is an interesting book that's worth reading. I obtained a copy from the public library. Price £20.00. ISBN 1-85702-078-2.

Added: Feb 2010

Green is the New Black by Tamsin Blanchard (Hodder & Stoughton, 2008)

Focusing mainly on ethical clothes shopping, this book explains how to avoid the pitfalls associated with the fast fashion industry. However, in order to avoid making us feel too guilty about our shopping habits, the author seems to go out of her way to encourage us to continue to shop and to travel! But isn't some guilt good for us, even necessary, if we are to reduce our consumption?  Can we ever change the world that much by shopping anyway, even if we are buying green, second hand, or ethically produced goods?  Surely, the greenest way forward and the way we can change the world and reduce global warming the most is not only to shop ethically but also to shop much less? Maybe find a more useful, environmentally-friendly and constructive hobby to do instead of going shopping?

But, if you adore shopping and don't intend to stop doing it anyway, then you definitely need to read this book! You'll discover not only how to green up and refashion your wardrobe thriftily, but how to be creative, dress uniquely and reduce the amount of waste you produce. This book is not aimed at vegans who tend to know quite a lot about ethical shopping anyway. In fact very few specifically vegetarian/vegan companies apart from Beyond Skin and Green People are mentioned in it!  Nevertheless, I did find most of the book fairly interesting to read and learnt a few new things on the way.  And at least it shows that non-vegans are starting to think about the way they do things at last! Chapter 11 - The Little Green Book - is a Sustainable Shopping Directory that mainly lists companies selling fairtrade, recycled, organic cotton and vintage clothing.

I obtained my copy of this book through my public library.  However, if you want to buy a copy, it can be purchased from some branches of Oxfam (e.g. in Cambridge) or second hand from Amazon UK. ISBN 978-0-340-95431-7.  Price £8.99.