A Plea for the Animals

The Moral, Philosophical, and Evolutionary Imperative to Treat All Beings with Compassion

By: Matthieu Ricard, Sherab Chodzin Kohn - translator

Narrated by: Shaun Grindell

A powerful and wide-ranging indictment of the treatment of animals by humans - and an eloquent plea for animal rights

Every cow just wants to be happy. Every chicken just wants to be free. Every bear, dog, or mouse experiences sorrow and feels pain as intensely as any of us humans do. In a compelling appeal to reason and human kindness, Matthieu Ricard here takes the arguments from his best sellers Altruism and Happiness to their logical conclusion: Compassion toward all beings, including our fellow animals, is a moral obligation and the direction toward which any enlightened society must aspire.

He chronicles the appalling sufferings of the animals we eat, wear, and use for adornment or "entertainment" and submits every traditional justification for their exploitation to scientific evidence and moral scrutiny. What arises is an unambiguous and powerful ethical imperative for treating all of the animals with whom we share this planet with respect and compassion.

©2014 Matthieu Ricard; Translation Copyright 2016 by Shambhala Publications, Inc. (P)2018 Tantor

Excellent exploration of various facets of how we relate to animals

I have been a Buddhist for a long time and have been vegetarian off and on. I worries this book would be in your face about animal cruelty. I found this to be a very thoughtful and thorough exploration of yes animal cruelty in industrial farming, but it goes so far beyond that. I found the history of thought in the West and elsewhere regarding animal rights fascinating.

After reading this, I decided joyfully to become vegan (I’ve never tried to give up dairy). None of the arguments to keep eating meat hold up for me. Animals are intelligent, have feelings and should be respected. I don’t want to look the other way anymore, especially when it’s not that hard to find alternatives these days where I live.

Thank you, Matthieu Richard! This is a great book for anyone to listen to. Buddhists especially should listen to this. Compassion for all beings needs to include awareness of the harm we impose on animals and taking steps to reduce that harm.

The narration is excellent and easy to listen to.

An imperative read for any serious animal activist

This book is a necessity for any activist to read who is worth their salt. Matthew systematically moves through the history of animals and humans, every facet, of every argument, every injustice and provides a very solid conclusion that left me with more to think about than I have time for. LISTEN/ READ THIS! 🙏❤️

Very good research. Very compelling.

A must read for anyone interested in veganism, animal rights, human and planetary health and climate science.

Sticking up for the most oppressed! Go vegan!

Super Great book! I love it ! Let’s go vegan for the animals! The and you so so much!!!

LOTS OF INFORMATION

This is an interesting and sad, chilling book.
A lot of research has gone into this.
Nothing seems to have changed since the day that Upton Sinclair wrote “The Jungle “,
so many years ago.
The narrator was difficult to listen to, but eventually you get used to his way of narrating.
My thanks to all involved, JK.