Lesser Beasts

Download or read book Lesser Beasts written by Mark Essig and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2015-05-05 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unlike other barnyard animals, which pull plows, give eggs or milk, or grow wool, a pig produces only one thing: meat. Incredibly efficient at converting almost any organic matter into nourishing, delectable protein, swine are nothing short of a gastronomic godsend—yet their flesh is banned in many cultures, and the animals themselves are maligned as filthy, lazy brutes. As historian Mark Essig reveals in Lesser Beasts, swine have such a bad reputation for precisely the same reasons they are so valuable as a source of food: they are intelligent, self-sufficient, and omnivorous. What’s more, he argues, we ignore our historic partnership with these astonishing animals at our peril. Tracing the interplay of pig biology and human culture from Neolithic villages 10,000 years ago to modern industrial farms, Essig blends culinary and natural history to demonstrate the vast importance of the pig and the tragedy of its modern treatment at the hands of humans. Pork, Essig explains, has long been a staple of the human diet, prized in societies from Ancient Rome to dynastic China to the contemporary American South. Yet pigs’ ability to track down and eat a wide range of substances (some of them distinctly unpalatable to humans) and convert them into edible meat has also led people throughout history to demonize the entire species as craven and unclean. Today’s unconscionable system of factory farming, Essig explains, is only the latest instance of humans taking pigs for granted, and the most recent evidence of how both pigs and people suffer when our symbiotic relationship falls out of balance. An expansive, illuminating history of one of our most vital yet unsung food animals, Lesser Beasts turns a spotlight on the humble creature that, perhaps more than any other, has been a mainstay of civilization since its very beginnings—whether we like it or not.

Download or read book Lesser Beasts written by Mark Essig and published by . This book was released on 2015-05-05 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unlike other barnyard animals, which pull plows, give eggs or milk, or grow wool, a pig produces only one thing: meat. Incredibly efficient at converting almost any organic matter into nourishing, delectable protein, swine are nothing short of a gastronomic godsend—yet their flesh is banned in many cultures, and the animals themselves are maligned as filthy, lazy brutes. As historian Mark Essig reveals in Lesser Beasts, swine have such a bad reputation for precisely the same reasons they are so valuable as a source of food: they are intelligent, self-sufficient, and omnivorous. What’s more, he argues, we ignore our historic partnership with these astonishing animals at our peril. Tracing the interplay of pig biology and human culture from Neolithic villages 10,000 years ago to modern industrial farms, Essig blends culinary and natural history to demonstrate the vast importance of the pig and the tragedy of its modern treatment at the hands of humans. Pork, Essig explains, has long been a staple of the human diet, prized in societies from Ancient Rome to dynastic China to the contemporary American South. Yet pigs’ ability to track down and eat a wide range of substances (some of them distinctly unpalatable to humans) and convert them into edible meat has also led people throughout history to demonize the entire species as craven and unclean. Today’s unconscionable system of factory farming, Essig explains, is only the latest instance of humans taking pigs for granted, and the most recent evidence of how both pigs and people suffer when our symbiotic relationship falls out of balance. An expansive, illuminating history of one of our most vital yet unsung food animals, Lesser Beasts turns a spotlight on the humble creature that, perhaps more than any other, has been a mainstay of civilization since its very beginnings—whether we like it or not.

Download or read book Lesser Spotted Animals written by Martin Brown and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2016-12-27 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A hilarious, fact-tastic picture book about the coolest creatures you've never heard of, from the illustrator of the internationally bestselling Horrible Histories. Bison? They're banned! Tigers? Taboo! Say good-bye to the gnu, cheerio to the cheetah, and peace to the panda.The world of Lesser Spotted Animals STARTS HERE!Find out all about the amazing animals you need to know but never get to see, from the numbat to the zorilla, and everything in between. A non-fiction picture book with attitude, Martin Brown's Lesser Spotted Animals combines the humor and verve of books like Dragons Love Tacos and Please Mr. Panda with the informative breadth and gorgeous presentation of non-fiction from Steve Jenkins, Diana Aston, and Jenny Broom.

Download or read book Sparrow Envy written by J. Drew Lanham and published by . This book was released on 2021-03-30 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "You are a rare bird, easy to see but invisible just the same." That thought is close at hand in Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts, as renowned naturalist and writer J. Drew Lanham explores his obsession with birds and all things wild in a mixture of poetry and prose. He questions vital assumptions taken for granted by so many birdwatchers: can birding be an escape if the birder is not in a safe place? Who is watching him as he watches birds? With a refreshing balance of reverence and candor, Lanham paints a unique portrait of the natural world: listening to cicadas, tracking sandpipers, towhees, wrens, and cataloging fellow birdwatchers at a conference where he is one of two black birders. The resulting insights are as honest as they are illuminating.

Download or read book Even More Lesser Spotted Animals written by Martin Brown and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2019-07-30 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Approachable and funny, Even More Lesser Spotted Animals combines the humor and verve of Sandra Markle with the gorgeous presentation of picture books from Steve Jenkins and Diana Aston. Just as Lesser Spotted Animals showed you some of the wonderfully WOW wildlife we never get to see, the next book of the lesser known animal kingdom reveals the stories of even more of the world's unseen and unsung creatures. No king-of-the-jungle, fancy-pants, hair necked lions here -- we've got the magnificent maned wolf instead. No blue whales either, we've got beaked whales -- and lorises and dingisos and dibatags and many, many more.

Download or read book Summary of Lesser Beasts – [Review Keypoints and Take-aways] written by PenZen Summaries and published by by Mocktime Publication. This book was released on 2022-11-29 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The summary of Lesser Beasts – A Snout-to-Tail History of the Humble Pig presented here include a short review of the book at the start followed by quick overview of main points and a list of important take-aways at the end of the summary. The Summary of The pig has had a long and interesting history, which is detailed in the book "Lesser Beasts" . The pig is the only animal that has maintained a connection with humans since the beginning of our existence, despite the fact that it is commonly regarded as a substandard creature. The pig's reputation has taken a lot of hits over the years, and it seems that today, as a result of modern farming practises, the pig's welfare is possibly suffering more than it has in the past. Lesser Beasts summary includes the key points and important takeaways from the book Lesser Beasts by Mark Essig. Disclaimer: 1. This summary is meant to preview and not to substitute the original book. 2. We recommend, for in-depth study purchase the excellent original book. 3. In this summary key points are rewritten and recreated and no part/text is directly taken or copied from original book. 4. If original author/publisher wants us to remove this summary, please contact us at [email protected].

Download or read book Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century written by Kim Fu and published by Tin House Books. This book was released on 2022-02-01 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The strange and wonderful define Kim Fu’s story collection, where the line between fantasy and reality fades in and out, elusive and beckoning." —The New York Times Book Review A LitHub, ALTA, and PureWow Best Book of the Month A BuzzFeed and WIRED Pick for a Book You Need to Read This Winter In the twelve unforgettable tales of Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, the strange is made familiar and the familiar strange, such that a girl growing wings on her legs feels like an ordinary rite of passage, while a bug-infested house becomes an impossible, Kafkaesque nightmare. Each story builds a new world all its own: a group of children steal a haunted doll; a runaway bride encounters a sea monster; a vendor sells toy boxes that seemingly control the passage of time; an insomniac is seduced by the Sandman. These visions of modern life wrestle with themes of death and technological consequence, guilt and sexuality, and unmask the contradictions that exist within all of us. Mesmerizing, electric, and wholly original, Kim Fu’s Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century blurs the boundaries of the real and fantastic, offering intricate and surprising insights into human nature.