Should We Eat Meat? Evolution and Consequences of Modern Carnivory

The place of meat in human diets, from early evolution to the present, is the subject of Vaclav Smil's interdisciplinary study. He opens with meat's part in human evolution and in the rise of farming, then examines modern production systems, how efficient they are and what they yield, and how consumption is changing around the world. The core of the book weighs the costs of heavy meat eating in Western diets, including its demands on land, water and the atmosphere, along with health effects both good and bad. Smil ends with a case for rational meat eating, with smaller impacts, more humane treatment of animals and more protein from other sources.

Bill Gates said he could think of no one better suited to the subject than Smil, who looks at every angle, and that he learns a great deal from him even when he disagrees.