No More Bull!: The Mad Cowboy Targets America's Worst Enemy: Our Diet

Thanks, Howard. You did it again. I gave this book 5 stars, but that's the average of 6 and 4. I give the actual written part of the book 6 stars and the recipe section 4. I own Mad Cowboy and expected this to be a bit of a rehash. To my pleasant surprise, "No More Bull!" is up-to-date, eminently readable and a hard book to put down. Howard writes like he's a trusted, old friend sitting on the front porch on a summer's evening. But don't be fooled, this man is no dummy. He's in the unique position of having been on the other side of the fence, too. He knows exactly what he's talking about. His research is impeccable and his novel and savvy way of interpreting the facts will have you wondering why others can't see these obvious truths. This is a subject near and dear to Mr. Lyman's heart, but he and his writing associate could make a book on composting a spellbinder. If you're a pots-and-pans alchemist, you'll enjoy the recipe section. Howard has enlisted contributions from some of the heaviest hitters in the vegan culinary world. I didn't find the recipe section too enthralling since I invent my own, admittedly simple, vegan creations. One of these days I'll tackle one of those recipes, but for now I'm going to re-read this excellent book. It's well-written and, in spite of the gravity of the subject material, contains some hearty, unexpected belly-laughs.

I was hesistant to buy yet another book on the benefits of a vegan diet. John Robbins already convinced me, over 10 years ago. But to know Howard is to love Howard because we know he's paying attention to what's going on in the world and wants nothing more than to share some really important and timely information with us -- for us. Anyway, I was really shocked at how much I didn't know about the state of affairs of the meat industry, and, considering the subject, I can hardly believe Howard got the message across with so much love and humor! I most definitely did not expect this book to so shockingly expose the stark reality of the biggest and grossest cover-up mankind has ever inflicted on fellow sentient beings of all sizes and shapes, human and animal. This book truly covers every angle, puts every piece of the grand jigsaw puzzle in place, and all while reminding us that it's not too late to open our eyes, proudly become vegan, and restore the health of our beautiful planet and all its marvelous creatures, including ourselves! What could possibly be more important, especially when us baby boomers are, yikes, getting up there in years and may need, yikes, healthcare???? I want to buy this book for everyone I know -- vegan and nonvegan! If your friends and family are not listening to you anymore about your crazy diet, pay them to read this book -- do whatever it takes! Thank you again, Howard -- and Glen and Joanna Merzer -- for not stopping to tell the truth until we all really get it! Submitted on behalf of Laurie Beth Kay,Pasadena, CA

The Mad Cowboy rides again! The long-awaited continuation of his rants and raves on veganism and politics comes through as madcap as ever but with a smart edge that promises to leave a trail of vegan converts. We all know someone who went vegetarian after reading Diet for a New America, and Howard Lyman is threatening to become the next John Robbins, with an endearing smile and naughty wink. No More Bull is a Howard Lyman hit. The infamous cattle rancher-turned-vegan has a no-holds-barred writing style that occasionally smacks of his mischievous speaking style. I envy his matter-of-fact manner and I'd hate to find myself debating him, but I count on him to tell it to me straight. As a fan familiar with his speaking style, I often hear his co-writers in the pages of No More Bull, as if two others are sitting with Howard and me over coffee discussing veganism. Their writing styles gel together well. Lyman doesn't mince words when he addresses meat-eaters in the chapter "Message for My Meat-Eating Friends": "To state the obvious: vegetarians live longer than meat eaters simply and solely because we do not consume the filthy, fatty, disease-ridden, decaying flesh of animals. (Forgive me for being so blunt, but there is no such thing as a clean, lean form of meat, and no other honest way to describe meat - even if you buy it "organic," or blessed by rabbis, or hunt it down yourself.) Vegans live longer still because we avoid as well the fatty, hormone-rich, cholesterol-ridden by-products of the lactation of other major mammals." Simple as that, my friends. His call to arms comes in the next chapter - "Message for My Fellow Vegetarians and Vegans." Referring to milk as "liquid meat," Lyman asks "for those of you who are still merely vegetarian and not yet vegan, I ask, what in heaven's name are you waiting for?" He's endearing, nonetheless, not obnoxious, though some vegetarians might take offense if they understandably feel singled out. Lyman pushes the point that herbivores shouldn't feel like they're saving the world through their food choices. It's not good enough to hide out and have meals with other vegans. Talk to children, talk to schools, invite omnivores over for vegan dinners, question authority, stop preaching. "You're better off serving the seitan stew than preaching the gospel of animal rights." Unlike many recent books on veganism and health, Lyman doesn't discuss the tragic conditions of factory farmed animals. "People either feel for animals or they don't; while I believe they ought not be shielded from seeing what a slaughterhouse looks like, and the conditions in which their 'food' animals exist, I also think it serves no purpose to browbeat them over animal rights. If you must browbeat them, do so about their health." Luckily, there are many voices out there describing slaughterhouse conditions. I'd personally eat white rice and cauliflower for every meal if it meant helping to prevent animals from experiencing such

Why are thinking about buying this book? Maybe you question if your diet is good for you. Maybe you don't really trust the officials when they say that there is nothing to worry about in regards to "Mad Cow Disease." Maybe the "avian flu" has made you wonder why do the chickens hate us so much? Is it because they hate our freedom? Obviously you are not indoctrinated enough. You must not have spent enough time when you were a child coloring happy farm animals. Or maybe you were daydreaming through the 8 million times your teacher told you that "Milk builds strong bones" or "meat will make you grow big and strong." You probably channel surf during commercials so you have missed most of the billions of dollars that the meat and dairy industries spend every year to tell you that their products are necessary. Regardless of how it happened, you have a nagging doubt about whether it really is healthy to consume half your calories from dairy products and another twenty percent from meat. Maybe you might cut down a little. But certainly not become a vegetarian, I mean what would you eat? What would your friends think? Besides, you know someone who knows someone who was a vegetarian for a couple weeks and didn't feel well. Nope, being a vegetarian might be a good idea for some other people, but you enjoy eating meat too much and would wither away to nothing without it. I completely agree with you, in fact I once was you. That is why I think you should buy this book (and if you like it try reading Lyman's other book Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth From the Cattle Rancher who Won't Eat Meat). Lyman is a great place to start. He is a funny, yet no-nonsense, down to earth kind of guy. What is more, he knows what he is talking about. A former rancher and dairy farmer who transformed his small family farm into a giant one. While turning himself into a giant as well (more than 300 lbs during his old meat eating days). But during a hospital stay after a major surgery he looked at what he had created and started to wonder if modern animal agriculture really was good for his farm or his health. Eyes opened, he started his journey and along the way discovered more and more wrong with industrial farming; from the treatment of animals to the strain on the environment. He became a vegetarian, then finally a vegan. In this book he will tell you why you probably should fear the meat that you are putting on your plate, how little the big meat and diary industries care about your well-being, how much influence those industries have over your government, and how easy it is, should you choose, to stop eating meat and dairy products. Plus there are lots of recipes. [...] The idea of the Blood type diet is that Type O's are the dominant, hunter-caveman type that require meat in the diet, Type A's are docile vegetarians, while Type B's are dairy-eating omnivores. The first problem that I have with it is that it appears as though the most common blood typ

Howard is funny, down to earth and right on target - however depressing the picture he paints of our nation's meat obsessed health crisis. The nation's ranchers have just as much to fear from this book's recipies as from the evidence presented against a meat based diet.