A groundbreaking book that reveals why plant-based eating is not only harming human health, it is also harming the planet. The authors explain why a pasture-reared meat diet – the Sapiens diet – is more ethical and humane than a vegetarian or vegan diet. With qualifications in medicine, nutrition, geology and agriculture, the authors bring together a unique combination of expertise in health, diet, earth sciences and the impact of farming systems on the environment. This thought-provoking and topical book explains how we can prevent and reverse many chronic diseases by eating the diet that drove human evolution, a diet based on meat, animal fat and offal. The book also shows how crop farming is causing climate change, soil destruction, animal suffering and ecological disaster. Why Vegans Have Smaller Brains: And How Cows Reverse Climate Change bridges the gap between pasture and plate in an accessible and engaging way. Good science made accessible This book is a highly intellectual commentary on the state of our modern food landscape. The authors are Cambridge University graduates and make reasoned and intelligent arguments for their assertions, backed up by high quality scientific research. I understand why they felt the need to make their title so inflammatory - because people from opposing camps are also highly inflammatory so they are simply trying to meet them on their own ground. The difference is the opposing camp's arguments do not stand up to scientific scrutiny. We MUST be evidence based if we want to be taken seriously. These authors use scientific evidence to justify every claim. Sadly a great deal of modern scientific research is actually junk science- littered with epidemiological reports based on extremely dubious food frequency questionnaires. But there is serious scientific study out there and these authors have found those papers and present them in an accessible way that any non-scientist can understand. A must read! Hands down the best book I've read in ages. I loved the writing style, the topics of each chapter and in general the whole book just seemed to flow really well. Easy to understand and follow. I highly recommend this book to anyone. Especially people who care about their health and the planet. Just outstanding The title is provocative and may suggest a desire to mock the plant based movement. But once you start reading you realise it's a highly researched, scientific analysis of all the factors pertaining to how we should be eating, which renders the title a an unfortunate but purely factual statement. Unlike other books that cover these topics where the author generally specialises in one area and gathers information on the rest, this one has been written by 3 specialists across nutrition, environment and farming practices. Some chapters were simply jaw dropping. I defy anyone to be vegan after reading this. Can't recommend it enough. David Ellis has a degree in Earth Sciences from the University of Cambridge. He spent 35 years in the oil industry as a geophysicist searching for oil and gas. Poacher-turned-gamekeeper, he is now better appreciating the ways that human activities, including farming, can aggravate or alleviate climate change. Alison Morgan holds a degree in agriculture from the University of Reading and a postgraduate degree in global development. She has worked with arable and livestock farmers, in agricultural research, farm advisory work, and farming, food and environment policy roles. She has also worked overseas with farmers and pastoral herders in Central Asia and the Middle East. Anita Tagore has a degree in medicine from the University of Cambridge. She is a former GP and recently completed a master's degree in food and human nutrition. Anita has spent the last five years researching and writing about the benefits of animal-based foods.