This book basically takes a rather sophisticated college course on Animal Rights and summarizes it for popular consumption. The book is very thorough and clear.



The author takes a moderate position on animal ethics. Animals have moral status, for which reason we ought to change our treatment of them significantly. But animals are different, so their lives are worth less and they don't have any rights. Some of her points are made too quickly to be convincing. For example, the sheer fact that humans can give and withhold consent is presented as the whole basis of their having rights, on some pages. On other pages a social contract approach to rights is taken.



The tone of the book is clinical and detached, never personal or passionate. The author pronounces what is right and wrong, reasonable and unreasonable, as if from the the throne of reason. As a result, this is not a really engaging read, but if you want to know what the current debate about animals among philosophers looks like, this book will give you a very good idea.