Animal rights is a serious subject, but I do my best to find humor where I can, and I have some great help: there are almost two hundred cartoons included in the book, including dozens from the brilliant Bizarro strip.

Once people learn, it is hard to forget and go back.

Mostly, I make sure to stay keenly aware of my own shortcomings so that I am more patient with others.

Some of us seem to be born with a drive to try to make the world kinder. In my twenties, living in New York City, I worked in a soup kitchen every Sunday for many years, just trying to do my part. Then I read Animal Liberation and learned about factory farming and the killing of animals for oven cleaner and realized nobody needed my help as badly as the animals did.

Indeed, a report from the United Nations has revealed that the livestock industry is the number-one contributor to global warming gasses - higher than even the transport industry. Plus, the effect of the livestock industry on our waterways and oceans is disastrous.

Because I am all too human, I don't always do the right thing, so how can I expect others to perform perfectly on the issues that are my top priority? I don't mean that we shouldn't try to do our best, but judgment and recrimination are such heavy weights. I find that accepting that we are all fallible lightens my load.

I am all too human, I don't always do the right thing, so how can I expect others to perform perfectly on the issues that are my top priority?