In this fascinating sociocultural report, Schlosser digs into the deeper meaning of Burger King, Auggie's, The Chicken Shack, Jack-in-the-Box, Little Caesar's and myriad other examples of fast food in America. Frequently using McDonald's as a template, Schlosser, an Atlantic Monthly correspondent, explains how the development of fast-food restaurants has led to the standardization of American culture, widespread obesity, urban sprawl and more. In a perky, reportorial voice, Adamson tells of the history, economics, day-to-day dealings and broad and often negative cultural implications of franchised burger joints and pizza factories, delivering impressive snippets of information (e.g., two-thirds of America's fast-food restaurant employees are teenagers; Willard Scott posed as the first Ronald McDonald until higher-ups decided Scott was too round to represent a healthy restaurant like McDonald's). According to Schlosser, most visits to fast-food restaurants are the culinary equivalent of "impulse buys," i.e., someone is driving by and pulls over for a Big Mac. But anyone listening to this audiobook on a car trip and realizing that the Chicken McNugget turned "a bird that once had to be carved at a table" into "a manufactured, value-added product" will think twice about stopping for a snack at the highway rest stop. Based on the Houghton Mifflin hardcover.
-Publishers Weekly
=====
I loved this book. I read it originally for a college class, but had wanted to read it since I read an excerpt right after it came out. I found it a fascinating read!

I'm going to set this up as a bookring. Yay me. Prewarning: this is the first time I've tried this, so I've no good idea how well it'll work.

Bookrings are done thusly: I read it and pass it to the next person on the list. They journal saying they recieved it. They then read it and pass it to the next person on the list by PMing that next member and asking how best to get it to them.

If you get it and realize you're not going to have time to read it in a few weeks, let me know and pass it onto the next person. I can shift you further down the list.

In the end, the book should travel around then come back to me. I'd like to try to keep this in the USA but if someone is willing to ship internationally, I can slide people in as needed.
Anyway, here's the list as it currently stands.

[Codes: Grey=completed, Blue=waiting, Red=in possession, Green=skipped]
1. firrantello (NC, USA)
2. gutterbunny (NC, USA)
3. A friend of gutterbunny's not currently registered (we hope she'll join!)
4. Book returns to gutterbunny who will ship it to the next person, who is Luintaurien (NE, USA)
5. arugh48187 (MN, USA)
6. phillycarol (PA, USA)
7. phillysusan (PA, USA)
8. ldpaulson (CA, USA)
9. sleepingdebbie (MI, USA)
10. amykinoffallkins (NY, USA)
11. firrantello (NC, USA)

Another book my daughter recommended after reading it for a class. I found this book to be very thought-provoking. I liked the author's writing-style, it is easy to read and easy to understand. Not only am I looking at fast food differently (which has never been high on my list anyway), but I'm looking at all the meat I eat differently. One thing I've always said to myself is I'd sweep streets before I'd work in the fast food industry and I'm more certain of that after reading this book! I highly recommend this book.

RELEASE NOTES:

Releasing to Luintaurien, the next stop on the bookring.

Got it today. Thank you. Will read and release ASAP.

Am about half done with this. Will pm the next person in line.

Couldn't get into this one so sending it on. Thanks for the chance to read it.

RELEASE NOTES:

Popped into Apple Valley for a brief stay. I have one other bookring to read in front of it, but it shouldn't be too long. You can keep track of its progress via my bookshelf.

Well, this was an eye-opening book to say the least. I can't decide if what Schlosser writes is all true or just inflammatory propaganda. I am leaning towards mostly truth, though. The chapter about slaughterhouses and the meatpacking industry was enough to turn my stomach and definitely rethink my meat purchases. Hubs and I are in negotiation about whether or not to become organic carnivores. We shall see. I think I have definitely eaten my last McDonald's hamburger, though. I might not be able to resist their fries because they are just the best. I will try...but no promises. As far as my one year old son, until the nagging becomes incessant and intolerable I will abstain from taking him there. Since I have a pretty high tolerance, I'm sure it will be a while before he has his first McNugget. Then again, he can't really talk yet, so I may be in for more than I can imagine. :)

The section on E. Coli was frightening. And the thought that there are more germs in my sink than in my toilet caused an outbreak of bleach. I will definitely be handling raw meat more carefully. That's for sure. I don't want to become a total germ-a-phobe, but my idea of clean has been shaken up quite a bit by this book.

Thanks for sharing. It appears that phillycarol is on vacation or something. I will keep PMing her until I get a response, since I know she is active.

RELEASE NOTES:

Mailed off to phillycarol who is next on the list. Happy reading!

Received yesterday. I've been wanting to read this one for awhile so I can't wait to get started. That said, I have 2 other bookring books in front of this one so I'll get to it as soon as I can.

This book was an eye-opening look at the fast food industry and its impact on the world. After reading the beef chapter, I'm not interested in fast food at all. Even if this book was skewed by the author's viewpoint, it still contains a lot of interesting information. Thanks for sharing it firrantello! I'll pass it on to phillysusan tonight.

Received this book last night from Phillycarol. Looking forward to learning new & exciting things about fast food.

I've learned lots of interesting and disturbing things about the fast food & meat industries and I'm pretty sure that I'll be staying away from McDonald's . . . at least for a little while.
I'm going to pass this book onto the next person on the list.
Thanks!

Great! I've been procrastinating but wanting to read FAST FOOD NATION. There are rings and rays in front of this, but I'll dig in soon. As an FYI ... I will be reading this with my own brand of built-in bias thanks to a tainted restaurant hamburger. Saying much more is TMI. And I've also written about the industry, so there may be few surprises that I encounter. We'll see.

Thanks for passing this along.

FAST FOOD NATION is one of a few books that should be required reading for any consumer. The book is full of factual information, backed with scrupulous documentation, but the text is not dry at all. This is a very readable book.

As mentioned in the previous journal entry since I've written about the industry, I expected few surprises and got few in the chapters concerning the restaurants themselves. The workplace violence statistics were appalling. The chapters on the workforce in the meatpacking industry were staggering and shattering. I don't want to reveal too much for those who have yet to read FAST FOOD NATION, but suffice it to say this book affirmed several life decisions made years ago.

And lest readers feel helpless, Schlosser makes commonsense suggestions for what can only be called consumer empowerment at the conclusion of the book. The concluding sections -- a section on mad cow disease and another containing Schlosser's measured responses to critical, negative reviews, excerpts of which he said it was only fair to print -- were excellent additions.

Highly recommended.

Waiting on the next reader ... who has asked to be skipped.

Now waiting on word from the host as to what's to be done.

It arrived in the mail yesterday. Yay for my first ring being completed! How exciting! Thank you all for making bookcrossing such a great experience!