In one of five new McDougall Advance Study DVDs (the other four reviews will be posted daily), Howard Lyman delivers two interesting hour-long talks. The first “The Journey of a Mad Cowboy,” chronicles his life from being a farmer, rancher and feedlot operator to becoming vegan and being sued alongside Oprah for disparaging beef. The second lecture, “Eating The Earth One Bite At A Time,” starts with a history of civilizations that built themselves on bad foundations and ends with a call to action.

Surprisingly, I have never attended a Howard Lyman presentation, but I was fortunate enough to be volunteering in a booth for the San Francisco Vegetarian Society once the day after Lyman had presented. What no one told us is that Lyman was going to sit in the booth all afternoon, talk to people, and sell his books and DVDs. So, when he showed up with his stuff, we really didn’t know anything about it.

Throughout the afternoon, there was a steady stream of people stopping by to meet him and talk. Some had been to his presentation the previous day, but many just knew of him and wanted to connect with the guy who got sued alongside Oprah. Whenever there were breaks in the action, I chatted with him about our mutual respect for Dr. McDougall, and other issues. He was a really nice guy, and gave me two of his DVDs at some point that was probably under his own cost, but he was more interested that I see his DVDs than be able to afford them.

The thing I most remember about Lyman is evident in his lectures, which is his complete lack of pretense. In his first and more polished of the two lectures (probably because he’s been delivering it longer), he plays up that he grew up a farmer, rancher, and feedlot operator. He eventually turned his small family farm into a large agribusiness, until a medical issue almost left him unable to walk. Lyman really plays up his down-home nature perfectly to get people to lower their defenses. The lecture isn’t big on medical studies and research as much as his no-bullshit delivery about how his life changed as a result of becoming vegan.

The one interesting element (that I was completely unaware of) is language that was passed as part of the justifiably-maligned Patriot Act, which replaces the food disparagement legislation for which Lyman and Oprah weren’t found guilty. If the same situation came up again, Lyman could be considered a terrorist under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, which can consider civil disobedience and speech as ‘domestic terrorism’ if animal-related businesses lose profits or property. Now, if some militant group burns down an animal processing plant or poisons the food supply beyond the levels currently accepted as normal by industry, then sure, I’m fine with that. But speech? It’s good to see that even in the wake of September 11, the Bush Administration was still sneaking corporate favors in under the cover of patriotism.

I think “The Journey of a Mad Cowboy” is a great lecture to show to friends and family who aren’t entirely convinced of vegetarianism. His personality will win them over and make every point get even deeper by the time the hour has ended. I also enjoy the fact that, like McDougall and T. Colin Campbell (author of The China Study), Lyman found veganism as the answer to a problem (in this case, his health), rather than being a vegan first and working backward to connect the dots. Like Campbell, who started his research on protein in an attempt to grow cattle faster, Lyman actually ran a huge cattle ranch before becoming “The Mad Cowboy.” So, this was definitely not the expected path for him.

“Eating The Earth One Bite At A Time” starts with a history lesson, of various civilizations that let their desires overshadow reality. One example is how on Easter Island the natives made elaborate carved statues to establish hierarchy within the group. At some point, rats found their way onto the island, but the natives didn’t mind since the rats only seemed to eat the seeds dropped by the palm trees. But, over time, the lack of seeds meant the older trees were not being replaced, which were being cut down for canoes to transport the statues. The deforestation also led to erosion, until the island became uninhabitable.

Lyman goes on with a series of examples of such history lessons. But ultimately the lecture ends on as a rallying cry, where he admits he’s only worried about reaching a good-sized chunk of the 20 percent of the population that is even listening. The down-home stuff continues, where he says if you lecture people about how they should eat and the consequences of their diet, you may be pointing one finger at them, but three fingers back at yourself.

Overall, another strong entry in the McDougall Advanced Study Series DVD set. The DVDs cost $20 each, but you can get all five new DVDs for $60 total, including additional lectures from T. Colin Campbell, Neal Barnard MD, John Abramson MD, and Michael Greger MD. You can order them from McDougall’s website.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 at 5:16 pm and is filed under McDougall, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.