The Weight of Empathy is an exploration of both our relationship with animals and the author's own personal process of learning how to be a compassionate person in an often violent and uncaring world. Accompanied by over a hundred photographs, it takes the form of a travel memoir spanning a twenty-two-month trip around the world. It focuses on visits to half a dozen animal sanctuaries in Southeast Asia, India, and Europe, and also serves in part as an origin story for the philanthropic enterprise which was started upon his return: a vegan dog treat company that donates 100% of its profits to farm animal sanctuaries.

 

The book begins on the west coast of the US, and traces a path through Australia, Japan, SE Asia, India, Sri Lanka, Israel, Egypt, Europe, and back through the United States. The journey leads back to a few of the author's favorite places, to countless new destinations, and ultimately back through his childhood home, as he struggles to learn how to think about his role in the world in a way that honors his values and life story, the current and historical state of the planet, and all those he came to know and love along the way. The Weight of Empathy is part autobiography, part travel story, and part meditation on the diversity of human experience, our failings, and our potential. Through an impassioned and personal, yet thoroughly reasoned approach, it is a call to action in the interest of a kinder, more just, and merciful world.

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