Cod

To make the history of a fish interesting, invigorating and moving is an almost impossible feat that Mark Kurlansky accomplishes fantastically well in this compact, learned, beautifully written gem of a book. Cod traces humankind's involvement with what was once one of the world's most plentiful foodstuffs. The Basque people, who Kurlansky suggests found America before Columbus, could only fish and forage (for whale meat) as far as they did because of the huge schools of cod they found, caught and salted as they went. Centuries before this Vikings had travelled from Norway across to Canada--the exact range of the Atlantic cod. Interspersed with old and forgotten recipes Cod becomes a fitting requiem to a fish no-one believed would ever become scarce nor become such a telling metaphor for our careless treatment of the sea, its bounty and our wider environment. --Mark Thwaite

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Like a tasteless fishstick - Rated
Cod could have been a good book but the author, Mark Kurlansky, seems intent on driving home his point that the cod fish has been vital through the course of civilization. Unfortunately, Mr. Kurlansky isn't afraid to exaggerate or in some cases simply twist the truth in order to make this point. I can't speak for the entire book since I am not an expert on the entire history that he covers, but I can point out a couple of blatant errors. "How did the Vikings survive in greenless Greenland", Mr. Kurlansky asks on page 21. Cod is his answer. But that is incorrect. Greenland was not "greenless" when the Vikings settled there. As a quick trip to Wikipedia shows, Greenland was much warmer at the times the Vikings settled there. "These remote communities thrived and lived off farming, hunting and trading..." Not a single mention of fishing for cod. The second serious error of fact has to do with the Pilgrims. The author claims that the Mayflower was heading to New England for the rich cod fisheries. This is not true. The Pilgrims were actually headed 250 miles further south to the mouth of the Hudson River and only ended up in New England because of bad weather, lack of reliable maps, and illness on board ship. The book "Mayflower" doesn't even have an index entry for "cod" which would seem fairly unlikely if the fish was really as important as Mr. Kurlansky makes it out. These are two very serious errors and leave the entire book open to question. Looking through the reviews on Amazon I found quite a few small errors mentioned. Is any of Mr. Kurlansky's remaining history reliable?

What about the book in general? It is what is best called pop-history. Short chapters that mention a topic but go into depth on nothing is the rule. A perfect example is his discussion of the three cod wars between Great Britain and Iceland. You will find very little detail on a topic that could have been very interesting. Instead Mr. Kurlansky moves quickly through the wars apparently to keep to his sixteen-page chapter limit. We don't even get a detailed chapter on the star of the book, the cod. A simple fact such as that cod is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids isn't even mentioned. And there are also many examples of contradictions within the book. For example, on page 145 Mr. Murlansky says that the Icelandic fishermen avoided basing their boats in the fjords because they used oar-powered boats and it "would have added too many hours or rowing time to and from the fishing grounds." But a couple of sentences later he says the fishermen preferred to use oars "because the winds around fjords are erratic." If the fishermen aren't traveling through the fjords then why are the winds in the fjords even relevant?

Overall, the book is lightweight, quick reading that will be forgotten soon after reading. The book is not much like the many interesting cod recipes that Mr. Kurlansky sprinkles through the book but more like processed fish sticks produced by factory ships.

One of the most fascinating books I've ever read - Rated
Completely engrossing, and completely convincing, like a bolt of lightning suddenly illuminating a whole area of history. It explains how basque fishermen discovered America centuries before Christopher Culombus but kept it quiet because they didn't want anyone finding the source of the fish they supplied to Europe and Africa. There's a wonderful section on how holier than thou American puritans made fortunes out of doc, rum and slaves. And the ending is beautifully poignant. It's such a shame that the world has changed so much that there's no room for the fish that changed the world.

Great read - Rated
For anyone interested in either the fishing industry or in historical world politics this is a great and very easy read.

The author coevers in detail the importance of cod in the development of european North America. He does however somewhat overplay this importance. There were other aspects of North Americal produce that were of equal importance, and were equally hard fought over e.g. skins, cotton etc.

The book is interspersed with many intriguing recipes, which are certainly most tempting. For those uninitiated, I can heartily confirm that the choicest meat is indeed found on the head of the fish - that which in modern times is generally reduced to animal feed.

I feel the author could have improved his book greatly by covering also the history of the European cod fishery - which was almost entirely ignored.

Nevertheless, a great read. Now I'm off to read "Herring"

I loved this book - Rated
I red it for my degree in Biological Sciences. At that time I borrowed it but now I gonna buy it for myself as I find this is a very special book. The writting is simple and beautiful. You might eat fish differently afterwards! but at least you'll get some inside about what's going on with fishery, fishermen communities and marine ecosystems - and this all along with World History. Not only the forest disappears. What about climate changes and fishery? This book is a delice.

Fascinating - Rated
An intriguing mixture of history, sociology, politics, conservation and cooking!

This book charts the history of cod fishing from the dark ages to the present. The Basques were apparently the first peoples to fish cod commercially and as such they beat even the Vikings to North America by exploiting the rich fishing grounds off the east coast.

There is discussion of the ways that different people in Europe liked their cod. Here in Britain it is eaten almost 100% fresh (or at least fresh frozen), whilst in other countries they would not touch fresh cod, the French wanting only salted fish. Presumably this is historical due to the problems of transporting fresh fish over any great distance.

In North America the Basques got lost in the shuffle because they never bothered to lay territorial claims to the land around their fishing stations, and we get a dispassionate description of the “Cod Wars” between Iceland and the UK, untainted by propaganda.

But the theme that runs through the book is over fishing. From the early days when the fish stocks were believed to be inexhaustible to the present when commercial sized fish are all but extinct in many areas of the North Atlantic. There is the bewilderment and anger of the fishermen, who blame anyone but themselves for the state of their fishing industry and the restrictions that have had to be imposed upon it.

The book is interspersed with cod recipes down the ages. Some are pretty disgusting to me; we don’t eat the intestines in the UK! Others I’m going to try just as soon as I can get my hands on some good fresh fish.