Cod

A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World

By: Mark Kurlansky

Narrated by: Richard M. Davidson

Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

The innocuous cod has been the subject of international wars, national diets, economies, livelihoods, and health in general. Mark Kurlansky approaches the cod with his love of food and food culture, and leaps into history, folklore, and even recipes dating to the fourteenth century and forward. This famous fish spurred interest in the development of North America, and caused a whole nation of people to jump into fishing and ocean exploration. Including word origins, this audiobook also contains recipes and uses for all kinds of cod.

Enjoy Mark Kurlansky's books? Listen to an interview with the author on To the Best of Our Knowlege.

©1997 Mark Kurlansky (P)2002 New Millennium Audio, All Rights Reserved

Critic reviews

"Every once in a while a writer of particular skills takes a fresh, seemingly improbable idea and turns out a book of pure delight...No one who reads this charming tale will ever think the same of either the fish or the history." (David McCullough, author of John Adams)
"History filtered through the gills of the fish trade." (The New York Times Book Review)

insightful beginning

a very boring ending. struggled to finish. will not recommend to no one. the recipe were the climax of a historical premise

Seven and a half hour about COD???

Yep, that's what you get from Mark Kurlansky... over seven hours of engrossing information and storytelling about a fish. What a successful blend of journalist, historian, and novelist Kurlansky turned out to be as proven by this very readable book.

Who would have thunk that the cod played a significant role in the maintenance of the american slavery trade and keep? That the fish nearly started a war between UK and Iceland in modern time? That the Vikings discovered the American continent because of the darn cod? That our pilgrims of Thanksgiving fame failed to eat the bounty of the sea and elected rather to starve than feast on lobster and cod?

The chapters on the Basques made me pick up the next book by Kurlanski; he clearly has a tremendous knowledge of the area and the history of the Basque people.

Each segment is capped off by a number of appropriate recepies based on cod from the area narrated. I guess this is probably better suited to the printed page than in the audible edition.

The narration is very good and helps keep the attention throughout the story.

very informative yet extremely enjoyable

I found this book very informative and extremely interesting. I learned about fish, the fishing industry, the role cod played in this country's early history and foreign affairs as well as conservation and ecology regarding our natural resources. The narration was done very well too. There were recipes sprinkled throughout the book but they were relatively short so aren't too much of a bother. There were several grouped at the end which could probably be skipped but I perservered and learned a few interesting facts the author sprinkled about here too. Don't let the recipes stop you from reading the book. It is surprisingly enjoyable.
I was fascinated by what I learned in this book and look forward to reading others by this author, particularly the ones on Salt and the Basques.

Narrow subject. Deep impact. Pun intended.

I live on an island. Fish are a part of all our lives here in some way. I know the cod fisheries were in decline, but I really had no idea how massive an economic and cultural impact cod had on our culture. Very interesting.

Great Story, Poor Narrator

As always, MK is full of facts and stories that invites the reader in. For anyone wanting a great read by MK, try SALT. Unfortunately the narrator's very poor accents (he's obviously never been to Newfoundland), and bad pronunciations (it's newfenland, not new foundlend + many others) took away from what would have been a better book.

Incredibly fascinating history w/ a GREAT narrator

All of Mark Kurlansky's works are incredibly fascinating and enlightening, as well as entertaining and important. And the person reading made it even better, he did really great accents and was very expressive! No monotone at all whatsoever.

Facsinating!

Enjoyed this book alot! Lots of great facts and historical links like his other book, "Salt".

Absolutely fascinating and outstanding!

Definitely one of the best books I have ever come across. Kurlansky has researched this thing to death. I had no idea how big a part cod had played in the history and exploration of the world. The number of stories and anecdotes and the historical references is just astonishing. And on top of it all there are the historical recipes. Some of those are simply impractical as written, but as appetizing as they sound on audio, you might want to pick up a paper copy if you want to try them out.

Cod shaped our history!

Cod shaped the economic history of North America for several centuries as well as provided a major economic impact in much of Europe. You can't fully understand our history without reading this book.

The economic impact of cod tapered off as overfishing devastated the economic value of this important resource.

There are many historical and environmental lessons contained in this book.

The book is also entertaining and introduces you to real people who's lives have been profoundly altered by the mismanagement of cod fishing.

Cod

Cod is a good book. It is funny. Ike it a lot . I hope one day all people we'll rede it
.