• Cod

  • A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World
  • By: Mark Kurlansky
  • Narrated by: Richard M. Davidson
  • Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (583 ratings)

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Cod  By  cover art

Cod

By: Mark Kurlansky
Narrated by: Richard M. Davidson
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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
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

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)

What listeners say about Cod

Average customer ratings
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

History in a chowder pot

A great way to learn about early explorations and how the one fish changed/influenced history. I feel I need a hard copy, though, because some of the recipes cannot be captured well in mere audio.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good

If you could sum up Cod in three words, what would they be?

Classic Kurlansky

Would you be willing to try another book from Mark Kurlansky? Why or why not?

Yes. I like his choice of subject matter and even though it may be due to the similarities of the subjects I enjoy the subtle cross references between his books.

Any additional comments?

Good book.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

boring

One of the worst written books I have heard or read, and the worst I have downloaded from audible in 2 years. The story: for hundreds of years there were a lot of people catching and eating cod, but then they were overfished and there are no longer giant stocks of cod. Now you have no reason to get this book, as the author does not add much to that sentence ? but drags it out for hours. A bunch of relatively unrelated fish facts and boring details of random fish stories ? but no storytelling ability is present. Dull and repetitive.O

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

More like a coffee table book than a real history!

The subject is so thin, the author padded the book out by throwing in every cod recipe he could find and many, many random quotes. Also, a good part of the book discusses how sad it is for fishing towns and generational fishermen to not have cod to fish anymore. The explanation about how modern fishing techniques ruined its own industry is pretty good. I just wonder if it is worth a whole book?

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

too many recipes

Generally a good listen, but far too many ancient cod recipes.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    out of 5 stars

Cod

Excellent, excellent book.

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1 person found this helpful