• 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 (584 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
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

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16 people found this helpful

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

A great fish story

This review will be short and sweet. Fascinating but a bit long. I rate it a "4" due to it's length. Now...for a definite "5" rating, read "Salt" by the same author.

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7 people found this helpful

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

I believe in Cod

This is a wonderfully written book. Mark Kurlansky’s protagonist could be seen as just a rather boring fish. But he demonstrates that this fish has been in the middle of great struggles, political battles, economic experiments and even wars. He throws a net around a thousand disparate facts and hauls in a fascinating catch.

I was less enthused by the narration. Whilst it was a solid performance I found the accents forced, even caricature like.

Chapters begin with a recipe, a nice technique that I quite enjoyed in the book “Like water for chocolate”. But I read that book, and listened to this one. It leaves me convinced that recipes are meant to be read, not heard.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting

Informational, sometimes boring. Would be better read than listened to.

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4 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
    3 out of 5 stars

Now, to find a supply of salt cod ...

Well recorded and full of surprises and discoveries. I'd be surpised if anybody could read this and say, on finishing it, "yeah, so what, I knew all that." Bet you didn't. A charmingly told tale that, by the end, had me searching the Internet to find a source for ordering some high-quality salt cod. Some complain about the "recipes" in the audio book -- obviously of less value than in the print version -- but even if you never cook and don't like the taste of fish you will likely find this his/story fascinating.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Facsinating!

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

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3 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
    4 out of 5 stars

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.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A Fun Book

This book catapulted me into a new understanding of the major role of cod in world history. The topic almost seems absurd to begin with, but the author makes a very convincing case. A sub-theme of the book is the sad tale of how this magnificent fish is now virtually wiped out because of over-fishing. If you are looking for a book that is amusing and yet informative, this is an ideal choice. The end of the book is composed of one cod recipe after another, which you could profitably skip; it gets old after awhile. The reading is quite well done.

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3 people found this helpful