This is a comprehensive history of the political and economic importance of cod as a staple food in different parts of the world, mainly Spain, England, the US and Iceland. I had no idea the Cod Wars had been a huge conflict between the United Kingdom and Iceland concerning rights in the North Atlantic. It also goes into overfishing and sustainability in general, but this is mostly about politics. There is a recipe at the beginning of each chapter and the last one is all recipes from around the world. Learned a lot!

Some 10/10 geopolitical tea. Keen for an update on the latest situ wrt cod. Will now deffo think twice about my chippy order. Only 3/5 as skeptical on some of the recipes.

Fish Are Boring and I Don’t Really Like Them
Cod
Rating: 1.5/5

Summary: This is the history and almost everything else you could want to know (or not know) about cod. I mean cod as in fish not Call of Duty (sorry). Kurlansky explores the start of fishing cod and how the fleets fishing them evolved over time. Narratives of struggling fishermen and successful businessmen are woven into this fact filled book. There’s not much about the science of fish or genetics so I was sad.

Cod is beautifully written and thoroughly researched. Truly Kurlansky has done an amazing job with this book. He manages to weave in narratives through most of the book; however, it wasn’t enough for me. I read this for a class and a lot of my classmates liked this. They enjoyed the subtle humor and random tidbits of information about cod.

I was occasionally amused by this book, but mostly because of present day connections. At one point Kurlansky explains how sterling became a term for the British and that it means of assured value. I laughed since the British sterling has stupendously dropped after the UK left the European Union. Other things I found interesting were the origins of certain words and how cod means different things all across the globe.

There is a wealth of information in this book and I know some people will like it or completely love it. That being said, I am not one of those people. I don’t even like to eat plain fish. The only seafood I eat is fish sticks and I hardly eat those. This book comes with a bunch of traditional fish recipes and they are cool, but I can’t bring myself to look at them because it turns my stomach too much.

Overall, I was extremely bored by this book and I really tried to keep an open mind since it’s my second time reading it. It didn’t work, I was still bored. However, I don’t hate the book like I did in high school and I can appreciate the work Kurlansky put into this. So if you like fish or want to learn about fish and economies, you’ll probably like this book way more than I did.

I was completely taken by this book. Kurlansky's simplicity of language belies a thoroughly researched study on how one fist has molded Western society for centuries.

Alternating between humor, jarring data, and the sadness that comes with the decline of a species, the author braids a captivating history of a fish lacking the fame of other marine beings such as marlins and barracudas.

Recommended by my author and friend Zak Johnson, this book is a must. I enjoyed it much more than 'Salt' by the same author.

Somewhat obscure but still fascinating subject matter to narrate the rise of America (among other things). His work is very readable.

Uff, I loved this one. Totally fascinating! I had no idea Atlantic cod was such an important species in world history. The writing is engaging and smart and the book itself is a joy to read (and not just because I'm a fish nerd who loves non-fiction).

Also interesting from a conservation/environmental standpoint. Alaskan fisheries are so unique because many of them have not yet been irreversibly overfished, but Cod provides a glimpse into a future without sustainable or commercially viable fisheries and THAT is forboding. Hopefully we can take a note from the (cod) history books and preserve our own natural resources.

This is an older book and I'm curious - what is the current state of affairs concerning cod in eastern Canada and New England?

Re-read 2017
One of Mark Kurlansky's wonderfully written micro histories. I was surprised that I still liked it as much the second time around that doesn't always happen with history books on a small specific subject. I learned quite a bit about the the fishery from it's beginnings after the discovery of the North Banks too it's almost closing due to over fishing. It's a great book to see what the glut and disappearance of a specific food, as well as the death of an industry can do to a country.

Are you prepared for the excitement of reading a review about a book about fish? Well, strap yourselves in for a wild ride, folks!*

Why write a book about cod? Why read it? Simple. Without you probably knowing it, cod has been one of the most important parts of our diets over the last thousand years. Without it, long distance sea exploration in medieval times (the era, not the ren fair) would've been just about impossible.

And now, ladies and gentlemen....THE MAJESTIC COD!


No?

Okay, it looks more like this...



Not very majestic, but oh so important.

Cod is a particularly unique fish. It eats just about anything and spawns like crazy. It's the frickin' rabbit of the sea! A single cod (well, a single cod who has "coupled"...heehee...SEX!) can produce millions of eggs. Once full-grown, the cod has virtually no predators. And yet we still managed to nearly fish it into extinction.

Though he does spend some time on the history, a very interesting history indeed, much of Kurlansky's book is about how man recently almost wiped the cod off the face of the earth...or to be specific, netted it off the bottom of the ocean. Cod spends many of its pages devoted to the current crisis, looking at it from the variant points of view: fishermen, the governments controlling the waters and the catch, and the public's ravenous demand for this tasty dish.

Perhaps Cod won't appeal to everyone, but it is written with a sense of humor, gives tons of interesting facts (good pub quiz fodder!), includes recipes interspersed through out and, most importantly, it's short. My interest is probably stronger than most in that I was born and raised in Massachusetts, where Cape Cod has been vital to our way of life. Fish-n-chip shacks were in every little village, even out in the sticks where I lived (45 minutes away from the coast is considered "the sticks" in Massachusetts, and it feels like it, trust me). With the important fishing tradition of Gloucester and Maine, etc., so strongly engrained, most New Englanders grow up thinking of cod as a synonym for fish.

Cod is one of those books that most readers will pass up, but the few who do pick it up will be surprised at the high entertainment value and wealth of easily digestible knowledge to be obtained.


* Okay, so you didn't really need to strap yourselves in...this time! But you never know what's to come and hey, safety first kids, safety first!

I really bought this thinking there was no way it would be either insightful or entertaining and I was delightfully disproven. Mixture of Atlantic history, ecological information, and fish recipes, make for a flaky, well-layered deep-dive on the cod, the humble star of the Atlantic and driver of history.

Poignant. Sensational. Cod.

Wow very interesting! Learned a lot about cod

I love everything about this book and learned SO very much! I grabbed this book after eating some delicious cod in Belfast, Maine. And I got so much more than I bargained for in this read. It has opened my curiosity to fishing politics, history, current catch quotas, conservation efforts, etc.

And it has made me SO very hungry for fresh cod. I’m heading back to Belfast to eat more tomorrow - in celebration of this book.