Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human

Staff Pick

Richard Wrangham's lucid, fascinating book presents a strong case that the act of harnessing the power of fire to cook food might have created modern humanity. Convincing, thoughtful, and beautifully written, Catching Fire is a surprising look at the evolution of our species.
Recommended by Jill Owens, Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Review:

Review:

Review:

Review:

Synopsis:

About the Author

What Our Readers Are Saying

Add a comment for a chance to win!

Average customer rating based on 1 comment:

chorne, September 20, 2010 (view all comments by chorne)
Author and Harvard biological anthropologist Richard Wrangham takes a fresh look at what makes us human, and he comes to a conclusion that is both original and in hindsight obvious - cooking. Our capture of fire not only helped us to keep warm and scare off predators, but allowed us to turn difficult to digest and bland edible fare into such mouthwatering delectables as Sacher tortes, cassoulet and 8 treasures rice. More importantly than satisfying our gourmet (or gourmand) instincts, cooking has had profound impact on both our biology and our society. Wrangham skillfully weaves together a number of different lines of evidence, e.g., comparative anatomy, archaeology, biochemistry, anthropology, and sociology, to demonstrate that it is by this simple heating of food we have literally become human. No other animal cooks their food. Even our closest relatives - the primates - have not only very different behaviors around food, but even their taste and anatomy (geared for long hours of chewing and long times and alimentary tracks for processing the food) are quite divergent from hours. Cooking not only improves the flavor, but increases the accessibility to the protein and nutrients. Because we are able to more efficiently extract nutrients from cooked food, in essence our guts could shrink and our brains to grow. Alas, the American diet of late has been effecting the reverse, but that is another series of books. Wrangham extensively documents and cites the research that supports his hypotheses and findings. These notes are fortunately in the end of the book, so they do not distract from the reading. If there is a weakness, it is his repetitive style of writing. The book is divided into chapters that each support one major point in his hypothesis. However, he often repeats the same set of arguments 2 or 3 times within the chapter. This gets tiresome. However, the novelty of his arguments and clarity of his discussion make this book well worth reading.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(3 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)

report this comment

Product Details

ISBN:

9780465020416

Author:

Wrangham, Richard

Publisher:

Basic Books

Subject:

Life Sciences - Evolution - Human

Subject:

Anthropology - General

Subject:

History

Subject:

Paleontology

Subject:

Evolution

Subject:

Biology-Evolution

Edition Description:

First Trade Paper Edition

Publication Date:

20100931

Binding:

TRADE PAPER

Grade Level:

from 9

Language:

English

Pages:

320

Dimensions:

8.25 x 5.5 x 0.81 in

Age Level:

14-UP