Featured Conservative Authors
Conservative Book Zone
Conservative Classics
General Market Books
Shop our bookstore where you will find books for each conservative topic you are looking for!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human
| Our Price |
$ 21.02
|
|
| Retail Value |
$ 26.95 |
|
| You Save |
$ 5.93 (22%) |
|
| Item Number |
2416509 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Item Description...
Overview
Presents the theory that it was the introduction of cooking in the prehistoric past that led to physiological changes in the human brain and such advancements in human behavior as the development of social skills, bonding, and the division of labor in family groups,
Publishers Description
Ever since Darwin and The Descent of Man, the existence of humans has been attributed to our intelligence and adaptability. But in Catching Fire, renowned primatologist Richard Wrangham presents a startling alternative: our evolutionary success is the result of cooking. In a groundbreaking theory of our origins, Wrangham shows that the shift from raw to cooked foods was the key factor in human evolution. When our ancestors adapted to using fire, humanity began. Once our hominid ancestors began cooking their food, the human digestive tract shrank and the brain grew. Time once spent chewing tough raw food could be sued instead to hunt and to tend camp. Cooking became the basis for pair bonding and marriage, created the household, and even led to a sexual division of labor. Tracing the contemporary implications of our ancestors’ diets, Catching Fire sheds new light on how we came to be the social, intelligent, and sexual species we are today. A pathbreaking new theory of human evolution, Catching Fire will provoke controversy and fascinate anyone interested in our ancient origins—or in our modern eating habits. |
Item Specifications...
Pages 309
Dimensions: Length: 1" Width: 5.5" Height: 8.25"
Weight: 0.9 lbs.
Binding Hardcover
Release Date May 25, 2009
ISBN 0465013627
EAN 9780465013623
|
Availability 0 units.
|
More About Richard W. Wrangham
Product Categories
Similar Products
Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | Interesting But Not Entertaining Feb 3, 2010 |
| Professor Wrangham presents some very interesting facts regarding the impact that cooking had on human development. He relates the development of our human physical traits to the types of food that our human ancestors began to eat and how they were prepared. Unfortunately, the writing style was tiring, and the more I read the less I wanted to read (and finish) the book. It is one of the few books of its type that I just could not force myself to finish in spite of the very interesting subject matter. | | |  | great theory Dec 31, 2009 |
| Almost finished with the last chapter. Really intersting theory. It makes a lot of sense. | | | | A Surprise Corroboration Dec 25, 2009 |
Since there are already 22 reviews of "Catching Fire" (some quite excellent such as George Sand's), rather than rehash the same territory I draw your attention to a delightful confirmation of Wrangham's theories.
In the 2009 holiday newsletter of The Gorilla Foundation, Director Dr. Francine "Penny" Patterson writes about gorilla Koko:
"Koko continues to astonish me with her capabilities and insights. She becomes more of a partner with every passing year. Recently she has been helping me answer a question from a colleague" (inspired by this book?) "as to whether gorillas prefer cooked or raw food. Koko says cooked is better. And as we plan for the Maui Ape Preserve, she has provided invaluable design insights as to what will work best in terms of gorilla sleeping quarters, play yard, and even landscaping!"
Q.E.D. | | |  | Unsurprising but plausible Nov 22, 2009 |
The really amazing thing about this book is that it took so long for someone to write it. That we are a nutrient extracting tube with some intelligence attached was pointed out by George Orwell in his novel, Down And Out In Paris And London, in the 1930s.
A drawback of Science, just like other major human efforts, is that a theory becomes established (hunting made us what we are) and becomes the orthodoxy. We just love to be orthodox, conforming doobies - so it has a long run.
Also, since such ideas come from men (and glorify male activities - male gods), the concept that female hominids played a major role in rolling out our social nature doesn't get traction amongst all the self-important, strutting, sexist scientists who don't have a clue that their view of reality has flaws.
This is a very readable work. Although, I wish all academic writers would stuff the references and the mutual back-patting (telling in the text exactly who was involved in every single bit or research they reference) to the reference ghetto at the back of the book where it belongs.
There is evidence that hominids have been using fire for cooking for many hundreds of thousands of years - long enough for cooked food to have been an influence on jaw size, brain size, social life, and reproductive success.
The protocols needed by hominids to ensure that cooked food would not be stolen by hungry, agressive males were at the heart of pair-bonding, sharing, and the role of females. Fire and cooking allowed our ancestors not only to fend off predators, but the more easily digested cooked food allowed a smaller gut, much more rapid eating and digestion, the shedding of body hair, the ability to run down prey because we can sweat instead of going into heat stroke, and importantly the increase in brain size as a result of selection for the intelligence needed to do what we still do: gossip, groom, bond, fight a mutual enemy.
| | | | amazing!! Nov 18, 2009 |
| there aren't that many new ideas kicking around, but this book is an exception. how exciting to have 'catching fire' so wonderfully lay out the simple and clear theory that cooking is at the bottom of everything. but this is no dry science read. from homo hablis to the mongols, 'catching fire' is an adventurous read that is sure to capture the imagination. true stories are often the best. 5 stars!!! | | | Write your own review about Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human
|
|
