Cod
Registered by GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 4/30/2017
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
I found this good-condition softcover at the local library's annual book sale, and nabbed it for another release copy.
I really enjoyed this back when I first read it. It's interesting, but also frightening - the images of those massive bottom-dragging nets laying waste to entire swathes of ocean, of mind-boggling populations of fish taken to the brink of extinction... It's no news that humankind can do a lot of damage in a very short time; whether the steps taken to slow the destruction are working, I don't know. The historical aspects of cod-fishing and its influences were fascinating; among other things, the author suggests that Basque fishermen may have discovered North America long before Columbus did [though after the Vikings], but kept it secret to preserve the fishing - and fish-drying - grounds for themselves. And there's an account of battles at sea between Canada and the US over fishing rights, including at least one small episode involving gunfire - the only time those two countries fired a shot at each other, and it was over fish.
The "cod recipes through the centuries" section is lighter in tone, and ranges from "ewwww! Who could eat THAT!" to "Mmmmm! I want some!"
I could take the political route and find a fishing-grounds or ecological-group meeting at which to release the book, or I could just leave it among the salt cod at the grocery some day; we shall see...
I really enjoyed this back when I first read it. It's interesting, but also frightening - the images of those massive bottom-dragging nets laying waste to entire swathes of ocean, of mind-boggling populations of fish taken to the brink of extinction... It's no news that humankind can do a lot of damage in a very short time; whether the steps taken to slow the destruction are working, I don't know. The historical aspects of cod-fishing and its influences were fascinating; among other things, the author suggests that Basque fishermen may have discovered North America long before Columbus did [though after the Vikings], but kept it secret to preserve the fishing - and fish-drying - grounds for themselves. And there's an account of battles at sea between Canada and the US over fishing rights, including at least one small episode involving gunfire - the only time those two countries fired a shot at each other, and it was over fish.
The "cod recipes through the centuries" section is lighter in tone, and ranges from "ewwww! Who could eat THAT!" to "Mmmmm! I want some!"
I could take the political route and find a fishing-grounds or ecological-group meeting at which to release the book, or I could just leave it among the salt cod at the grocery some day; we shall see...
Journal Entry 2 by GoryDetails at Kittery Trading Post in Kittery, Maine USA on Sunday, April 30, 2017