I know what you're thinking. Cod? How will that be fascinating. But I'm telling you, this book is riveting. Well told, makes history interesting -- makes fish interesting!

I mailed this to my sister-in-law in Egypt.

Interesting... I thought this book was going to make me want to save the cod, but instead it made me want to eat them. I realized why when I came to Kurlansky's thesis on page 233, "Nature is being reduced to precious demonstrations for education and entertainment, something far less natural than hunting." At first blush, I thought, "Right on." Then I thought, No, appreciating other animals is part of our nature, too. Then I thought, Hey, what difference does it make if it's natural? There couldn't be anything less "natural" than conservation (what group of foxes would get together to conserve their precious hens?), but does that mean it's not a good thing?

Of course, the issue of conservation is murky -- we manipulate one thing and a whole bunch of other things change unexpectedly. Still, I lean towards unnatural appreciation and conservation.

Anyhow, that's what I thought of the book. Makes you want to eat cod.