Rating: 2/5
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 business men 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 read another book by Kurlansky that examined the effects of the salt trade in a similar manner. In fact, he talked about fish a lot in that one, too. I came away feeling more impressed by his research and enthusiasm than having actually enjoyed the book.