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Summary: hungry for a lost fish
Review: A purse-sized history of the cod fishery, from the Basques & vikings to the fishes' modern decimation by large scale bottom-dragging. The social & historical ramifications spawned (no pun intended) by the international quest for this fish are incredible. Kurlansky's book weaves historical accounts in choronological order with hundreds of years of recipes for preparing cod. Though the book was well-written, concise, and highly interesting, I found it oddly incongruous to read about the vast decimation of this species yet find myself hungry for the very same fish after reading the next page's recipe for it.
Rating: 
Summary: Yummy...
Review: A purse-sized history of the cod fishery, from the Basques & vikings to the fishes' modern decimation by large scale bottom-dragging. The social & historical ramifications spawned (no pun intended) by the international quest for this fish are incredible. Kurlansky's book weaves historical accounts in choronological order with hundreds of years of recipes for preparing cod. Though the book was well-written, concise, and highly interesting,?I found it oddly incongruous to read about the vast decimation of this species yet find myself hungry for the very same fish after reading the next page's recipe for it.
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Summary: Perfect For Detail Junkies
Review: Cod is not for every reader, reflecting as it does the author's deep interest in history, and how individual foods relate to history. What the book gives to thoughtful readers is true context along with its detail. Kurlansky drives home a real point: you cannot separate the fish from the men who risk and lose their lives to extract it from the sea, nor can the food be divorced from the dollars it represents. In culinary terms, I was inspired to start cooking with dried cod; it's the kind of thing you don't notice in your supermarket until something--this book in my case--sticks it into your consciousness with no going back. As a real "foodie" and an incurable history buff, I am thankful that writers like Kurlansky go to the trouble of applying their talents to subjects like this.Food writer Elliot Essman's other reviews and food articles are available at www.stylegourmet.com
Rating: 
Summary: Like a schooner, skimming the surface
Review: Mark Kurlansky has written a breezy (yet ultimately gloomy) little book, full of tidbits of knowledge about the cod. It's a fascinating subject, especially if you have ever lived in the parts of the world where cod has reigned supreme. And yes, the author not only tells us about the fish itself, but how nations have struggled over the centuries to protect their collective livelihoods, occasionally warring against each other as national pride and survival were at stake. Several months ago I read Mr. Kurlansky's book, "Salt: A World History". This newer book is far better than "Cod" as it delves deeper into a comestible that REALLY changed the course of history. A problem that I have with both books is the author's writing style. It's very disjointed. He jumps from one geographic area of cod harvest to another and from one time period to another as well. There is no real weaving of a story line here....it's as if he wrote each chapter on a whim. However, I especially like the inclusion of recipes in this book. It gives a "human" side to the cod and allowing readers to view recipes from Europe and North America is a great way to end the book. If you have any desire to read "Cod", I would suggest reading it first before going on to "Salt".
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Summary: Gastronomic History
Review: Mark Kurlansky's 'fish tale' spans over 400 years of American and world history to reveal how something as seemingly insignificant as one species can alter the course of a country's history. Starting with the Basque fishermen who may have 'discovered' North American before Columbus (but after the Norse), Kurlansky shows how cod became a staple in our diet and affected incidents such as the American Revolution and slavery. He also makes a good case for conservation of the modern Atlantic cod, and present factors that could render this fish for all intents and purposes extinct. From my perspective, the 'cod wars' of the mid-20th century were the most entertaining, and provide a mirror for more well-known historical events such as the Cold War. Sprinkled throughout are recipes -- modern and ancient -- for preparing cod, including snacking on codheads. On the whole, a fascinating look at how war, diplomacy, trade and exploration were fueled by one species, and how we refuse to change our customs, diets, and livelihoods even if we are destructive to our environment and ourselves.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring
Review: One of the worst written books I have read in 2 years. The story: for hundreds of years there were a lot of people catching and eating cod, but then they were overfished and there are no longer giant stocks of cod. Now you have no reason to get this book, as the author does not add much to that sentence - but drags it out. A bunch of relatively unrelated fish facts and boring details of random fish stories - but no storytelling ability is present. Dull and repetitive.
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Summary: A Cod piece
Review: Overall, I thought Cod to be an "ok" read. It's strongest points were the inclusion of historic references to cod, images, and recipes - a novel approach for a non-fiction work. I also found the stories of contemporary cod fishermen (who aren't allowed to fish!) quite compassionate and the history of Basque fishers-of-cod both enlightening and surprising. However, Kurlansky was often repetitive with his cod anecdotes, and I found his writing style to be a bit cumbersome and slow. I'm a big fan of John McPhee's work, which exemplifies the essay as poetry, and I had hoped that Kurlansky might offer a new, strong voice in the non-fiction, natural history essay. I was a bit disappointed that the central text read much like an undergrad research paper. I do plan to read his recent book Salt because I find the subject premise intriguing. If you like eating fish or fishing, are interested in how natural and human history intertwine, or are simply a fan of nature writing, I would recommend giving Cod a try.
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Summary: What a dish!
Review: This book has to be one of the most entertaining history texts in, well, history. I couldn't put it down. What a joy!
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Summary: Interesting and informative , but ...
Review: This book is another interesting and informative, but narrow subject history book of the type this author prefers to write. In some sections it poses as a cookbook. I was irritated by the amount of text actually devoted to Codfish recipes, when what I purchased was a historical type book . The author has a very good writing style. The book covers the early history of some cultures that took advantage of this bottom dwelling fish prized for its unique white meat. The Codfish affected these early cultures as it still does today, where regional and national economies are suffering from the impact of worldwide diminishing Codfish stocks in spite of some sporadic conservation measures.
This reader recommends ignoring the all too frequent codfish recipes interspersed with the good historical information. This book makes for a fine compact interesting history of man's relationship with the Codfish. Ignore the historical section and I suppose it would be a passable Codfish cookbook.
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Summary: A bitter ecological tale for our time
Review: This is a fascinating book. It's also very sad, because it illustrates the ability of modern people to almost unconsciously wipe out the natural resources of our planet. Codfish were once the "buffalo" of the oceans -- big, fat, useful and dumb. As one early explorer wrote, to catch cod all you need do is lower and bucket into the water and haul it back up full of fish. Sorta like buffalo in the days when passengers could shoot them from the windows of passing trains as a harmless sport intended solely to break the boredom of the trip. Yes, this book is a bitter ecological tale for our time. It is also a wonderful history of a marvelous fish. Kurlansky obviously had fun writing it, and his love of cod shows in the comfortable style of his writing. He delves into word origins for the different ways used to describe cod, and he plays with the history of a dozen or so nations to illustrate the impact one fish had on entire peoples. Plus, he includes dozens of recipes by which cod was cooked for generations. But he also explains why such an international treasure has almost vanished. "Whatever steps are taken, one of the greatest obstacles to restoring cod stocks off Newfoundland is an almost pathological collective denial of what has happened," Kurlansky writes near the end of the book. "Newfoundlanders seem prepared to believe anything other than they have killed off nature's bounty." What happened? Kurlansky writes that "One Canadian journalist published an article pointing out that the cod disappeared from Newfoundland at about the same time that stocks started rebuilding in Norway. "Clearly the northern stock had packed up and migrated to Norway," he adds. If this is the Canadian attitude, in one of the self-proclaimed best educated and wealthiest of nations, it's not hard to understand why and how Third World nations have environmental problems. My personal experience with a similar depletion is in the Sea of Cortez, where Mexican fishermen have taken about 20 years to just about exterminate the sharks. Shrimp boats, based in Puerto Penasco, have likewise decimated the shrimp. Who's to blame? The United States, of course, because the Americans built dams on the Colorado River which prevents the river water from reaching the sea. There's always someone else to blame. As I said earlier, it's a sad book. Yet, it is an excellent one and perhaps one of the most appropriate to read in terms of what is fast happening to our marine life. Cod are invisible, not like cute furry little baby seals which so excited Europeans a few years ago when they saw how Canadians clubbed them to death to avoid marking the fur. If the future of our world depends on cute pictures on TV, then our future is truly in deplorable shape. But, the fact this book exists and is written with elegance, style, wit and great insight, may persuade thick-headed politicians that even "invisible" wildlife deserves protection from our greed and ignorance. If not, and having known many politicians for many years I'm not optimistic, it is a beautiful elegy to a noble fish. What happens when a native species disappears? Well, two centuries ago the US Southwest had some of the world's finest grasslands. Then came the Russian Thistle, an almost useless weed that choked out the grass. Now we celebrate this import in song, "See them tumbling along . . . . . the tumbling tumbleweeds." It happens.
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