Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History by Bill Schutt (Epub)

Description

For centuries scientists have written off cannibalism as a bizarre phenomenon with little biological significance. Its presence in nature was dismissed as a desperate response to starvation or other life-threatening circumstances, and few spent time studying it. A taboo subject in our culture, the behavior was portrayed mostly through horror movies or tabloids sensationalizing the crimes of real-life flesh-eaters. But the true nature of cannibalism–the role it plays in evolution as well as human history–is even more intriguing (and more normal) than the misconceptions we’ve come to accept as fact.

In Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History,zoologist Bill Schutt sets the record straight, debunking common myths and investigating our new understanding of cannibalism’s role in biology, anthropology, and history in the most fascinating account yet written on this complex topic. Schutt takes readers from Arizona’s Chiricahua Mountains, where he wades through ponds full of tadpoles devouring their siblings, to the Sierra Nevadas, where he joins researchers who are shedding new light on what happened to the Donner Party–the most infamous episode of cannibalism in American history. He even meets with an expert on the preparation and consumption of human placenta (and, yes, it goes well with Chianti).

Bringing together the latest cutting-edge science, Schutt answers questions such as why some amphibians consume their mother’s skin; why certain insects bite the heads off their partners after sex; why, up until the end of the twentieth century, Europeans regularly ate human body parts as medical curatives; and how cannibalism might be linked to the extinction of the Neanderthals. He takes us into the future as well, investigating whether, as climate change causes famine, disease, and overcrowding, we may see more outbreaks of cannibalism in many more species–including our own.

Cannibalism places a perfectly natural occurrence into a vital new context and invites us to explore why it both enthralls and repels us.

User’s Reviews

Review A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice “Refreshing…A jolly book, written in a breezy style, but the research behind it is impressive.”—Sy Montgomery (The Soul of an Octopus) for the New York Times Book Review “[A] deeply researched account. The book is full of wondrous details . . . but its most valuable contribution is in challenging ingrained attitudes.”—The New Yorker “Delectable reading.” —Slate “In this comprehensive account of a taboo practice, Schutt (Dark Banquet), professor of biology at LIU-Post, finds that cannibalism is more widespread than generally believed and proffers insight as to why different species resort to the practice of cannibalism, with plenty of scientific evidence to support his conclusions….With plenty of examples of cannibalism in humans past and present, Schutt’s well researched and suspenseful work is a must read for anyone who’s interested in the topic—and can stomach the gore.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review “A delightful mixture of humor and scholarship. Erudite, amusing and often moving, this is a compelling examination of a serious topic.” —BookPage “A wide-ranging, engaging and thoroughly fun read.” —Science News “Cannibalism has seemingly always held a place of the utmost abhorrence in human society. But why, asks Schutt, when cannibalism is such a normal part of nature as a whole? In a witty, often funny, and thoroughly fascinating study, Schutt delves into cannibalism as an everyday occurrence throughout the animal kingdom….VERDICT Schutt’s writing is delightfully accessible…and utterly captivating.”—School Library Journal, starred review “A learned, accessible, and engaging approach to a meaty and always-controversial subject.” —Kirkus Reviews “The perfect literary entrée for those willing to contemplate mummy umami or Tex-Mex placenta while touring the history of animals and people eating their own kind.”—Scientific American “Schutt mixes science and history with equal deftness, never indulging in gore for the sake of shock value. His scholarly approach, bolstered by his own investigations and interviews…all make for an endlessly fascinating read.” —Seattle Book Review “A fascinating exploration of a normally taboo subject.”—John de Cuevas, contributing editor, Harvard Magazine “Bill Schutt serves up a deliciously entertaining smorgasbord of scientific reality. He gives us a deeper insight into the way nature really works.” —Darrin Lunde, Museum Specialist, Smithsonian Institution, and author of The Naturalist. “Butterflies do it. So do some toads, birds, and polar bears. Did dinosaurs do it? What about the Neanderthals? And what about us, for that matter? If you’re hungry for a fun, absorbing read about which animals eat their own kind and why, read this book.” —Virginia Morell, New York Times bestselling author of Animal Wise: How We Know Animals Think and Feel “A clear-headed, sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic—and always fascinating—compendium of one of Western culture’s strongest taboos. From the Australian redback spider to the Donner Party, Schutt examines the evolutionary purposes that eating one’s own can serve. But he goes beyond scientific explanation to show how deeply cannibalism is woven into our own history and literature.”—Cat Warren, New York Times bestselling author of What the Dog Knows: Scent, Science, and the Amazing Ways Dogs Perceive the World “A masterful and compulsively readable book that challenges our preconceived notions about a behavior often sensationalized in our culture — and frequently misunderstood in the scientific world.”—Ian Tattersall, author of The Rickety Cossack and Other Cautionary Tales from Human Evolution “A fun, entertaining read, and Bill Schutt’s insatiable curiosity for his subject is infectious. If you’re a fan of Mary Roach, you’ll definitely want to check this out.”—Gina Nicoll, Book Riot “This wonderful book will speak to the science-minded, to folks who like history, or to anyone who’s crazy-curious about taboo subjects like this.” —Terri Schlichenmeyer, The Bookworm Sez “Drawing from an impressively broad span of history and zoology, and with a good dose of humour, Bill Schutt offers a fascinating and not-too-gruesome exploration of cannibalism as it appears in both human society and the animal kingdom…. Delightfully engaging and entertaining.”—Winnipeg Free Press “A well-organized, thorough, and highly readable study of a phenomenon few of us pause to think about. This is a book you can sink your teeth into.”—The East Hampton Star From the Back Cover “A clear-headed, sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic–and always fascinating–compendium of one of Western culture’s strongest taboos.”* Until just recently, cannibalism was considered rare and abnormal in both humans and other animals. Now zoologist Bill Schutt surveys the latest research and delves into biology and anthropology, as well as history, literature, mythology, and pop culture, to bring us the first full-scale work on what science has come to recognize as completely natural behavior. “Butterflies do it. So do some toads, birds, and polar bears. Did dinosaurs do it? What about the Neanderthals? And what about us, for that matter? If you’re hungry for a fun, absorbing read about which animals eat their own kind and why, read this book.” —Virginia Morell, New York Times bestselling author of Animal Wise: How We Know Animals Think and Feel “A deliciously entertaining smorgasbord of scientific reality. Schutt gives us a deeper insight into the way nature really works.” —Darrin Lunde, Museum Specialist, Smithsonian Institution, and author of The Naturalist “From the Australian redback spider to the Donner Party, Schutt examines the evolutionary purposes that eating one’s own can serve.But he goes beyond scientific explanation to show how deeply cannibalism is woven into our own history and literature.” —*Cat Warren, New York Times bestselling author of What the Dog Knows “Schutt’s well researched and suspenseful work is a must read.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ First and foremost – it’s a fun book. Mr. Schutt writes very well and the book manages to be a learning and an amusing reading experience at the same time. What prevented me from giving it the full five star rating was an internal inconsistency in the authors thesis. On the one hand, cannibalism occurs in nature in many species as one of the survival strategies that do work. Obviously, there are non-cannibalistic alternatives that work as well and the evolutionary choice what strategy is eventually adopted by a certain species may be randomal. In any case, since cannibalism gene (or genes) are yet to be identified, a controlled experiment for a given species testing cannibalistic versus non-cannibalistic survival strategies is still science fiction rather than science. Mr. Schutt therefore proposes that cannibalism is neither admirable nor repulsive, just normal and “natural” when it works. On the other hand, when he tries to extend this thesis to higher species, i.e. mammals, primates, great apes, and finally humans, he finds less and less examples of cannibalism. This would indicate that for the highly developed species cannibalism is not a valid strategy except when it is “justified” by external streess (in the case of humans – mostly starvation). Although he attempts to link the human taboo against eating its own kind to social and religious couses (i.e. “unnatural”) and gives as an example the Chinese (who apparently had human delicacies cookbooks!), the fact is that probably at any given period less than one in a million people ever tasted the “long pig”, making cannibalism a very rare aberration indeed, on par with the cannibalism-spread (Kuru for humans and the mad cow for cattle) diseases. Another aspect makes the book delightful to read but greatly dilutes the arguments – Mr. Schutt loves biology and sociology and his numerous digressions like to the gruesome description of the Doner Party cannibalism or the fish that eat their moms from the inside are entertaining but much less in a way of proving the “naturalness” of devouring your own classmate. For a professional biologist, there are some surprises. For example, I had no idea that there is still a question mark over the causative agent (prions vs. virus) of Kuru, CJD, and other transmittable encephalopathies. On the whole, great entertainment and a lot of education of evolutionary survival strategies, but fails to convince that eating the neighbors children might be perfectly natural.BTW, the illustrations seem to mimic Farmer’s Almanach 150 years ago. Could be definitely improved.

⭐ Easy-read science book, which discusses cannibalism in many species, including Homo sapiens. I did find new-to-me information on types of human cannibalism. Also, it was interesting to read about Columbus, conquistadors, and the Catholic Church using false accusations of cannibalism to dehumanize, enslave and/or exterminate indigenous peoples of the Americas.I’d read about large-scale, survival cannibalism in China/PRC during the “Great Leap” of 1958-61. But the author glossed over the non-famine, political cannibalism, which took place during Mao’s 1966-76 Cultural Revolution. That is a period rarely spoken about, even in China, and I read only one translated book about those atrocities—best word for said events. Although author avoids the 1960s-70s, he does discuss other rarer types of cannibalism practiced by the Chinese over the past 2500 years.With both Kindle and Audible versions to hand, I was able to read the beginnings of each Kindle chapter, and then I listened to narrator Tom Perkins read the chapters I chose. Author does a journeyman’s-job explaining Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE) including Kuru, CJD, scrapie, and “Mad Cow Disease.”Note that there are chapters in this book—such as the upteenth retelling of the Donner family—that didn’t interest me.

⭐ This is some of the best kind of popular science writing: fun and fascinatingly gross at points, but never gets bogged own in lurid details. In fact, Bill Schutt makes it his mission to dispel many myths about cannibalism that have been generated in other popular books or news media, which I deeply appreciated. He also puts human cannibalism within a wider context of cannibalism in the natural world, and convincingly argues that it’s far more common than you might expect. His almost conversational writing style keeps you entertained and interested when covering some more technical aspects of biology and zoology, but I personally would have preferred a more formal tone. I also think the book could have been a bit longer and spent a little more time on human cannibalism, but then again I suppose there are many other works covering that subject. I doubt, however, that most of those have the same depth of research and scientific knowledge that Schutt brings to bear.

⭐ I won this in a Goodreads Giveaway.The author writes about cannibalism in a gore-less, yet very intriguing manner. The science behind his research is easy to understand. The taboo of cannibalism is exactly what lead me to this book. And I was not disappointed. The Author sets the record straight, debunking common myths and investigating our new understanding of cannibalism’s role in biology, anthropology, and history in the most fascinating account yet written on this complex topic. Totally recommend this to anyone who would be into it.

⭐ Mr. Schutt has done a fine job of making a rather unpalatable subject absolutely delicious. As an avid reader of non-fiction, I always enjoy an author who readily & deftly mixes scientific knowledge & a certain smart wit to bring a subject to a wide array of readers. I found myself giggling or just down right laughing out loud at Mr. Schutt’s turn of phrase or his way of explaining something. If this gentleman were a professor, I’d take every one of his courses! I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I found it well researched, exciting to read, & I can’t wait to read more of Mr. Schutt’s work.

⭐ Global warming leads to cannibalism? I digest it. Ten minutes of human hunger leads to eating each other. I bought this book to learn about cannibalism in nature. In Larry Niven’s book Legacy of Heorot he describes an ecobalance of one top predator. It seems he lives by eating his larval form. When humans kill this top predator, all the larval forms can grow to become apex predators. Also in his book Lucifer’s Hammer, Larry describes the starvation cannibalism caused by a meteor strike. After a recovery, the survivors adopt ritual cannibalism to initiate survivors who join the new society. I feel that all crimes should be punishable by death. These deceased, plus those dead by natural causes, should be fed to hogs and sharks. Humans could then eat these animals to solve world hunger. Cannibalism by proxy? However, if TSE’s can jump between sheep, minks, chimps , humans etc. perhaps I will rethink my solutions to hunger.

⭐ If you have any curiosity in regards to taboos or cannibalism, this is the book for you. It’s extremely well researched and provides an insane amount of insight. The author has a beautifully dry humor to keep you engaged. It does start a bit slow but I promise it is mind-blowing and it has not prompted me to dive even deeper into this bizarre, yet “perfectly natural” behavior.10/10 would read again, 10/10 would buy again, 10/10 would zoom meet with the author over tea.I seriously adored it. I cried when I finished it. Looking for more by the same offer and definitely looking into he recommended reading material. (Eat Thy Neighbor was impossible to put down).tl;dr U F-ING LOVED IT AND I HATE READING.

⭐ Great read. Very educational and dare I say fun read. The author examined a taboo subject using perfect wit, inviting hypotheses without scientific pretentiousness. I learned much more from this book than the obvious topic given. It touches upon history, art, religion, sociology, biology, anthropology and so much more with a great flow. Way to go!

⭐ Another excellent and entertaining read by William Schutt. The illustrations are beautifully done and the subject matter is amazing and just a little bit creepy, a nice balance of science and fascination by a clever author.

⭐ A coworker recommended this book to me. I’m not involved in life sciences to any degree, but I found this book really engaging. The author approaches the topic with humor and respect. I’d recommend reading it.

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