New Book Review--Cannibalism

Why does the idea of cannibalism intrigue us? It manifests itself in cinema and television (Zombieland and The Walking Dead), literature (Robinson Crusoe, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), and even everyday language and jokes ("She's a man-eater";Two cannibals were eating a clown.  One says to the other, "Do you think this tastes funny?")

Daphnia

Bill Schutt addresses this fascination with his book Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History. His engaging writing style takes a look at the variety of cannibalistic instances in the animal world and widens to include humans, even if we often consider ourselves above common animal predilections.  Schutt starts the discussion with an overview of some of the simpler organisms in the animal kingdom and their penchant for eating one another. From Daphnia (a type of water flea), to fish and salamanders to polar bears and other mammals, he lays out observations of the phenomena and what researchers report are the probable indicators for such behavior.



After somewhat 'normalizing' the behavior in the animal kingdom, Schutt shifts focus to people. The breadth of information is amazing and his research is well-rounded and he discusses a topic that can engender harsh judgments from readers with dignity and objectivity while managing to introduce some lighthearted comments.

While I agreed the epilogue segued into the sensationalism he avoided throughout the rest of the book, which he acknowledges as he does it, it didn't detract from the extent of the research or the treatment of the subject.  This is well worth a read to become familiar with a fascinating subject that has such culturally diverse meanings.