Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History Hardcover – February 14, 2017

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.

I was glad to find this book covered the story of cannibalism in many animals, so very infromative and fascinating, as well as easy reading. Don't worry, all those gross human stories are covered too. Maybe even more than I needed to hear...eating your placenta after giving birth??!!

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.

An enjoyable overview of the science associated with cannibalism. The author is sometimes unexpectedly witty, and does a great job of challenging his interview subjects about their conclusions and examining multiple possibilities.

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.

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.

Interesting read. Learned a lot.

Everything arrived on time and as advertised

I bought this book initially out of sheer curiosity. Having done some writing about cannibalism and cultural tabboos at university I was interested to find out just how natural it is to eat one's peers. It turns out, very!From the first page to the last page, this book is filled with genuinely fascinating revelations and surprising facts about cannibalism across a range of species (including humans), providing a balanced and objective consideration of the practice that effectively challenges Eurocentric ideas around nature and morality.By no means is this book encouraging you to eat your co-workers, but it does encourage readers to reconsider their preconceptions around cannibalism and learn some interesting science/history along the way.Honestly one of my all time favourites.

The book has great reviews and the publishers have done a good job to give it a lot of publicity. The books is very much about the author, who makes himself out to be knowledgeable and above the academic arguments that surround the subject.The book fails on every level of analysis. The anthropological, archaeological, and sociological evidence and theoretical approaches that he mentions are well and truly out of date. The author is subjective, and fails to apply any scientific methodology to his analysis - surprising since they guy is meant to have a PhD and works at a natural history museum. The chapter on cannibalism in the future is completely ridiculous. There are far better and more insightful books available. Save your money and buy yourself a good coffee and a donut you won't regret it.

An interesting read. I bought it expecting more animal related content but the parts about humans were still good. A nice mix of anecdotes, history and biology.

I enjoyed this book for multiple reasons :- It is well researched (facts from the litterature and conversations with scientists)- The writting style of the author is halfway between science paper and casual conversation (easy to read)- And I've always had a curiosity associated with zoology (I am extremely biased)Though I must add that I was/am not a big fan of the epilogue, but it didn't affect my appreciation for the book as a whole.

I quite enjoyed the way that Schutt was able to capture the subject with a sense of humor and light heartedness. Of course, I got a couple of weird looks from people who saw the book title-- however it's not at all violent or gory, as it's all from a scientific and natural point of view. Lots of cool facts that you can drop in conversation, if it ever comes up!Would highly recommend for anyone who's interested in expanding their knowledge base.