The Origin of Feces: What Excrement Tells Us About Evolution, Ecology, and a Sustainable Society

by David Waltner-Toews

An entertaining and enlightening exploration of why waste matters, this cultural history explores an often ignored subject matter and makes a compelling argument for a deeper understanding of human and animal waste.

Approaching the subject from a variety of perspectives: evolutionary, ecological, and cultural, this examination shows how integral excrement is to biodiversity, agriculture, public health, food production and distribution, and global ecosystems.

From primordial ooze, dung beetles, bug frass, cat scats, and flush toilets to global trade, pandemics, and energy. This is the awesome, troubled, uncensored story of feces.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, History, Biology, Medicine, Natural History, Environment

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

David Waltner-Toews is a veterinary epidemiologist specializing in diseases people get from other animals. A University of Guelph Professor Emeritus and founding president of Veterinarians without Borders-Canada, he was the recipient of the inaugural award for contributions to ecosystem approaches to health from The International Association for Ecology and Health. He is the author of more than twenty award-winning books of poetry, fiction, and science, including, in 2020, “On Pandemics: Deadly Diseases from Bubonic Plague to Coronavirus” and "The Inter-Pandemic Backyard Chicken Book: a retirement memoir, with chickens."

Reviews

[Erin Welsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

It feels strange to say, but this book didn't quite have what I was looking for re: poop. I was really hoping for more about the evolutionary origins of poop, patterns in poop across the animal kingdom and the role that it plays in an ecosystem. But it felt rather shallow in those areas.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great quick introduction to ecology, environment and "waste." The author clearly explains that while normally considered a "problem" to be gotten rid of, human and animal excrement is actually energy and nutrients in a changed form. In the global economy it is especially important to remember that moving crops and livestock, and also changing population and lifestyle patterns, means water and energy are moving out of some geographic regions and over-accumulating in others in the form of excrement. Rather than look at waste as a local health issue, he uses humor and examples to show the importance of looking at the overall environmental and economic benefits to be derived from appropriate waste management choices.
As a strange side note, a few days after I started reading this, I was approached at church by a Japanese man working in our area for an American company. He asked about Simbolei Academy and as I was explaining the construction progress he specifically asked me about our plans for waste management. Interesting coincidence!

[Sarah Langstaff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. After I heard an interview with the author I was excited about reading the book. There is a lot of interesting information however the book requires some serious editing. While a chapter seems to start out with a thesis statement, the author rambles on and away from the point. Interesting subject matter, great details and stories. Better writing and editing required.

[Shyamal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a truly visceral introduction to ecology, life, and everything around us. Recommended reading for every human.

[anusha_reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read, with interesting anecdotes, making the shitty topic very amusing!!

[Jordan Venn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic jaunt through the world of shit. It's a fairly interesting take on something that most of us take for granted. It also has some rather salient and eye opening points on nutrient redistribution. A good, quick and fun read.

[Sue · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know the book was about feces, but I really detested the over-usage of the word SHIT. Over and over, ugh. I also did not appreciate the guy's particular humor . . . just something about it didn't sit right.

[Tandie]

This would be a terrific bathroom reader! Clever title.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first 2/3 of this book are pretty fascinating for anyone interested in nature, biology, ecology, and/or social history. From rabbits' nighttime habits to the Thai Filth Ghost, there's a lot of unintentional shock value but surprisingly few cringe-worthy discussions (in fact, only one for me - I just can't have the discussion about using poop as food - no matter how "safe" or "sanitized" it is.)

My tally of names Waltner-Toews uses in place of "feces" was pretty extensive, but there was a surprising absence of the word "poop" - which I thought would be the most common! I'm a hard-core, born-and-bred curse user, but even I had the instinctive "shock" reaction at the continued use of the word "shit" as just that - a simple, descriptive alternative word for feces. That, alone, says something about our relationship to the stuff.

So now we get to the last 1/3 of the book. I found it to be very much a re-hashing of ideas that had been presented already throughout the book regarding potential solutions to the ever-increasing pile of shit we are leaving behind. There are no real solutions but a lot of options are presented and there is a lot of "everyone has to work together," and "the solution will be different for each niche" kind of thing. Obviously he's right, but it seems very basic primer level and leaves the reader anxious to know how, exactly, that will really happen on a global scale.

Origin of Feces is a gross sounding but not-really-gross book (with a fabulous title and great cover concept) that fans of natural history/micro-histories should enjoy.

[Harold · Rating 2 out of 5]

As the title implies, this is a book all about "shit". The author himself uses that term throughout - along with more proper descriptions like excrement, manure, dung, scat, etc. Parts of the book are filled with interesting shit, like how different cultures have dealt with human waste throughout history and a look at current technological breakthroughs. But there's also a lot of boring shit about the movement of chemicals and nutrients in complex ecological systems. There's definitely the potential for a fun, fascinating book on this subject - maybe by someone like Mary Roach or Bill Bryson.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witty and informative, this book provides great details on the importance of the poop loop. The author makes references to many relatable things to help the reader grasp the magnitude of the poop on Earth. While it may sound like a gross topic, it is hugely important and is handled in a way that takes some of the taboo away from thinking about poop. There are good stories mixed with impressive facts, all combining to inspire the reader to take action in the biggest recycling system humans have been a part of to help combat climate change. This book is part of what inspired me to go into the waste water industry as a soil scientist!

[Lukas Vermeer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some funny shit, some serious shit, and some pretty weird shit, but ultimately I found it lacking the real deep shit, especially near the end of the book.

I’d rate it a type 5 on the Bristol stool scale.

[angelslayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

First half of the book was informative, well paced, introduced interesting issues and told humorous anecdotes.

Second half felt... aimless? Seemed like the author was winding up to a grand conclusion, but kept treading the same reasoning with different words and I lost interest.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Interesting, funny, but then started losing me in the end. Maybe because it all seems so hopeless.

[Eleanor With Cats · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very funny, informative quick read. Also touches on public health and zoonosis (disease jumping from animals to humans) for those interested in it.

[Eric Wurm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every single organism on the planet excretes something. No animal is so efficient that it can take all of its inputs and use them for energy or protein creation or other cellular functions. When we move along the timeline of evolution, multicellular animals not only have cells that excrete waste, but an entire system that turns everything useful into something the body needs and kicks the rest out through the excretory system. The kidneys and liver engage in metabolism, break down unnecessary components and send them on their way. Our urinary and rectal systems excrete urine and feces, but they aren't the only ones doing the work. You excrete water, salts and other chemicals through sweat, which is also a cooling system. Every time we exhale we remove carbon dioxide, water vapor, and other gases. Without these systems we would be full of shit. There would be no assholes, literally. Without that, there would be no feces, and this is a key component of removing waste.

This book studies the history and evolution of feces. How it came to be a means of waste removal, when these digestive and excretory systems evolved, how and why. It also looks at the various pieces of crap emitted from animals, from pellets, to sludge that forms patties to the mix of white urine and feces emitted from birds to the familiar Lincoln log-style crap with which we all must deal.

It covers the smell, and how it is used in signaling and territory marking. It covers means of disposal which is important in a world that literally has 8 billion human assholes. It explains why this material is leftover, and why it looks the way it does. The book goes into detail about various pathologies of defecation such as hemorrhoids, diarrhea, constipation, etc cetera.

This title has plenty of crappy jokes, but has quite a lot more biology than you'd expect! It's short but a great read. I keep a copy in the water closet, as I have a library in almost every room in the house. If this is a subject that interests you, I highly recommend it.

[Charlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whenever I watched Monty Python and South Park I loved the philosophical humor but always hated, what seemed to me, overly polished fart jokes. Reading this book felt in many ways the same. I love waste. I love the waste different types of cells produce, how that "waste" becomes the building blocks for complex life and builds the yummy food I eat. I love thinking about ecosystems, how living things connect. The author suggested taking care of our waste was just as important as the process of voting. I agree. He did a great job of discussing the various problems that can arise if we don't handle waste properly, what has been done in the past, what is being done now, what would be idea uses of waste, etc. All of that discussion was great. But, I really didn't love his waste humor. The word shit appears in this book so often, I now dislike the word. Something that was not true prior to reading. If there exists a joke about shit, it's in this book. I didn't need that in order to remain interested in the role of waste in ecology.

That said, I have to believe that writing a book about waste is a difficult task. I had no idea how often I read while I ate until I was reading about shit. I had to switch to other books fairly often, just so I didn't have feces on my mind. Since we have by nature an aversion to feces, I do not know how I would go about helping my reader overcome that. Considering the foregoing, I had a really hard time settling on a rating for this book. If the shit humor appeared less often, I would definitely rate it higher.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book contains very interesting material and facts about poo. Some thought provoking, shit related problems are introduced. Sadly, the whole work is poorly organized, and reads as stream of consciousness writing with so many tangents and lists, that I frequently found myself wondering ' what the F*^# was he talking about again?' Sometimes the author doesn't ever circle back to his original point but goes of on some loosely related opinion piece or statement of personal philosophy. The author gives a lot of preachy, proselytizing arguments which are not backed up by supporting scientific evidence. The whole book is peppered with trite comments and vague generalizations about global problems which might be caused by ineffective poo management. Instead of presenting these problems as food for thought for the reader he offers his own unsupported opinions on patronizingly oversimplified solutions. This book would have benefited by the hire of a competent editor. I wont recommend this one to my friends. The subject matter is interesting and important, but I would suggest waiting for a more concise book to come out on the subject.

[George G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok the author takes a topic that most would literally turn their noses at, sh*t, into something that is worth scholarly study. It turned my thinking about the topic from one in which society tries its best to safely remove excrement to devising a different paradigm in which waste is treated as a resource. As our planet grows more populous and we struggle to maintain health, nutrition, and standard of living...using animal and human excrement as a resource will be needed. The perfect example the author provides is that of rural farmers in Japan recycling the human waste from a city in such an efficient manner that it became a valuable commodity for farmers. Imagine that! Someone paying money for your sh*t!

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A much more serious book than the title might suggest, though it's sprinkled with lots of irreverent humor throughout. (Those who object to scatalogical words probably won't be able to get too far into this book.) Unfortunately, the solutions that the author offers to the "wicked" problem of human waste (and the excrement of our domesticated animals) tend to ignore some crucial root causes (e.g. overpopulation) and, though he pays lip service to the impact of human activity on other species, his solutions tend to be very anthropocentric.

[R.J. Gilmour · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good analysis of the ecological importance of feces. The writing is smart and funny dealing with a subject that most people wish would simply disappear.

"At the core of the wicked mess of shit, food, and ecological sustainability is a challenge of theory. We have developed ad hoc solutions, using a Henry Ford, linear, industrial model of nature. This theory works in a factory, or in a laboratory, but wreaks havoc in the world outside those confines."123

"Michael Pollan's advice is good: "East real food. Mostly plants. Not too much." 156

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a super interesting book, but it often felt repetitive. I think the message could’ve been condensed to a shorter format. I really enjoyed the author’s discussion of how complex systems fit together, illustrating how a change that’s intended to address one issue can have unintended effects on many other issues—the importance of looking at a problem from multiple levels can’t be overemphasized.

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great review of the politics of poop - how much there is estimated to be in the world, the good & bad it can cause, how we used to handle it, how we currently handle it, and how we may handle it in future.
All written in an easy to understand way, with the bonus of a sense of humour on the part of the author!

[Khat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Necessary reading for any global citizen. Thought provoking for a curious/scientific/inquisitive mind. A start toward overcoming the social stigma of waste. Overall quite interesting and a must-read; filled with conversation-starting facts and written with an enthusiastic and quirky voice.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think I'm going to finish this. I feel like the author is getting way too repetitive in what he's saying. I feel like I'm getting the same explanation over and over. Waste issues are complex - I get it. I'm stopping at page 127 or so, basically half way through.

[Don Standing · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's past time we started to pay more attention to our waste and the fact that, even though it appears to disappear, it does not. The repurcussions of this obvious fact are vast and alarming. This is a fascinating look at the results of our willful blindness.

[Sheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the humorous style. The book goes in depth on a topic that I never gave much thought too, other than while on remote camping adventures. While I will tread lightly, I did find some talking points to stimulate discussion in my middle school science classes.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some fascinating facts about shit and our interdependence with it in all its guises. The author has a sly wit and drops film and popular culture references humorously into this serious book about how our world could easily turn to shit if we're not more careful.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting look into poop. It covered a lot of different topics and at times it seemed like the author was trying to work in too many ideas. Slow read, but I'm glad I put in the time to read it.

[aza · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun and interesting introduction to ecology, waste and excrement. A relatively short read, especially combined with Waltner-Toews wit. It now sits on a shelf just outside the bathroom for guests to flip through while waiting their turn