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To Summarize: Richard Wrangham Catching Fire: How Cooking Made us Human
WARNING: THIS IS NOT THE ORIGINAL BOOK, CATCHING FIRE. THIS IS A SUMMARY OF THE ORIGINAL BOOK.
The Premise: Cooking Food Made Humans Human.
Cooked food is easier to digest than raw food. This allows us to extract more energy from food with less digestive effort. Eating cooked food gave our ancestors a huge evolutionary advantage, expanding the types of foods they could eat and maximizing the number of calories they could extract from almost everything they ate.
Based on evidence from early campsites, many anthropologists believe our ancestors began cooking about 400,000 years ago.
Richard Wrangham argues our hominid ancestors began cooking 1.9 million years ago. Homo erectus fossils from this period show evidence of smaller abdominal cavities and shorter digestive tracts than those of their habiline predecessors. Given the limited food supply, this could only occur with access to cooked food. Brain size increased because of access to cooked food, and fire provided warmth and safety from predators.
Cooking changed us physically and culturally. It has affected gender roles and is a contributor to obesity to modern humans.
The original publication, Catching Fire, is a beautifully written book, thoughtful and provocative.
This chapter-by-chapter summary is an aid to anyone who has read the original book and needs a refresher, or someone who wants quick access to the book's important points. Hopefully, you’ll be intrigued and want to get a copy of the book.
Each chapter is summarized. Additionally, there are questions at the end of each chapter to stimulate discussion in the classroom or book club.
The Premise: Cooking Food Made Humans Human.
Cooked food is easier to digest than raw food. This allows us to extract more energy from food with less digestive effort. Eating cooked food gave our ancestors a huge evolutionary advantage, expanding the types of foods they could eat and maximizing the number of calories they could extract from almost everything they ate.
Based on evidence from early campsites, many anthropologists believe our ancestors began cooking about 400,000 years ago.
Richard Wrangham argues our hominid ancestors began cooking 1.9 million years ago. Homo erectus fossils from this period show evidence of smaller abdominal cavities and shorter digestive tracts than those of their habiline predecessors. Given the limited food supply, this could only occur with access to cooked food. Brain size increased because of access to cooked food, and fire provided warmth and safety from predators.
Cooking changed us physically and culturally. It has affected gender roles and is a contributor to obesity to modern humans.
The original publication, Catching Fire, is a beautifully written book, thoughtful and provocative.
This chapter-by-chapter summary is an aid to anyone who has read the original book and needs a refresher, or someone who wants quick access to the book's important points. Hopefully, you’ll be intrigued and want to get a copy of the book.
Each chapter is summarized. Additionally, there are questions at the end of each chapter to stimulate discussion in the classroom or book club.
37 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 23, 2015
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