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Fishing

How the Sea Fed Civilization

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Fishing

Written by: Brian Fagan
Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
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In this history of fishing - not as sport but as sustenance - archaeologist and best-selling author Brian Fagan argues that fishing was an indispensable and often overlooked element in the growth of civilization. It sustainably provided enough food to allow cities, nations, and empires to grow, but it did so with a different emphasis.

Where agriculture encouraged stability, fishing demanded movement. It frequently required a search for new and better fishing grounds; its technologies, centered on boats, facilitated movement and discovery; and fish themselves, when dried and salted, were the ideal food - lightweight, nutritious, and long-lasting - for traders, travelers, and conquering armies.

This history of the long interaction of humans and seafood tours archaeological sites worldwide to show listeners how fishing fed human settlement, rising social complexity, the development of cities, and ultimately the modern world.

©2017 Brian Fagan (P)2017 Tantor World Africa Fishing Middle Ages Ancient History
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What the critics say

"Gently scholarly, elegant.... A compelling picture of how fishing was so integral in each society's development. A multilayered, nuanced tour of 'fishing societies throughout the world' and across millennia." ( Kirkus)
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The topic was maybe too broad here. Although there are good tidbits throughout, it’s hard to track the history as he bounces all over the world without gluing the parts together.

Good facts but not cohesive

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