Brian Fagan want us to know about the things archeologists find interesting. Here it is the role fishing has played in the history of human development. It's pretty interesting stuff, if you are into that kind of thing. I found it fascinating and I sent the link to a friend who is a Roman history buff because the Roman empire was fed with fish (as were several others).

Mr. Fagan's text wanders around the world, sometimes chronologically and sometimes west to east, describing what we know about fish and the people who hunted them. The writing is clear, if not always riveting, and I learned a lot about fish, fishing, and archaeology.

If you like this kind of thing, absolutely grab this book. If you are looking into the history of any culture living near the sea, there is likely something in this book for you.

I received a review copy of "Fishing: How the Sea Fed Civilization" by Brian Fagan (Yale University Press) through NetGalley.com.

I felt this book was a good history of commercial fishing . I enjoyed seeing the development of fishing as a commodity just like crops and poultry. It was very well written and engaging,

Brian Fagan, the prolific archeological writer, is back with a book on the history of commercial fishing. As Fagan points out, early humans obtained food by hunting animals, gathering edible plants and fishing. Most humans have long abandoned hunter-gathering, but many cultures still rely on fishing for a major source of their protein.
Fagan traces the evolution of fishing, from Neanderthals grabbing fish stranded in isolated pools to modern commercial factory ships, whose efficiency threatens the survival of many species.
Fishing: How the Sea Fed Civilization is written in a scholarly, dry style that the casual read may find tedious. But it is packed with many fascinating details about an often overlooked but vital human activity.

Fagan delivers a work that very much comes in the vein of microhistories like Mark Kulansky's "Salt" and Linda Civitello's more recent "Baking Powder Wars - a wonderfully informative micro-history that shines much-needed light on a critical component of the development of civilization and society as we know it.

As someone who grew up fishing and in an area dominated by a seafood diet this book really interested me. The first page tells the reader that the author is not a fisherman, does not fish, and yet chose to write this book. Ok you might say that people who write about the history of medieval wars sure have not experienced one themselves, but that's because the option is not there. Fishing is something you can do now. You can walk outside, find a body of water or a fishery and just go fishing. So why write about something you don't do or love?

I found it quite hard to get past this notion and so even though I enjoyed some of the information contained, I couldn't stop thinking about how the author has never really experienced the many kinds of fishing available.