Excellent book, kept sharing with coworkers(even if they didn’t want to hear. Found to be very informative and interesting.

This book is not like any I have ever read before. It's both fascinating and horrifying. The taboo of cannibalism is brought to the front in a no excuse, no apology manner. The author brings facts, leaving you to come to your own conclusions. The book is fact based and filled with information on a subject most people refuse to talk about. I especially appreciated the fact that is not based on personal ideas, values, morals or ethical decisions but on fact, plain and simple. It covers a broad scope, from humans to insects. It's a bit hard to read at times because of the subject matter, but again, if you are interested in this taboo subject, this book would be a good addition to the curriculum.

A bit of a bore frankly and not quite as saucy as one would hope. I am a big fan of popular science books, but unfortunately this did not live up to the best of the genre.

SUCH an interesting read. Horrifying and fascinating! The anthropological and cultural aspects were cerebral, but easily understood.

A great selection of the broad history of cannibalism, this book is a great read for anyone who wants to take a big bite out of one of the world's biggest taboos.

I found this to be a very interesting book. I understand the subject matter isn't for everyone but it's not done is a sensational way. The books take a more scientific and anthropological look at cannibalism. There is only a small amount of coverage of human cannibalism. Much more is on the animal kingdom.

I found this super interesting and I definitely recommend it to those of you interested in science, anthropology and history.

**ARC provided through Netgalley*

If you are looking for a deep, in-depth examination of cannibalism in human history, keep looking. A glance at the cover clues the reader into what Bill Schutt focuses on - cannibalism in the the broadest terms - in this popular science book.

Bill Schutt provides a very readable, quirky examination of cannibalism using the broadest of definitions - the eating of individuals or parts of individuals by other individuals of the same species. He looks at examples in frogs, crickets, fish, bears and the strange case of the caecilians. He discusses what can cause the cannibalistic behavior and what advantages it may provide. He provides a brief chapter on the possible case of dino cannibals before delving into humanoid cases, beginning with Neanderthals and working his way to the present. Along the way he discusses the uses of bones and other body parts in medicine and the modern fad of placenta eating (no, it does not taste like chicken). He provides cases when cannibalism has been condoned and when the public has been appalled. He also discusses the Fore and Mad Cow disease correlation. In short, Schutt provides a soup to nuts course on cannibalism.

While Cannibalism is breezy read with quirky footnotes, it may leave the reader hungry for a more substantial take on this topic. Luckily, he does provide a decent bibliography of sources that allow the discerning reader the opportunity to delve deeper into particular aspects of cannibalism!

Strange non-fiction to read I know. But this was kind of dry and written as "just the facts" with anecdotal stories thrown in for filler. It was interesting at times but I really don't think it's as great as some have rated it. Reading about the animal kingdom and fairies tales were probably the best parts. Aside from that it was kind of dull.

Brilliant read! I thought I knew a lot about cannibalism as it pervades pop culture. I was wrong. The science involved and the different cultural practices described were fascinating. I especially enjoyed the chapters dealing with kuru, mad cow disease, and their link to cannibalism.

Fascinating read, if a bit on the gory side. A perfectly researched subject. Burp!

I don't remember exactly why seeing Bill Schutt's CANNIBALISM: A PERFECTLY NATURAL HISTORY on NetGalley made me think "ooh, I need to read that book" but I requested it. I got it. I added it to my To Be Read list. And I didn't read it. But then... I decided to do a reading challenge for 2017 (and by "do a reading challenge" I do mean "attempt and probably fail a reading challenge") and events went sort of like this...

I scanned the list of categories to assign books, because when you feel overwhelmed by something you chose to do you should always make it more complicated. I saw the category "A Book About Food." I remembered that I had an ARC of Bill Schutt's book on cannibalism. I stopped looking for other books on food.

It was a good match.

And it became a perfect match after I read the book.

Truth be told, I liked this book so much family and friends got tired of me telling them about it. I have no regrets about continuing to tell them about it, even as and partly because they proved some of Schutt's points about cannibalism being a taboo that still brings out strong opinions - like my pregnant sister being very defensive over the idea that breastfeeding might be a form of cannibalism.

But talking about books is what makes them worth reading, in my humble opinion. And I refused to be swayed from that.

One of the odder things about the book, however, is that I found the first half, the half about cannibalism in the animal kingdom far more interesting than the part of the book about human and human related cannibalism. I think that may be because the human part focused so heavily on BSE (Mad Cow Disease) and the kuru that affected the Fore tribe of New Guinea. That was an awful lot of science for the non-science mind that I possess. Chromosomes and genetics and adapted virus are just...

I like history so the explanations, more in depth than I've read before, of Christopher Columbus and how he maybe turned the larger part of the Caribbean and Central America into would-be cannibals because he found no gold to speak of and needed to make money on heathen cannibal slaves were perfect for my history mind.

And the story about how former President George H.W. Bush narrowly escaped being food... I did not know that!

What made the still science-y part of animal kingdom cannibalism readable and enjoyable to a lay person like me was Schutt's jokes, self-deprecating humor, and editorial asides on everything. it made a book that could be required reading for a college biology course fun. And it made me kind of, whatever that says about me, obsessed with the topic.

Not that I'm about to start cooking up my neighbors. I like the history of it, the clear and logical explanations for it as survival, and the way it was presented.

I am so glad I requested this book and I think it fits perfectly a a "Book About Food"!

(I received an advance copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest and original review. All thoughts are my own.)

I requested this primarily for my wife, Robin, who is teaching a graduate course this semester on "Cannibalism in Fiction and Film." This book didn't come out soon enough for her to use it as a textbook, but she might do so in the future. It has helped her to prepare the course, and she is recommending it to her students. Her only reservation is that there's a bit too much about insects.