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Catching Fire

How Cooking Made Us Human

by Richard W. Wrangham

Catching Fire

Hardcover, 309 pages, Perseus Books Group, List Price: $26.95 | purchase

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Book Summary

Presents the theory that it was the introduction of cooking in the prehistoric past that led to physiological changes in the human brain and such advancements in human behavior as the development of social skills, bonding, and the division of labor in family groups,

This book is about:

  • Hearths, Prehistoric,
  • Roasting (Cooking),
  • Prehistoric peoples,
  • Fire,
  • Food habits,
  • Food,
  • History

NPR stories about Catching Fire

Books

Did Cooking Give Humans An Evolutionary Edge?

August 28, 2009 In Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, primatologist Richard Wrangham argues that cooking gave early humans an advantage over other primates, leading to larger brains and more free time. Wrangham discusses his theory, and why Homo sapiens can't live on raw food alone.

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On Talk of the NationPlaylist

 

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