Who Ate the First Oyster? The Extraordinary People Behind the Greatest Firsts in History by Cody Cassidy (2020, Penguin)
I find it difficult to recommend a book that almost completely fails to support its premise, but I’ll do so this time. This book details some of the key innovations in the history of mankind and explains what we know about them. “What we know” is key… provided throughout the book are theoretical stories extrapolated from archaeological research. While this means that it is all based in solid science, it is also almost completely wrong.
The author takes an innovation – the performance of the first surgery, the first invention, the discovery of fire – and provides what we know and how we know it. He takes readers through the information without bogging down in the math, with resultant chapters seeming like particularly well researched and presented collegiate lectures.
Where the book fails is in the promise of the title. Because of the minimal information available from remaining artifacts, we have no way of knowing many significant details of the people being discussed, and those we can know are integrated with the speculations. It allows for better storytelling but is inherently inaccurate. Also, because the data is predicated on current archaeological findings but new discoveries are constantly being made, many of the items presented as fact here will be revised as evidence of even earlier examples are found.
To be fair, “Who Ate the First Oyster? Details Surrounding the Earliest Known Instances of People Who Performed Specific Tasks” is a far less interesting title.
If you have an interest in prehistory and ancient history or know anyone who is, the book is worth picking up.
The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin & Link Neal (2019, Crown)
During the first week of the impeachment hearings, I decided to review a humor book on the nonfiction side, to shift the focus from politics and history. The first week after the election, I return to the humor book’s authors with their initial foray into fiction.
The co-hosts of Good Mythical Morning used their southern roots to produce a methodically paced Stranger Things laced with occasional references to their hit Youtube show. The result is a supernatural thriller that tries not to be offensive while providing chills for its readers.
It succeeds on the first side, fails on the second. What makes the book particularly notable are the authors. By using characters which share obvious similarities to the well-known pair, fans of the show are encouraged to frame the story as a tale of Rhett & Link’s youth… and with good-natured humor peppering the story and occasional references to show events, the fans are likely to love the book.
As the show has millions of daily viewers worldwide, most of them between the ages of ten and thirty, his may be an excellent Christmas present for a teen or younger adult in your life, if they are among the show’s viewers. The subject matter may be a little too dark for most pre-teens even if they’ve seen the book hawked on the show.
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