Cannibalism
While looking for what other books I should try out during my free trial on Scribd, I came across this audiobook. I heard about this book before, and I've always wanted to read it because I wanted to read more non-fiction books on unique topics. However, I worried about what other people, like my family members, will think about me if they saw me reading a physical version of this book. It would make an excellent conversation starter, but I didn't want to worry anyone. So I've decided to try it out as an audiobook.
Before I began, I thought this book would have a large amount of detailed information on criminal cannibal cases. I already knew some instances of that kind of cannibalism and that the book would repeat some of the information, but go more in depth compared to the news. My predictions were wrong the moment the narrator read about how this book would have more of a scientific look on cannibalism and not focus on the criminal cannibals. I'm glad my prediction was wrong because concentrating only on that aspect would feel repetitive and dull. Even though there was a lot of scientific jargon in this title, I didn't feel lost while listening to the narrator. The writing is accessible with the author defining some of the terminologies and explaining the difference between a few theories in the book.
My favorite parts of this book were the sections discussing the debate on whether dinosaur did cannibalism or not and how different societies view cannibalism. It didn't surprise me how the colonizers demonized indigenous people by playing up the cannibalism practice even if some of them didn't do it.
At some points, it felt like the author was going off topic when the book talked about the mating practices of some animals and insects and mad cow disease. Fortunately, those parts have connections to cannibalism. The descriptions about holes in the brains being like swiss cheese scared me more than any other horror story. I don't recommend eating while reading through these parts, especially the section on the slugs.
The narrator was never dull and kept my attention thanks to his chipper, Disney Park castmember-type delivery and voice.