|
| 
| Author: Mark Kurlansky
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $6.70
You Save: $8.25 (55%)
New (38) Used (19) from $6.70
Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 28603
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 0345476395
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.694
EAN: 9780345476395
ASIN: 0345476395
Publication Date: January 9, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Used, but good condition. Light wear on cover. All pages intact.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Who knew? September 27, 2007
First off, I am a chef...so my five-star rating might be taken with a grain of sea salt. Also, I am a chef from New York City...who still opens a couple of hundred oysters a week.
I learned bunches from Mark's book. I was able to justify a long held stance about storing oysters in the face of superstition from my twenty-something rock-star staff.
I owned a restaurant in Telluride, Colorado back in the 70's. We dug around in the basement and found menus from the 1890's that featured fresh New York City oysters.....long before refrigeration. The book reveals how this worked, and consequently saved me a few hundred dollars every week. Five stars indeed1
Meanwhile, Mark gives an in-depth sociological, geographic and gastronomical account of how the oyster affected life in New York and America. In many ways the oyster is the canary in the coal mine of our inland waterways. If the oyster is happy with the water....you are probably OK with the water. No oyster.....don't even think about jumping in. Oysters kept New York City harbor water clean for millenia....until overwhelmed by chemical pollution.
Just this morning I picked up Mother Jones, and read an article about the largest oil spill in American history: in Newtown Creek between Queens and Brooklyn. Having read Mark's book....I already knew the history of Newtown Creek...once the source of millions of oysters and the support of an entire social structure.
Oysters had started a comeback there in 1997. Ooops. Back to the drawing board.
Buy the book. Learn something.
An Entertaining and Fun Voyage of Discovery! September 23, 2007
Who would have thought it possible that anyone could produce a great book on the humble oyster? Intrigued by the cover, I picked up Mark Kurlansky's "The Big Oyster" and embarked on an entertaining and fun voyage of discovery!
I learned that mankind is obsessed with the oyster and has been consuming them for thousands of years. Americans are among the world's biggest producers and consumers of oysters, which played a huge role in the growth of New York city and the young republic.
I found "The Big Oyster" so well written and enthralling that I read it cover to cover, and then went out and bought every book written by Mark Kurlansky. As a voracious consumer of books, it was a wise decision!
I highly recommend this excellent book to anyone searching for a great read!
How can anyone not love this book? July 24, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm not sure what kind of person would buy this book. It's not 100% history, not 100% science, not 100% recipe, it's a little of everything. After reading this book, I'd say this book is for someone who's not afraid to try something different, some who likes oysters and a little history to go with their oysters. So what is this book about?
1) It's a little bit oysters. The science: such as scientific names, reproduction, anatomy, etc. Just a little, not too much to bore the casual reader, but not enough to interest the casual scientist. I tried to find more about oysters online but there's not a lot of info, I suppose I should go read a book on it.
2) It's a lot about the early to mid-1800's history of New York City. As I like history, I really liked this part.
3) It's a little about oyster recipes. Sprinkled throughout this book are recipes, many from old books and from famous cooks and restaurants. That's a gem. It must have take some effort to collect the recipes and whether you like them or not they are interesting, at least for their historical aspect.
4) It's a little about the history of the oyster trade. This is a very good part of the book as I don't think you could find much written on it anywhere else.
5) New York society in the old days. Talked about the who's who and where they would eat. Interesting reading.
6) New York slums and the inhabitants, also interesting reading.
So to summarize, this book is about oysters, the eating of oysters, the oyster trade and New York city. You can't pidgeonhole this book because it's not history, not gastronomy, but a little of everything. It's quite well written and very easy to read. I enjoyed reading it, a break from my regular diet of thrillers. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I'm going to get Cod and Salt, two other books by this author that got mixed reviews. But I think the author deserves my custom after this book.
 As usual - easy read June 27, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Another book by MK. Nice and easy read and somewhat entertaining. Plenty of historical references but true historians could have plenty od reservations about it as well. Overall C to B-.
Quick and Interesting Read June 9, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought this book halfway as a joke for some oyster-loving friends, but it turned out the be a great page turner -- finished it in about 3 sittings. It's a great light read with some excellent information about oysters and a surprisingly fascinating history of NYC.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
