---
product_id: 49581401
title: "Cod"
price: "€ 34.19"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.be/products/49581401-cod
store_origin: BE
region: Belgium
---

# 4 continents spanned 1000 years of history 4.5-star rating, 1800+ reviews Cod

**Price:** € 34.19
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Summary

> 🐟 Unlock the untold saga of the world’s most legendary fish—don’t miss the story everyone’s hooked on!

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Cod
- **How much does it cost?** € 34.19 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.be](https://www.desertcart.be/products/49581401-cod)

## Best For

- Customers looking for quality international products

## Why This Product

- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Key Features

- • **Top-Ranked Bestseller:** Ranked #6 in Fisheries and #33 in Fish & Seafood books—join thousands who’ve discovered this must-read classic.
- • **Global Impact Unveiled:** Explore how cod shaped economies, diets, and conflicts across four continents—history’s most profitable fish.
- • **Compelling & Accessible:** A captivating read praised by students and historians alike for blending lore, recipes, and hard-hitting facts.
- • **Epic Historical Journey:** Dive into a millennium-long saga that connects Vikings, explorers, and revolutionaries through the story of cod.
- • **Urgent Ecological Insight:** Understand the dramatic rise and fall of cod populations and why this story matters for our planet’s future.

## Overview

Mark Kurlansky’s 'Cod' is a critically acclaimed bestseller that chronicles 1,000 years of history and global impact centered on the cod fish. Spanning four continents, it reveals how cod influenced wars, economies, and cultures, while offering a compelling mix of history, ecology, and culinary lore. With a 4.5-star rating from over 1,800 readers, this book is essential for history buffs, ecology students, and anyone curious about the forces shaping our world.

## Description

'Who would ever think that a book on cod would make a compulsive read? And yet this is precisely what Kurlansky has done' Express on Sunday The Cod. Wars have been fought over it, revolutions have been triggered by it, national diets have been based on it, economies and livelihoods have depended on it. To the millions it has sustained, it has been a treasure more precious that gold. This book spans 1,000 years and four continents. From the Vikings to Clarence Birdseye, Mark Kurlansky introduces the explorers, merchants, writers, chefs and fisherman, whose lives have been interwoven with this prolific fish. He chronicles the cod wars of the 16th and 20th centuries. He blends in recipes and lore from the Middle Ages to the present. In a story that brings world history and human passions into captivating focus, he shows how the most profitable fish in history is today faced with extinction.

Review: Doesn't look inspiring... but wait til you read it. - I loved this. Picked it up as a budget title to pad out my BSc reading as I was getting bored of dry textbooks and found it an astonishing read. I genuinely re-learned a few things, including the discovery and European settlement of America. Great read for anyone with an interest in history, ecology, or just seeing things through a new perspective. For a marine ecology / fisheries student, an easy read like this that's so full of information is very, very useful.
Review: A shocking, important book. - A superb book - starts with a fascinating look at the history of cod fishing and the vital role it played in the development of the New World, including (disconcertingly) supporting the Carribean slave economies, before moving into the devastating story of industrialised cod fishing in the 20th century. This is no polemic though - he simply explains what happened to cause the catastrophic collapse of North Atlantic cod and the bleak prospects for the future. The evidence is powerful enough to hit home.

## Features

- New
- Mint Condition
- Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
- International products have separate terms, are sold from abroad and may differ from local products, including fit, age ratings, and language of product, labeling or instructions.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | 105,142 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) 6 in Fisheries 33 in Fish & Seafood (Books) 91 in Aquatic Creatures |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,831 Reviews |

## Images

![Cod - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61WwpEqoX1L.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Doesn't look inspiring... but wait til you read it.
*by M***N on 23 April 2014*

I loved this. Picked it up as a budget title to pad out my BSc reading as I was getting bored of dry textbooks and found it an astonishing read. I genuinely re-learned a few things, including the discovery and European settlement of America. Great read for anyone with an interest in history, ecology, or just seeing things through a new perspective. For a marine ecology / fisheries student, an easy read like this that's so full of information is very, very useful.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A shocking, important book.
*by P***R on 15 March 2016*

A superb book - starts with a fascinating look at the history of cod fishing and the vital role it played in the development of the New World, including (disconcertingly) supporting the Carribean slave economies, before moving into the devastating story of industrialised cod fishing in the 20th century. This is no polemic though - he simply explains what happened to cause the catastrophic collapse of North Atlantic cod and the bleak prospects for the future. The evidence is powerful enough to hit home.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Cod's key role in the development of nations - and its demise
*by M***N on 31 October 2010*

Why read a book about cod? Because I had read Mark's latest Basque history and I was intrigued to see if he could repeat the compulsive reading about a subject about which I knew little. "Cod" is strong on the role the fish played in power politics, navigation and the making of history in past centuries. It weaves into the book the struggle for sea supremacy particularly between the Portugese and the Spanish and the British. It is graphic in its description of the rigours and risks of fishermen. It ascribes the nutrition provided by cod to allowing the great voyages of peoples from the Vikings to the Basques. It provides the background to the opening up of Newfoundland and New England and the voyages to discover other parts of the world. But the book is more than a book about fish. It reinterprets in some detail the American War of Independence and the attitude to the slave trade in the light of the importance of the Grand banks fishing grounds. Historically cod fishing was a crucially important economic driver. But, in recent years, lack of control or international coordination of overfishing has resulted in decimation of stocks. Glimmers of hope are provided by the fact that decimated cod stocks have been restored fairly quickly in some cases, such as in 1989 when the Norwegian government realised its cod stocks were in serious decline. And the possibility that cod farming holds out for re-establishing stocks. But Mark Kurlansky is very sceptical of the ability of to restore stocks where overfishing has been severe. He is very scathing of the EU Common Fisheries policy and of the ability of nations to cooperate on fishing. It is not just the fish that are dying, it is the fishing communities and the fishermen. The book sees no hope for the future of a cod fishing industry of significance or importance. A good read. Not as powerful as Mark's Basque history and deflating in its conclusions.

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*Product available on Desertcart Belgium*
*Store origin: BE*
*Last updated: 2026-07-23*