{"title":"Bill Schutt","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"cannibalism-a-perfectly-natural-history","title":"CANNIBALISM: A Perfectly Natural History","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAvailable to Order: Ships to you in 1–2 weeks (processing + transit time)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Surprising. Impressive. \u003cem\u003eCannibalism \u003c\/em\u003erestores my faith in humanity.\" --Sy Montgomery, \u003cem\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor centuries scientists have written off cannibalism as a bizarre phenomenon with little biological significance. Its presence in nature was dismissed as a desperate response to starvation or other life-threatening circumstances, and few spent time studying it. A taboo subject in our culture, the behavior was portrayed mostly through horror movies or tabloids sensationalizing the crimes of real-life flesh-eaters. But the true nature of cannibalism--the role it plays in evolution as well as human history--is even more intriguing (and more normal) than the misconceptions we've come to accept as fact.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eCannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003ezoologist Bill Schutt sets the record straight, debunking common myths and investigating our new understanding of cannibalism's role in biology, anthropology, and history in the most fascinating account yet written on this complex topic. Schutt takes readers from Arizona's Chiricahua Mountains, where he wades through ponds full of tadpoles devouring their siblings, to the Sierra Nevadas, where he joins researchers who are shedding new light on what happened to the Donner Party--the most infamous episode of cannibalism in American history. He even meets with an expert on the preparation and consumption of human placenta (and, yes, it goes well with Chianti).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBringing together the latest cutting-edge science, Schutt answers questions such as why some amphibians consume their mother's skin; why certain insects bite the heads off their partners after sex; why, up until the end of the twentieth century, Europeans regularly ate human body parts as medical curatives; and how cannibalism might be linked to the extinction of the Neanderthals. He takes us into the future as well, investigating whether, as climate change causes famine, disease, and overcrowding, we may see more outbreaks of cannibalism in many more species--including our own.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eCannibalism \u003c\/em\u003eplaces a perfectly natural occurrence into a vital new context and invites us to explore why it both enthralls and repels us.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Morbidly Curious Book Club Online Bookstore","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53478692684143,"sku":null,"price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0991\/3040\/9327\/files\/Websitephotos_64_a0c6760a-3806-4be1-97f6-e87c522f6dec.png?v=1789480140"},{"product_id":"dark-banquet-blood-and-the-curious-lives-of-blood-feeding-creatures","title":"DARK BANQUET: Blood and the Curious Lives of Blood-Feeding Creatures","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAvailable to Order: Ships to you in 1–2 weeks (processing + transit time)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A witty, scientifically accurate, and often intensely creepy exploration of sanguivorous creatures.\"--\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Bill Schutt turns whatever fear and disgust you may feel towards nature's vampires into a healthy respect for evolution's power to fill every conceivable niche.\"--Carl Zimmer, author of \u003ci\u003eParasite Rex\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eMicrocosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor centuries, blood feeders have inhabited our nightmares and horror stories, as well as the shadowy realms of scientific knowledge. In \u003ci\u003eDark Banquet\u003c\/i\u003e, zoologist Bill Schutt takes us on a fascinating voyage into the world of some of nature's strangest creatures--the sanguivores. Using a sharp eye and mordant wit, Schutt makes a remarkably persuasive case that blood feeders, from bats to bedbugs, are as deserving of our curiosity as warmer and fuzzier species are--and that many of them are even worthy of conservation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExamining the substance that sustains nature's vampires, Schutt reveals just how little we actually knew about blood until well into the twentieth century. We revisit George Washington on his deathbed to learn how ideas about blood and the supposedly therapeutic value of bloodletting, first devised by the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, survived into relatively modern times.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eDark Banquet\u003c\/i\u003e details our dangerous and sometimes deadly encounters with ticks, chiggers, and mites (the ­latter implicated in Colony Collapse Disorder--currently devastating honey bees worldwide). Then there are the truly weird--vampire finches. And if you thought piranha were scary, some people believe that the candiru (or willy fish) is the best reason to avoid swimming in the Amazon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEnlightening and alarming, \u003ci\u003eDark Banquet\u003c\/i\u003e peers into a part of the natural world to which we are, through our blood, inextricably linked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Morbidly Curious Book Club Online Bookstore","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53478704251247,"sku":null,"price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0991\/3040\/9327\/files\/Websitephotos_65_8e849de0-10c2-4f6a-b4f3-688ab0379a88.png?v=1789480347"},{"product_id":"bite-an-incisive-history-of-teeth-from-hagfish-to-humans","title":"BITE: An Incisive History of Teeth, from Hagfish to Humans","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAvailable to Order: Ships to you in 1–2 weeks (processing + transit time)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFrom three-inch fang blennies to thirty-foot prehistoric crocodiles, from gaboon vipers to Neanderthals, Bite is a fascinating journey through the natural, scientific, and cultural history of something right in front of--or in--our faces: teeth.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eBite\u003c\/i\u003e, zoologist Bill Schutt makes a surprising case: it is teeth that are responsible for the long-term success of vertebrates. The appearance of teeth, roughly half a billion years ago, was an adaptation that allowed animals with backbones, such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, dinosaurs and mammals--including us--to chow down in pretty much every conceivable environment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd it's not just food. Tusks and fangs have played crucial roles as defensive weapons--glimpsing the upper canines of snarling dogs is all it takes to know that teeth are an efficient means of aggression. Vampire bats use their razor-sharp teeth to obtain a widespread but generally untappable resource: blood. Early humans employed their teeth as tools to soften tough fibers and animal hides. Our teeth project information and social status--the ancient Etruscans were the first to wear tooth bling, and it's doubtful that George Washington would have been elected president without the false teeth he wore.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo much of what we know about life on this planet has come from the study of fossilized teeth, which have provided information not only about evolution but also about famine, war, and disease. In his signature witty style, the author of \u003ci\u003ePump\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eCannibalism\u003c\/i\u003e shows us how our continued understanding of teeth may help us humans through current and future crises, from Alzheimer's disease to mental health issues. \u003ci\u003eBite\u003c\/i\u003e is popular science at its best and will appeal to readers of Mary Roach, Merlin Sheldrake, and Ed Yong.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Morbidly Curious Book Club Online Bookstore","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53478704513391,"sku":null,"price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0991\/3040\/9327\/files\/Websitephotos_66.png?v=1789480508"},{"product_id":"pump-a-natural-history-of-the-heart","title":"PUMP: A Natural History of the Heart","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAvailable to Order: Ships to you in 1–2 weeks (processing + transit time)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Fascinating . . . Surprising entertainment, combining deep learning with dad jokes . . . [Schutt] is a natural teacher with an easy way with metaphor.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this lively, unexpected look at the hearts of animals--from fish to bats to humans--American Museum of Natural History zoologist Bill Schutt tells an incredible story of evolution and scientific progress.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe join Schutt on a tour from the origins of circulation, still evident in microorganisms today, to the tiny hardworking pumps of worms, to the golf-cart-size hearts of blue whales. We visit beaches where horseshoe crabs are being harvested for their blood, which has properties that can protect humans from deadly illnesses. We learn that when temperatures plummet, some frog hearts can freeze solid for weeks, resuming their beat only after a spring thaw. And we journey with Schutt through human history, too, as philosophers and scientists hypothesize, often wrongly, about what makes our ticker tick. Schutt traces humanity's cardiac fascination from the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, who believed that the heart contains the soul, all the way up to modern-day laboratories, where scientists use animal hearts and even plants as the basis for many of today's cutting-edge therapies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWritten with verve and authority, weaving evolutionary perspectives with cultural history, \u003ci\u003ePump \u003c\/i\u003eshows us this mysterious organ in a completely new light.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Morbidly Curious Book Club Online Bookstore","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53478705463663,"sku":null,"price":21.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0991\/3040\/9327\/files\/Websitephotos_67.png?v=1789480804"}],"url":"https:\/\/morbidlycuriousbookclub.myshopify.com\/collections\/bill-schutt.oembed","provider":"Morbidly Curious Book Club® | Online Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}