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‘Daringly unorthodox’
— Sunday Times ‘A breakthrough in evolutionary biology’
— Daily Telegraph ‘Wrangham is doing no small thing here; he’s putting forward – in the most accessible way – his big new theory... Fascinating stuff, convincingly argued’
— Holly Kyte, Sunday Telegraph ‘Catching Fire offers a startlingly original argument about how we came to be the social, intelligent, and sexual species we are today. Richard Wrangham argues that it was cooking that caused the extraordinary transformation of our ancestors from apelike beings to Homo erectus. At the heart of Catching Fire lies the groundbreaking new theory that the habit of eating cooked rather than raw food made us human. More than language, emotional intelligence, or the opposable thumb, the mastery of fire created us. Once our ancestors began cooking their food, the human digestive tract began to shrink and the brain to grow. Time once spent chewing tough raw food could be used instead to hunt and to tend camp. Cooking became the basis for pair bonding and marriage, created the household and even led to a sexual division of labour.
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— The Judges of the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize 2010 ‘Richard Wrangham presents a powerful thesis – and the more you think about it, the more it seems to be true. As a very considerable bonus, his book is an excellent read’
— Colin Tudge, Literary Review ‘Startling and persuasive’
— Economist ‘Richard Wrangham’s ingredients are freshly gathered from an impressive variety of fields’
— Steve Jones, Guardian ‘Able to see my preparations for Sunday lunch in a dizzying new perspective... Catching Fire is very readable and not in the least technical. Wrangham makes a compelling case... Wrangham’s placing of cooking at the centre of what it is to be human carries a great deal of emotional conviction too. The ritual of the family Sunday lunch now also celebrates the birth of our species’
— Ian Irvine, Evening Standard | 
