A-Z Wednesday: Contingency Cannibalism: Superhardcore Survivalism's Dirty Little Secret

A-Z Wednesday is yet another little book meme that I will be participating in in an effort to get me to think more about this blog. A-Z Wednesday is hosted by Reading at the Beach.

Here are the rules:

Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the Letter of the Week.

Post:

1. A Photo of the Book
2. Title and Synopsis
3. A link (Amazon, B&N, etc.)
4. Come back here and leave your link in the comments

If you’ve already reviewed this book, post a link to the review as well. Be sure to visit other participants to see what books they have posted and leave them a comment (we all love comments, don’t we?) Who know? You may find your next “favorite” book.

THIS WEEK’S LETTER IS: C

My “C” Book is:

Contingency Cannibalism: Superhardcore Survivalism’s Dirty Little Secret

by Shiguro Takada

(Boulder: Paladin Press, 1999)

Paperback, 151 Pages, Nonfiction

ISBN: 9781581600254, US$20.00

From the Cover: Let’s cut the crap. Survivalism is not about niceties and polite topics. It’s about desperately fighting for your life in a hostile environment, where you are forced to make disturbing, dirty choices in order to live to see the next sunrise. And practicing cannibalism is the survivalist’s ultimate test of his will to live. Contingency Cannibalism is a twisted, morbid, tongue-in-cheek, and hilarious look at cannibalism as a last-resort survival option. Pulling no punches, it answers such pressing questions as:

• Does it taste like chicken?
• What will my friends and family say?
• Will I get a disease?
• What if I like it?

Author Shiguro Takada analyzes real-life case studies of determined survivors who bravely engaged in cannibalism to save their hides, including the infamous Donner Party, the Uruguayan rugby team stranded in the Andes Mountains, and homicidal “mountain guide” Alferd Packer. He also dissects historical episodes of wide-scale cannibalism practiced in Scotland, Mexico, China, Russia and Africa for vital lessons on how not to practice contingency cannibalism. Finally Takada serves up the hard-core decisions and gruesome details one must know in order to partake in this grisly but sometimes necessary practice. Doing exactly what it takes to survive in the worst of times is not for the squeamish, but the bottom line is it produces survivors. Read this book and find out if you have what it takes.

Recipes included.

FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY!

My Thoughts: I think I have mentioned it here on this blog before (but if not, I know I have mentioned it here before), but I have a very scholarly and deep fascination with the act of cannibalism. It is one of the last great taboos in our Western societies and one that even the most hardened look upon with disgust. It is a staple in the horror genre, and it seems every five years or so a story pops up in the news about somebody eating somebody else. (Remember Jeffrey Dahmer? Or the German who advertised for a victim online? Or the Craigslist Cannibal?)

So, after reading Nathaniel Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex which details the story of the survivors of the Essex wreck who resort to cannibalism in order to survive after their ship is sunk by a sperm whale, and seeing that he referenced a book called Contingency Cannibalism, I knew I had to have the book on my shelf.

I haven’t read it cover-to-cover yet (I’ll probably be picking up shortly, after our move), but I have flipped through it, and I have to say that I am excited to read it, based on what I’ve seen, which includes a butcher’s chart of the human body, how to build a “Long Pig Smokehouse,” several recipes including how to cure “Sam Ham and Bacon,” “Jerk Jerky,” “Hobo Pocket Stew” as well as what wines go with human flesh.

It really promises to be an … interesting … read, and probably one that not a lot of people have on their shelves.