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Hacker News Comments on
The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell

Mark Kurlansky · 2 HN comments

HN Books has aggregated all Hacker News stories and comments that mention "The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell" by Mark Kurlansky.

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Amazon Summary

“Part treatise, part miscellany, unfailingly entertaining.”–The New York Times “A small pearl of a book . . . a great tale of the growth of a modern city as seen through the rise and fall of the lowly oyster.”–Rocky Mountain NewsAward-winning author Mark Kurlansky tells the remarkable story of New York by following the trajectory of one of its most fascinating inhabitants–the oyster.For centuries New York was famous for this particular shellfish, which until the early 1900s played such a dominant a role in the city’s life that the abundant bivalves were Gotham’s most celebrated export, a staple food for all classes, and a natural filtration system for the city’s congested waterways.Filled with cultural, historical, and culinary insight–along with historic recipes, maps, drawings, and photos–this dynamic narrative sweeps readers from the seventeenth-century founding of New York to the death of its oyster beds and the rise of America’s environmentalist movement, from the oyster cellars of the rough-and-tumble Five Points slums to Manhattan’s Gilded Age dining chambers. With The Big Oyster, Mark Kurlansky serves up history at its most engrossing, entertaining, and delicious.“Suffused with [Kurlansky’s] pleasure in exploring the city across ground that hasn’t already been covered with other writers’ footprints.”–Los Angeles Times Book Review“Fascinating stuff . . . [Kurlansky] has a keen eye for odd facts and natural detail.”–The Wall Street Journal“Kurlansky packs his breezy book with terrific anecdotes.” –Entertainment Weekly“Magnificent . . . a towering accomplishment.”–Associated Press

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Hacker News Stories and Comments

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Oct 15, 2022 · JumpCrisscross on Alaska snow crab season canceled after disappearance of an estimated 1B crabs

> link to more on indigenous/pre-colonial overfishing of oysters in Hudson Bay?
Sure! It’s from this book [1].
Decreasing oyster size (implying younger harvests) in New York mounds was explicitly contrasted with the sustainable extraction from the Chesapeake Bay. (None of your sources mention the Hudson.)
Better delineation than capitalist and indigenous might be trading and non-trading.
> trigger warning
This is a needless way to undercut oneself. (It’s also mean.)
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Big-Oyster-History-Half-Shell/dp/0345...*

⬐ tomjakubowski
Thanks. You're right, those sources do not mention Hudson Bay, despite my Google search including the words. I should know better.
I've recently started enjoying oysters and other shellfish so I'll add the book to my reading list. Looks very interesting!
edit: "New York mounds" -- is this about Hudson Bay (the one in Canada) or the Hudson River estuary, in New York?
The first source I linked doesn't mention the river either, but second source does claim no prehistoric declines of oyster sizes in the Hudson River estuary. Still going to read the book and then make my up my mind

⬐ JumpCrisscross
> "New York mounds" -- is this about Hudson Bay (the one in Canada) or the Hudson River estuary, in New York?
New York, New York.
The natives piled mounds of shells. Over generations, these grew formidable [1]. (“Midden” [2]. Pearl Street gets its name from a Lenape midden [3].)
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/science/native-americans-...
[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midden
[3] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Street_(Manhattan)

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Jan 21, 2019 · pseudolus on Cleaning New York's harbor with one billion oysters

Mark Kurlansky (of Cod and Salt fame) wrote a book "The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell" which detailed the history of oysters and NYC [0]. Apparently at one time more than 700 million oysters a year were being harvested.
[0] https://www.amazon.com/Big-Oyster-History-Half-Shell/dp/0345...

Hacker News Comments on The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell

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The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell