Wiser Than Yesterday: Educational Book Reviews and Summaries

Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human - Richard Wrangham

Sep 8, 2025
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INSIGHT

Fire As Humanity’s Defining Invention

  • Fire transformed humans more than any other invention by providing a massive new external energy source.
  • Richard Wrangham argues cooking enabled our species to evolve larger brains and different societies.
INSIGHT

Caves Mark The Turnover Of Power

  • Evidence from South African caves shows fire use coincided with humans occupying spaces once dominated by predators.
  • Fire shifted humans from hunted to dominant predators by altering habitat use and behavior.
INSIGHT

Cooking Outsourced Digestion

  • Cooked food is more palatable and energy-dense, attracting even chimpanzees to wait for cooked meat.
  • Humans uniquely learned to control fire to make food consistently edible and nutritious.
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