Publishers Weekly
08/19/2024
Richardson (Second Sight in the Nineteenth Century), a historian at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, serves up a piquant cultural history of the stomach. She explains that ancient Greek scholars believed anger, jealousy, and desire stemmed from the gut, and that Christian theologians sought to tame this rapaciousness by including gluttony among the deadly sins. The valorization of restraint led the ruling classes of the Middle Ages to develop strict table etiquette that frowned upon the previously common practice of eating with one’s hands. Tracing how eating habits have evolved, Richardson notes that in medieval times, most people only ate two meals per day, with a large “dinner” falling around late morning. It wasn’t until the rise of industrialized workdays for which workers commuted too far to return home to eat that the modest midday “lunch” emerged. Elsewhere, she discusses how dietary advice has changed over time, describing, for instance, how Russian microbiologist Élie Metchnikoff set off a “yogurt-eating frenzy” in the 1910s by suggesting the food could slow aging. Though the book’s wide-ranging scope can occasionally come across as unfocused, the fascinating history means readers will be more than happy to come along for the ride. This satisfies. Photos. Agent: George Lucas, InkWell Management. (Oct.)
The Guardian
A vivid cultural history of changing metaphorical, political, and scientific visions of our guts.
The Daily Mail
A brilliant new cultural history of the gut.
Paul Craddock
A thrilling and surprising journey into the science and culture of an organ that refuses to be civilized.
Tiffany Smith
A fascinating, erudite, and entertaining journey through the gut-brain connection.
Science
"It is engagingly written and is full of fascinating trivia. The smorgasbord of topics covered in Rumbles is vast, ranging from religion, racism, colonialism, animal rights, etiquette, and capitalism to obesity, constipation, and gender, and the book is a hearty read."
starred review Booklist
"Richardson, a health historian, effectively explains why the gastrointestinal tract deserves its share of esteem. Her attention is directed more toward the medical history, sociology, cultural impact, and metaphors associated with the digestive system than its physiology. Richardson's discussion is populated by philosophers, literary writers, suffragettes on hunger strikes, medical scientists, bodybuilders, and psychologists. She touches on toilet habits and taboos, the gut's relationship with the brain and immune system, its microbiome, diet, and folklore. An unexpectedly absorbing, sometimes slightly strange 'scoping' of our relationship with the gastrointestinal tract."
Times Literary Supplement
Fascinating. A window into our relationship with the gut as mediated by medicine, literature, politics, and language.
Professor Jean Walton
Marshaling a wealth of resources, Richardson offers eye-popping (and sometimes gut-wrenching) insight into how our presumed cutting-edge understanding of the gut is not as new as we might want to believe. Rumbles will persuade you that to listen to the ‘rumbles’ of our gut is to immerse ourselves in an abiding historical legacy, for better or for worse.
