The trouble is that Wrangham is an expert on chimps but not on humans(or even palaeoanthropology as many other experts in the field have pointed out at times). For example, he once claimed that it would take an absurdly long 5.7 to 6.2 hours each day to chew enough raw meat in order to get enough calories. He based this supposedly on a chimp's chewing rate(unlikely in and of itself, IMO). Yet, unsurprisingly, the Homo Erectus species Wrangham claims to be the first to try cooking, had quite different jaws/teeth from chimpanzees - as hominids before Homo Erectus already had started incorporating a lot more (raw) meat into their diet and were long adapted to it.
I'll certainly listen to this except as I intend to review the book at some stage. I wonder if he still views raw foodists as exclusively raw vegan.
Geoff
> Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 00:01:23 -0700
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Listen to Richard Wrangham on "How Cooking Made Us Human"
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Hello,
>
> This mailing list were amongst the first people to read Dr. Richard Wrangham's
> research on "How Cooking Made Us Human", when he was kind enough to allow list
> members to read his unreleased manuscripts on the subject a few years ago.
>
> Recently, he published his book on the subject, and a few weeks ago, by pure
> chance, I caught some of his appearance on the excellent NPR radio show "Science
> Friday".
>
> That show is archived on the web, and you can listen to the show (it is about
> half an hour) at:
>
> http://podcastdownload.npr.org/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/510221/112351483/npr_112351483.mp3
>
> While he strongly makes the case for the benefits of cooking, and the
> "paleoness" of cooking as well, he does think that a very carefully planned raw
> diet can be worthwhile - for those looking to lose weight (and explains why).
>
> For those who are unaware, Wrangham spent many years observing wild chimpanzees,
> and thus is one of the foremost researchers involved in determining which human
> behaviors and characteristics are genetic. For example, he was one of those
> who discovered that wild chimpanzees take part in warfare against other groups
> of chimpanzees, demonstrating that war is instinctual behavior.
>
> --
> Cheers,
>
> Ken
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