Awards

• Winner of Margaret Mead Award 2013

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9780231146081

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Reviews

The human focus of Sera Young's book provides a welcome counterpoint to the strictly medical focus currently available in other sources. -- David L. Browman, Washington University in St. Louis At once a fascinating romp through the history of pica, an eye-opener for the practicing geophagist, and an elegant piece of quantitative evolutionary analysis of why people eat earth and other apparently non-nutritious stuff. Sera Young has produced an engaging fast-moving text anchored to rich appendices that document pica in history and literature, its prevalence across different human populations and subpopulations, and its association with micronutrient deficiencies.

Dr. Young brings a fascinating story from the musty cupboard of old wives' tales into the bright light of science. With fluid prose, a storyteller's style and a restless curiosity, she peels back the surface of a seemingly bizarre and idiosyncratic behavior -- pica --to produce a marvelous study of social biology with global reach. This is a book that will entertain as it educates, and it will educate everyone who reads it. -- Peter Ellison, Professor at Harvard University and editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Human Biology Young combines a detective's intuition, a scholar's diligence, and her own joyful, indefatigable curiosity to unravel one of the oldest and oddest of human mysteries. I devoured this book like an amylophage on a laundry starch bender. -- Mary Roach, author of Stiff and Packing for Mars Why would a pregnant women eat dirt? Craved Earth is compelling, encyclopedic and distinctively quirky -- an engaging account of eating, soil chemistry, history, religion, ethnography, nutrition and the social media. It's a book to inspire students and to capture the imagination of any reader of the mysteries of geophagia and the idiosyncracies of social life. -- Lenore Manderson, Professor at Monash University and editor of Medical Anthropology This marvellous book takes the reader on a fascinating historical, literary and scientific safari to discover why people, since early history, and all over the world, consume earth and other non-food items. The author began this journey with her research in Zanzibar on Pemba Island. Her travels then proceed through historical and literary texts, and the scientific literature This well researched book is surely the most in-depth, revealing and readable publication ever undertaken on geophagia and other aspects of pica. It is a must read for the expert,but it makes a most enjoyable read for almost anyone. -- Michael Latham, Professor at Cornell University The human focus of Sera Young's book provides a welcome counterpoint to the strictly medical focus currently available in other sources. -- David L. Browman, Professor at Washington University in St. Louis At once a fascinating romp through the history of pica, an eye-opener for the practicing geophagist, and an elegant piece of quantitative evolutionary analysis of why people eat earth and other apparently non-nutritious stuff. Sera Young has produced an engaging fast-moving text anchored to rich appendices that document pica in history and literature, its prevalence across different human populations and subpopulations, and its association with micronutrient deficiencies. -- Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, Professor at UC Davis Sera Young writes like a dream and her topic is so strange: why indeed do people actually choose to consume earth, ice, chalk, and other similar substances? This masterful work draws upon data, insights and perspectives from anthropology, history, public health, nutrition, and medicine to offer some fascinating answers. Craving Earth: Understanding Pica is a book you'll never forget! -- Carole Browner, author of Neurogenetic Diagnoses: The Power of Hope and the Limits of Today's Medicine and Professor at UCLA Fascinating! Filled with both wit and keen scientific insight, Sera Young has written the landmark study of pica. It is sure to be a classic in anthropology and nutrition for a long time to come. -- Gretel H. Pelto, Professor at Cornell University

Author Information

Sera L. Young is a faculty member of the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

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