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“... The great auk, or garefowl, was a flightless North Atlantic seabird and it tasted delicious, perhaps a little like duck with a hint of seaweed. It’s hard to be sure because by the 1860s the great auk was extinct. It had once been abundant: in the 16th century, a breeding ground off Newfoundland – known as Funk Island for the overpowering stench of guano – offered a welcome source of sustenance for European sailors crossing the Atlantic ...”

“... Jonathan left only a few traces of himself in the historical record, but they’re enough to allow Gisli Palsson, a professor of anthropology at the University of Iceland, to sketch a remarkable life. ‘Solid facts are so often lacking,’ he writes, ‘because silence served the interests of the rich and powerful.’ Slaves were itemised as property, or ...”