In his fifth work of nonfiction, Mark Kurlansky turns his attention to a common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt. The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions.
14½ hours of facts about salt and salt-adjacent things. Iodized salt. Potassium chloride. Mahatma Gandhi's Salt Campaign. Soy sauce. Catsup. Cheshire. San Francisco Bay. Oil exploration. The Dead Sea. The book never dwells too long, and everything is surprisingly, for me at least, interesting.
Fabulous rundown of the history of salt around the world, covering every continent and culture. This compendium documents every aspect of salt's varied production methods, and diverse uses. Stories recounting salt miners' lives, interspersed with salty recipes from ancient and middling times, made the read particularly fascinating and delectable.
The subject matter was interesting, but the book was terribly disorganized. I listened to the audio version and I wasn't into the reader.
Exactly what the title would lead you to believe; a history of salt and civilization. Did you know that shoreline saltworks produce, not just table salt, but saltpeter, nitrates for meat-curing, and magnesium salts? There's a full-sized cathedral made out of salt in underground caverns below Salzburg. There are underground boating lakes, as well. Saltponds are red from brine shrimp, and flamingos are pink because they live on those shrimp. This book is full of great stuff like that.
