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| Salt: A World History | 
| Author: Mark Kurlansky
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy Used: $4.77
You Save: $11.23 (70%)
New (44) from $8.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  104 reviews
Sales Rank: 3142
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 498
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 0142001619
Dewey Decimal Number: 553.63209
EAN: 9780142001615
ASIN: 0142001619
Publication Date: January 28, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: **Books may NOT include Online Access Codes (InfoTrac, MyEconLab).** Books MAY contain highlighting, writing, and/or bent pages. We ship M - F.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Mark Kurlansky, the bestselling author of Cod and The Basque History of the World, here 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. Populated by colorful characters and filled with an unending series of fascinating details, Kurlansky's kaleidoscopic history is a supremely entertaining, multi-layered masterpiece.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 99 more reviews...
 A great read September 6, 2008
This book took an item we take for granted today, salt, and discussed its history. Some have criticized the author for including so many recipes. I disagree. Salt is used in cooking after all, and to put salt into a proper context we need to witness how it was used.
I enjoyed how the author wove the various aspects of the salt trade into a coherent history. For instance, that salt was so important in wartime never struck me before, though it seems obvious now.
A good, hard to put down read, Salt: A World History is a good book for people who like history, economics or the culinary arts.
 Reads like someone's lame thesis August 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Man, this didn't work at all for me. Here's why:
- It zipped past the ancient history (which is what I like) and spent most of its time on European and (white) American history (which I usually already know and don't care about anyway).
- You know how in college you would find some weird tangent to write your paper on so it would seem somewhat original? This book feels like a whole bunch of those essays. I get it, salt was important, but it still feels forced sometimes.
- After a while, you start to get that dreaded "I'm reading history" feeling, where it all starts to look like a list of names and dates. It's totally possible to write history without writing lists; I just don't think this book pulled it off.
Here's the impression I came away from this book with: "15th-century Germans really liked salt. Here's how they made it. You know who else liked salt? 16th-century French people. Here's a recipe that uses salt. Guess who else liked salt?" Ad infinitum.
Meh.
 Indiana Jones, this IS history August 12, 2008
Remembering 2nd semester of Western Civ with a dynamic prof who loved to use the "spectrum of history" to link events...food, religion, war, hobbies, work. That is how this book is read and you must eat the whole salty pretzel to get the flavor. You must try not to quibble with a few sweeping generalizations and dwell on the great facts that link this history together. A great prequel or sequel to "COD"
well written and fun
Prepare to be A"salt"ed :-) August 11, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is a relatively light look at how SALT has played a major roll in shaping our world and even the very language we use. The author has deeply researched the subject, compiling a very quick and fun read. While some of the historical ties might be overstated in parts, the roll of SALT really is undeniably important to both human survival and our culture.
One unexpected benefit of reading this book is that you can be the only "expert" on SALT around almost any table, a great way to fill those awkward long silences at company gatherings :-) I also recommend Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World for the same reasons.
Recommended!
Salt to Taste July 3, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book earned me the UberDork rating from anyone I told about it, but they are the ones who missed out. The writing is clear and makes for fun snippet reading. (Got 10 minutes? Pick it up!) The useless but fun facts mentioned by another reviewer are a big part of what kept me reading, but I have to admit that the real attraction was how Kurlansky connected salt to so many locations through the centuries. I disagree that SALT wasn't organized; it simply takes a "global" approach, something which many people can't appreciate because they perceive history as a linear concept. Linear history is neat and clean, but misses the point that events evolve, appear and disappear no matter where you drop in on the so-called "timeline". It is more a bubbling stew than a piece of string, in my estimation, and explains the "repetitiveness" mentioned in other reviews. SALT has the kind of circular information that comes in so handy for teaching History, which I happen to do. It is also great for getting a deeper understanding in the broad sense of how something we take for granted is integral to how humanity developed. Yes, very geekish on the one hand, but on the other...cool information to annoy your friends with. Read SALT and consider its curious, circuitous route to your mouth.
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