Salt: A World History Paperback | Pages: 484 pages

Itemize About Books Salt: A World History

Title	:	Salt: A World History
Author	:	Mark Kurlansky
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Anniversary Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 484 pages
Published	:	January 28th 2003 by Penguin Books (first published January 31st 2002)
Categories	:	History. Nonfiction. Food and Drink. Food. Science

Chronicle As Books Salt: A World History

From the Bestselling Author of Cod and The Basque History of the World 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.  Populated by colorful characters and filled with an unending series of fascinating details, Salt by Mark Kurlansky is a supremely entertaining, multi-layered masterpiece. Mark Kurlansky is the author of many books including Cod, The Basque History of the World, 1968, and The Big Oyster. His newest book is Birdseye.

Mention Books Conducive To Salt: A World History

Original Title:	Salt: A World History
ISBN:	0142001619 (ISBN13: 9780142001615)
Edition Language:	English

Rating About Books Salt: A World History

Ratings: 3.74 From 53621 Users | 3392 Reviews

Discuss About Books Salt: A World History

AIYIYI... I just couldn't take this book. I was determined to read it after I chose it for a challenge I had entered but my goodness was it a struggle. I don't know if it was because I had just finished a textbook size of a book that was purely about science (A Short History of Nearly Everything) and was in major fiction withdrawal, or the fact that this book was breathtakingly boring, but I could literally not read more than 15 pages before I actually started to drift off into a deep slumber.

Salt is sexy really! Think about it: its in just about every bodily fluid (wink) and it has shaped human history like almost nothing else. This book covers it allfrom 100AD (when ancient Chinese lit up natural gas coming out of brine-water wells to pump out the brine through bamboo tubes into boiling houses to boil the water off the salt), to Venices saltworks, to the French Revolution (where the salt tax, known as the gabelle, was a major point of contention), to the American Revolution and

While certainly an interesting and often entertaining read, with many historic details I had never heard before, this book is seriously flawed in several ways.It has a bibliography, but no footnotes or endnotes. Given that on those subjects that I had detailed pre-knowledge, I found details that were misinterpreted, glossed over, or just plain wrong, I can only assume the same is true for the subjects I didn't know about before reading this book. But without detailed endnotes (which a book of

Well, I'll be pickled! We say we'll take something with a grain of salt as if it's nothing, but much of the history of the world is tied up in the quest for salt. It's not nothing. We're fortunate to have it in such abundance that we can take it for granted and worry about getting too much of it in our diets. For most of human existence that was not the case. The material here is thorough and often fascinating, but you must have a strong interest in history if you hope to get through it. Had I

What a book! As I was reading it, I wavered between "this is so dense with facts and boring" to "this is sooo interesting." Well, it's both. There were parts that I skimmed over and parts that made me share them immediately. I would want to stop reading then would come to a part about either a place I've visited or a know about from some reason or other, and then I'd be drawn back into the book. I learned a lot, that's for sure. The part dealing with chemistry interested me a great deal. I was

450 pages is a lot of salt. Though interesting by the end I was very ready to be done with it.

Chris Lavers started his review of this book for the Guardian with speculation on how an author can get released from publishers contract. The publisher receives priority by including a first refusal clause on a second book. You merely present your publisher with stunningly unappealing material. If they choose not to publish, then you are free to go elsewhere. A history of salt should work.Mostly, a foodie history with emphasis on the historical importance of salt for food preservation. There is