Salt: A World History

I wanted to like it, I really did. It was obviously well researched and some of the origins of common words that are attributable to salt are somewhat interesting, but, I just could not get through it. I came back to it several times. Tried it on vacation, on an airplane, in bed, in a waiting room, and every time decided that I just didn't give that much of a darn about salted fish and the production of salt. Maybe it was me not the writer. Maybe it was the writing. I don't know. It just didn't do it for me.

Prepare to be a-salt-ed with salt facts. There is so much detail and clearly so much research done for this book! For that reason, I had to give at least 3 stars to recognize all the work that went into writing this book. It is pretty fascinating the impact that salt has had on our cultures and economies. I highlighted a lot of interesting tidbits to bring up at my next cocktail party. The writing, though, I found to be a bit dense. Towards the end, where the author describes his experiences visiting some salt-related locations, it gets better. But much of the book is so packed with information that it takes a bit of a determined purpose to get through. It truly is a world history book- both in the way it is written and in how so much of history surprisingly revolves around salt.

Thankfully this book doesn't linger with the scent of academia. It's written to an audience of readership that enjoys story telling and history. It's not terribly long. I don't want to spoil anything in the review. If you are somewhat the kind of person I described and like to have something in your hand that pulls back one of many curtains of history, this book will not disappoint. This book is right-sized for the audience it will appeal to most.

Salt is one of those things that turned up all over the place in my high school studies. It turned up in chemisty (sodium chloride), in biology (the amount of salt in our bodies and what we do with it), in history and English (check out the root of the word: "salary"). So sure, salt's important. But does it merit its own entire book about its history? Turns out the answer is both yes and no...I like these small, focused histories (as you've probably guessed if you've read any of the other reviews I've written). I've read many of them, including another one by Mark Kurlansky, Cod (which I rather enjoyed). So when I ran across Salt, I was certain I wanted to read it. I liked Kurlansky's style, and I already knew that the subject matter would be interesting.And it was. In Salt, Kurlansky walks through both the history of salt and the influence of salt on history, presenting a wide and varied picture of one of the [now] most common elements in our modern world. And he does this in the same engaging fashion that he used in Cod; although, with fewer recipes. So why not give it five stars? Well, it has a couple of noticable flaws that tended to detract a bit from the overall presentation.The first flaw was in the sheer number of historical snippets that were included. While I'm certain that salt has been important in the broad span of human history, there are a number of these historical anecdotes where he was clearly reaching to demonstrate the influence of salt. Salt may have been involved in these incidents, but it was peripheral at best, and the overall tone sounds too much like cheerleading. Cutting a few of these out would have shortened the book without detracting from the presentation at all.The second flaw was the meandering path that he takes through the history of salt. He generally starts early in history, and his discussion moves along roughly as history does as well; however, he has a tendency to wander a bit both forward and backward without effectively tying all of this together. I'd have preferred to either walk straight through history while skipping around the world (effectively comparing the use and influence of salt around the world) or to have taken more time to discuss why we were rewinding (effectively following one thread to its conclusion and then picking up another parallel one). To me it made the presentation a little too choppy.There have been other criticisms as well; for example, the chemistry is incorrect in a number of places, but if you're using this as a chemical reference, then you've got serious issues with your ability to library research. Of course, that begs the question of what errors are in there that we didn't catch. And it does tend to be a bit repetitive in parts; although, this could have been used to good effect if historical threads had been followed a bit more completely.While I had a few dings on the book, overall I liked it. The fact that I read it end-to-end and enjoyed the last chapter as much as the first is a testament to my general enjoyment of it. It wasn't the best book I read last year, but I'll certainly keep it on my bookshelf. So, back to my original question: does salt merit its own book? Yes, it does, but perhaps in a somewhat shorter form.

Read back to back with his book, Cod, Salt adds the importance of this mineral to the sweep of history- along with a passel of recipes through the ages. I’m looking forward to his other books!

Well written book about the history of salt and its contribution to the world. Tonnes of interesting information, snippets from old recipe books (and I mean old) and a few pictures dotted in. The author never treats you like an idiot and the “story” moves along through to recent times. It did fall down a little bit for me when so much time was spent on American history. I imagine the author is American and it shows through with his over enthusiasm and rose-tinted view of this period of history. Still 5 stars though, it definitely painted a picture imagining people through history using salt for different things.

I read Mark Kurlansky’s biography of the cod and found many parallels here and can see why he wrote histories about both as there is a strong connection.I learned so many things from this book without realising it – surely the sign of a supremely well written slice of history – that I had a real sense of satisfaction when I had finished it, having not only had a curious insight into a seemingly ordinary cruet, but also a different perspective of so many historical facts and events.Surely all history would benefit from being taught from slightly off beat but more memorable perspectives. Read and enjoy.

Mark Kurlansky joins the ranks of page-turner historians. His enthusiasm and grip on his subject are a joy. The story ranges from egyptian mummifying techniques, through US civil war pickling recipes to 20th Century chemistry. I have driven my family nuts with salty anecdotes and now need a hard copy of the book so I can press it upon my friends. Brilliant!

Loved the book. Mark's obsession with Salt and interweaving with the threads of history and society is fascinating and inspired. I learnt, I questioned and I grew through the pages. Anyone curious about history, anthropology, cooking and NaCl should read this book 😉

This is my old college motto and old salts will have no trouble translating it. It could well be the motto for this wonderful history. Today we are constantly being warned about the dangers of too much salt in the diet but few of us,I guess realise how important and necessary salt is to our health and the significant role it has played in history. Well done Mark Kurlansky for another brilliant history.