PastryWiz Books : Salt: A World History
 

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Books : Salt: A World History
by: Mark Kurlansky

List Price: $16.00
Price*$10.29
You Save: $5.71 (36%)

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 553.63209
EAN: 9780142001615
ISBN: 0142001619
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 498
Publication Date: January 28, 2003
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Release Date: January 28, 2003
Sales Rank: 1519
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)


Editorial Review:

Product DescriptionMark 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
Average Rating:  out of 5 stars

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Pleasurable read about historys most important mineral
I am a geologist and this book was a great pleasure to read. Salt aka Halite is a important mineral to a geologist. This was a fun book to see how important is is to history.



Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Ok...It was just Ok
I purchsed this book used, and that's just what I got: a used book. Some of the pages were bent and the cover a little worn, but other than that it was ok. It looked as if it had been read more than once. But that's what I ordered...so it was ok.



Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - flawed but fascinating
"Salt: A World History" is exactly what the title advertises: stories about the production, trade, and use of salt from our earliest archaeological and written records through to modern times.

Kurlansky's writing is serviceable at best and more often rather clunky,repetitious, and tin-eared -- no one will ever accuse him of being a great prose stylist or a master storyteller. He doesn't have the most developed historical sense, which means that bits of information float in discreet units, bereft of context or full interpretation. And he has a *thing* about the Basques, which I have noticed turning up in his other work as well -- I think he tends to insert information he knows well (such as Basque history) into historical moments he's less sure of, so as to sound more knowledgeable than he perhaps truly is.

Nevertheless, the stories Kurlansky has to tell are fascinating enough to mostly overcome those difficulties. As a bonus, each chapter can more or less stand on its own, so you can space your reading in bite-sized chunks, as it were -- "Salt" is a great book to bring to a waiting room or on a bus ride.

In summary, "Salt" is an interesting book, but with too many flaws for me to recommend buying it. Borrow a copy from the library instead.



Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - A great read
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.

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Salt: A World History
List Price: $16.00
Price*$10.29
You Save: $5.71 (36%)
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