rubiscodisco's review against another edition
5.0
It's so good. Takes you through a history from the ancient world to the present and our history with salt. It makes you think about the pillars of production that supported and continue to support our world. It got me curious about the history of other goods and commodities like the spice trade, dyes and pigments, and incense. Quite superb.
leannaaker's review against another edition
3.0
This book had interesting bits, but it didn't capture my interest very well. I think I was expecting a more science-y perspective on this topic. I felt like much of the book was sharing odd recipes that included salt. I don't regret reading it, but wouldn't recommend it.
jbmorgan86's review against another edition
2.0
A summary of each chapter: This ancient culture produced salt. They used it to preserve fish. Here's a recipe to prove it.
This book is drier than your mouth after an overly salted dish. There is no art at all to the book. Kurlansky just vomits facts on the page. Each chapter is the exact same formula. Also, the book is about 200 pages too long.
This book is drier than your mouth after an overly salted dish. There is no art at all to the book. Kurlansky just vomits facts on the page. Each chapter is the exact same formula. Also, the book is about 200 pages too long.
charlibirb's review against another edition
5.0
Really fascinating. However, I don't really understand how it was organized. It wasn't by chronology, (really) it wasn't by country, (really), and it wasn't by what is done with salt. The digressions into other topics was interesting but a bit unpredictable. "Isn't this supposed to be a book on Salt?" I would think to myself as the author digressed for a paragraph on something seemingly not really related. However, very informative readable.
fannousa's review against another edition
3.0
POPSUGAR Reading Challenge #47: A Microhistory
it sort of became more of an interesting cookbook a fourth of the way through
it sort of became more of an interesting cookbook a fourth of the way through