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Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky
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Salt: A World History

by Mark Kurlansky

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2,072421,541 (3.8)66
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Penguin (Non-Classics) (2003), Paperback, 498 pages

Member:mjacobsen
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maybe i'm not in a good "place" for reading nonfiction right now, i don't know, but this was the longest feeling read i've had in a while. the only reason i finally made it is that i want to get back to fiction asap.it's not that it was too much info about salt, but as with most commodity histories i've read, it just made me depressed about industrialization and environmental degredation. this also struck me as a book by a guy writing about salt but really wanting to be writing about fishing. or maybe that's just because i read cod. ( )
  jphilbrick | Dec 3, 2009 |
An engaging study on salt and the effect it has had upon human populations throughout history. The book includes discussions on settlements, economics and social and culture habits where slat played a significant role. The book even includes ancient recipes. ( )
  npryzbul | Nov 17, 2009 |
I remember no mention of the tremendous historical importance of salt in any of my history classes. ( )
  ds1 | Oct 2, 2009 |
Kurlansky's 'Salt' is really interesting. His book 'Cod' is really, really not. ( )
  pilarflores | Sep 29, 2009 |
A more accurate title would be "A World History Through Salt". Really is a history of the world by following salt usage, production, and trade. ( )
  ktoonen | Jul 31, 2009 |
Showing 1-5 of 42 (next | show all)
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Epigraph
The real price of every thing, what every thing really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.

-- Adam Smith,
The Wealth of Nations, 1776
All our invention and progress seem to result in endowing material forces with intellectual life, and in stultifying human life into a material force.

-- Karl Marx, speech,
1856
Dreams are not so different from deeds as some may think. All the deeds of men are only dreams at first. And in the end, their deeds dissolve into dreams.

-- Theodore Herzel,
Old New Land, 1902
A country is never as poor as when it seems filled with riches.

-- Laozi quoted in the
Yan tie lun,

A Discourse on Salt and Iron, 81 B.C.
At the time when Pope Pius VII had to leave Rome, which had been conquered by revolutionary French, the committee of the Chamber of Commerce in London was considering the herring fishery. One member of the committee observed that, since the Pope had been forced to leave Rome, Italy was probably going to become a Prtestant country. "Heaven help us," cried another member. "What," responded the first, "would you be upset to see the number of good Protestants increase?" "No," the other answered," it isn't that, but suppose there are no more Catholics, what shall we do with our herring?"

-- Alexander Dumas,
Le grand dictionnaire de cuisine, 1873
Dedication
To my parents, Roslyn Solomon and Philip Mendel Kurlansky, who taught me to love books and music

and

to Talia Feiga, who opened worlds while she slept in the crook of my arm.
First words
I bought the rock in Spanish Catalonia, in the rundown hillside mining town of Cardonia. (Introduction)
Once I stood on the bank of a rice paddy in rural Sichuan Province, and a lean and aging Chinese peasant, wearing a faded forty-year-old blue jacked issued by the Mao government in the early years of the Revolution, stood knee deep in water and apropos of absolutely nothing shouted defiantly at me, "We Chinese invented many things!"
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Do not combine Salt: A History with The Story of Salt. The Story of Salt is a much shorter, illustrated version of Salt aimed at children.
Publisher's editors
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References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (9)

Kipper

Mark Kurlansky

Pyroligneous acid

Salt

Salt (chemistry)

Salt lick

Sodium chloride

Tabasco sauce

Zigong

Book description

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0142001619, Paperback)

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.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:55 -0400)

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