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 tried to read it in print rather than listening to the audio book, I may not have stayed with it. It's quite thoroughly thorough, right down to ancient and modern recipes for salty foods that sound mighty revolting.

The quality and style of presentation in the book is similar to Bill Bryson's, but without the humor. It's hard to believe this was written by the same guy that put together that goofy book made up of nothing but questions.

This audiobook was a real slog. At almost 14 hours long, I had to speed it up to 1.5 speed to get through it. Of course it's my own fault for imagining a book this long about salt could be engaging. Nonetheless there were some interesting factoids I collected. There were fights centuries ago in England when people's land started caving in when salt brine was extracted from subterranean levels. At the time if I got this right, people actually retained the rights to what was under their land. But the salt exploiters claimed that extracting the brine helped the local economy. So what if huge sinkholes started appearing everywhere. Now I know there had to be geologists and engineers warning oil companies that fracking was problematic.

Of course salt led to wars. An excellent example is Gandhi and the Salt Marsh protests in 1930 which led to protests again British rule, but was started over battles over the rights to collect salt.
http://www.history.com/topics/salt-march

This is a book that would appeal to some history buffs as well as those interested in who has the right to exploit natural resources. Lots of interesting history in this book but just too much of it.

Did not finish.

Got just over half way through when the author started repeating himself. It started to feel like 'Groundhog Day' in hardback.

I very much enjoyed this book on world history, roled like a ball of yarn around the role salt played in this history. I think that different readers will enjoy different aspects of the book. There is something for everyone. I particularly enjoyed the sections on Chinese ancient history, on French salt production on Noirmoutier and Ile de Ré and also the perspective of how French salt taxes (gabelle) influenced the French revolution. This was interesting becuase other books stress the role of the price of bread rather than these salt taxes. Other people may be interested in the role salt played in the American Revoltion, Morton Salt Company, German and Austrian salt mines, how a lack of Scandinavian salt influenced the Vikings, hydraulic drilling and gas deposits or the numerous old recipes provided (the original ketchup, tomato ketchup, the difference betwwen the Swedish herring surströmming versus sill). I believe there is something here for everyone. The author makes the information so interesting that it fastens in your head! Well hopefully at least for awhile!

This book is about so much more than salt. A friend asked me what I was listening oo while listening to this one and they thought it sounded like an absurd thing to read about. I'm inclined to believe that many people might turn away from this book based on that fact, but I found it to be chalked full of so many interesting facts from some of the earliest history.

I found all the information presented in the book a little overwhelming at times and I do believe I would have given it 5 stars had I read it more slowly and allowed the information to settle between reads. I will be sure to read it at a later date for that reason.

This is a thoroughly entertaining read! I recommend it to anyone who likes cooking, history or cataloging interesting little facts to spew at later dates. There is so much good party chit-chat tied up in this one.

This is based upon the audio download from [www.Audible.com]

Narrated by: Scott Brick

The legendary pipes of Scott Brick did little to enhance this biography of the ubiquity of salt. The book is a curate’s egg—there are dull parts but there are also some very interesting parts. I didn't think it possible to have someone talk about salt for 13 hours and 43 minutes but it was.

The book begins with facts about salt and the sharing of some of the salt industry’s 14,000 uses for salt. It was interesting to learn that the salt in the human body is equivalent to what would be found in 3 or 4 salt shakers.

The early history of salt was only slightly interesting but as the history moved to Europe, you learn how everyday words had their origin with salt—such as salary and town names in England ending in “wich” have salt-related origins.

The best part of the book for me was the role it played in U.S. history (as that is what I like to read about most). I did not realize the strategic importance of salt, especially during the Civil War. My favorite passage from the book was actually a quote from General William Tecumseh Sherman in August 1862. He stated, “Salt is eminently contraband because of its use in curing meats without which armies cannot be subsisted.” In all my readings of U.S. history and the Civil War, I've never come across a discussion of the importance of salt. This was eye-opening.

It was a slow, dry book but one that definitely imparts knowledge.

What I learned:
*Everybody loves salt fish
*Chinese invention stories war with European invention stories - WHO WILL WIN?!
*The planets resources -salt, sugar, oil- inspire ruthlessness in certain types of humans - the urge to Pokémon-collect-them-all is deep seated and endless
*It's a lot easier to see mistakes and bad behavior via birds eye view of history
*Write down the mundane stuff and leave it around for historians to find, otherwise expect to be forgotten once you're gone
*Eccentric behavior pays dividends
*Deliciousness travels in all directions, and a lot of it emanates from Asia & Italy
*SALT SALT SALT SALT
*FISH FISH FISH FISH
*It seems to remain ok for historians to talk about human slavery like it's just this thing that, y'know, happens on the way to riches. No biggie
*A little humor goes a long way, especially when you're reporting boring stuff
*Salt
*Fish
*Supreme smelliness
*What once ruined lives and attracted cash, is now thrown down on our roads with little interest and care
*I still care little for dates and places, some things haven't changed since high school
*Sweden was once poor --I had no idea! Today they're like the middle class society poster child
*So .... what's next for the world's favorite compound?

Published in 2002—years prior to the Pink Himalayan salt craze—Mark Kurlansky’s “Salt: A World History,” is still both a great, and a relevant, read.

This book is arranged into three parts: Part One: A Discourse on Salt, Cadavers, and Pungent Sauces; Part Two: The Glow of Herring and the Scent of Conquest; and Part Three: Sodium’s Perfect Marriage. In just twenty-six chapters, Kurlasnky takes the reader on a world tour of the history of salt making.

The author’s writing is geared to a non-academic, general public and includes not just Western countries—like in Europe and the United States—but also includes salt making in places like ancient Egypt, Rome, and the Middle East, Africa, China, and India. However, the majority of the writing does focus on European communities, including the US, and China.

The book’s ending seemed a bit stifled. It was clear that by Chapter 26, the author could have quite literally gone ‘on and on’ but had to stop out of necessity. And while Kurlansky went out of his way to include short discussions of colonialism and slavery, these discussions were generally short because his subject was so broad that he could have created an entire multi-volume encyclopedia on the subject.

Being geared towards the general public, the author kept his scientific discussions to a minimum, but was able to incorporate information on numerous other types of salts other than just sodium chloride. What I really loved about this book is that the author showed readers how a single commodity can have such a huge impact on world history and economics, spanning from the earliest recorded history and up to the present time.

The author chose to avoid the use of both in-text citations and footnotes/endnotes, but did include a bibliography. While I wouldn’t consider the bibliography to be exhaustive, it was entirely acceptable. “Salt: A World History,” was a fantastic read. There is no doubt as to why this book has become so popular and why people are still intent on reading it.

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 this sort really ought to have), I would have to guess which of the many books in the bibliography is the source of any given fact or factoid. Plus there's every reason to believe some were pieced together by the author from multiple sources -- or pieced together of whole cloth.

The book lacks a general organizing principle. Are we traveling through time, era by era? Through the globe, region by region? Or perhaps it's time for a (grossly oversimplified and sometimes flat-out wrong) chemistry lesson? It never quite decides. Nor can it decide what its theme or focus should be. History? Politics? Geography? Certainly not chemistry. Maybe cooking?

3 stars means "I liked it", and that's about right. Mostly, I did. But that's despite its myriad flaws, certainly not because of them.

If I had read this instead of listened to it, I'd probably give it two stars or maybe even one. This was boring but PERFECT for car rides. It was just interesting enough to be great background noise. In fact, I loved it for the first couple of hours, but it became less and less interesting as time went on. The book is set both geographically and chronologically. Kurlansky starts with ancient cultures and how they used and made salt--this stuff was fascinating. Unfortunately, as he progresses to modern day in Western Europe and the United States, it gets much drier. He also litters the book with recipes which became a little tedious to listen to.

a little dry in places but overall i found it utterly fascinating. however, this is coming from the person who listened to a 10-part podcast on pepper so take this review with a gr.., with a grain of..,,,

I picked this as it fitted the title ‘ Natural food source’ in my challenge grid for my nature book club.
A really interesting analysis of the history & sources of salt.
A book that makes you think in depth about a mineral you take for granted daily.