I don't know if it is a modern day trait or has been so forever, but we tend to pay least attention to the most common place subjects and objects around us, barely sparing it one thought, forget a second one. So, it is no surprise that we never think of salt much. We read a little about the Dandi March, the Salt Satyagraha, may be a few lines the policy to iodise the Salt to combat Goitre and Iodine Deficiencies. Or an occasional headline about high sodium content in French Fries and processed food from our supermarket aisles. But salt is way more interesting than that. In this book, Mark Kurlansky takes you through a winding journey of salt through the ages, through the evolution of the process of salt making and the modern day wars and diplomacy over salt. Salt has a history of thousands years of searching for sources of salt, coveting ownership over salt fields, battling over territories, hoarding and profiteering of salt, taxing the salt consumption when blinded by greed, and so much more. There are countless idioms about salt and friendship & loyalty in English. Why just English, it is so in plenty of other cultures. Loyalty & Friendship are sealed with salt because the essence of salt does change even when dissolved in a medium, say water. It can be dissolved in water and then reclaimed from it by evaporation without any ch ages in this nature. In both Islam and Judaism, salt finalises and seals the bargain because it is immutable. Indian troops (& Gabbar's goons

This book was interesting and taught me a lot about salt that I didn't know. But it was fairly cyclical and circled back to places and people that had previously been discussed. And if you'd forgotten about those places and people and why they were important than you could get lost. I also felt like sometimes the importance of salt was forced - like salt is the hidden motive behind the history of the entire world. Clearly it was motivation behind several important events, but sometimes it felt like a stretch.

Overall, it was good and worth reading, but I felt it could have been better.

All about salt. Yep.

Other than the copious historical meat-heavy recipes sprinkled throughout, this was an interesting read, filled with infinite random trivia about salt, and lots of information about the salt trade through European and a bit of Chinese history. a solid read for those who enjoy micro-histories!

I want you to know about this thorough and well written book. However, unless you are writing a research paper on this subject matter, I’d suggest something a bit less comprehensive. The book details how we depended on salt for survival (preserving meats) until technical advances allowed for refrigeration. The value of salt “salary” comes from the word “salt”. The countries that exploited the land and people through the trade. The scientific discoveries. Finally, the evolution of salt to a plentiful commodity. It seems like the content of his books overlap a bit (Milk and Cod) Perhaps a bit less data about subject matter covered in other books.