Kurlansky seasons a narrative with amazing snippets of history making for a sumptuous read. His history of salt was informative, entertaining and perhaps best of all- a good launching point for a lot of other interesting reads. The facts that he pulled up brought insight into countries and traditions that I had never heard of. His history was original- finding new information rather than repeating historical tropes. Although I would argue that he spent probably a little to much time on salt cod- the book was one I could not put down. I would easily recommend this to anyone to read.