Will I love Salt?

Salt, neither you nor I would be alive without this mundane, everyday product that we scarcely give a second thought to. Salt is essential for human life, explains Mark Kurlansky, and the ingenious ways in which it is harvested and utilised all around the world, from antiquity to now, is the subject of this fascinating book.

I traveled in this book from China to western Sicily, from the North Atlantic, where fishermen preserved their catch of cod in salt, to the Indian sub-continent, where salt marches were eventually to lead to the emancipation of a nation. The Chinese wrote about… show more.

I am not one of those people that adds salt (NaCl) to their food, so I am not even sure why I picked up the book. I certainly didn’t anticipate loving Salt (the book) as much as I did, but I have apparently talked about it and recommended it to the level that it annoys my wife and friends and is a fun joke to them now. “There he goes, talking about Salt again…”

But I don’t care; it is a fascinating book, and I regret nothing! Among other things, salt helped build empires, end wars, and promote global exploration… show more.