Salt

A World History

By: Mark Kurlansky

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

The author of Cod and The Basque History of the World takes an extraordinary look at an ordinary substance — salt, the only rock humans eat — and how it has shaped civilization from the very beginning. Mark Kurlansky has produced a kaleidoscope of history, a multi-layered masterpiece that blends economic, scientific, political, religious, and culinary records into a rich and memorable tale.

©2003 Mark Kurlansky (P)2006 Phoenix Books, Inc.

I’ll never take Salt for granted again!

This is one of those many books that I’ve had a physical copy of on the bookshelf for some time, but had never gotten around to reading. I might never have gotten to it, were it not for audible — however I am glad that I had the physical volume to refer to, for illustrations, spelling of unfamiliar words, and so forth.

I found it to be relatively interesting, but certainly didn’t make my heart beat faster… it is well-written and meticulously researched, but not a subject that holds endless fascination for me.

Mr. Brick’s narration is excellent and extremely clear and easy to follow. The only drawback to his performance is the pronunciation of Chinese words and names. There are a couple of chapters in this book with extensive references to Chinese names, places and foodstuffs, and a passing familiarity with PinYin (which is not all that difficult to obtain) would have made a big difference. It was handy to have the physical copy of the book to refer to for these sections of the text. But this was manageable and the clarity of the other parts of the book contributed greatly to the enjoyment thereof.