Salt

A World History

By: Mark Kurlansky

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

So much of our human body is made up of salt that we'd be dead without it. The fine balance of nature, the trade of salt as a currency of many nations and empires, the theme of a popular Shakespearean play... Salt is best selling author Mark Kurlansky's story of the only rock we eat.

From its single origin, to the other discoveries made because of it, fascinating tales of salt and the people who have been involved with it through the ages are interwoven here. Fifteen recipes are included that will meet with every taste. 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.

Enjoy Mark Kurlansky's books? Listen to an interview with the author on To the Best of Our Knowlege.

©2002 Mark Kurlansky (P)2002 New Millenium Audio, All Rights Reserved

Critic reviews

"A piquant blend of the historic, political, commercial, scientific and culinary, the book is sure to entertain as well as educate." (Publishers Weekly)
"Kurlansky continues to prove himself remarkably adept at taking a most unlikely candidate and telling its tale with epic grandeur." (Los Angeles Times Book Review)

Couldn't finish

The narration was one of the worst I have listened to. Such a promising book but the read reads like a 4th grader at best.

Enjoyable history of salt's effect on mankind.

Enjoyed story of man's interaction with salt. Informative history spanking thousands of years. Narration was clear and understandable.

Rambles a bit, but interesting

Although my wife didn't listen to this book, she learned to hate it... while I was listening to it and for weeks after, I bombarded her with all the fascinating trivia about salt that I picked up. This was mostly at meals, of course. The book is packed with interesting facts, but I wish the author had organized them better. Sometimes he takes a chronological approach, but then switches gears to a geographical approach, and then on to a culinary approach and then back to chronological. The narration could have been a little crisper. It's a light listen overall, but worth your time.

Original history done by lens through specific product

This was a breathtaking history done through the lenses of need for salt, purchases of salt, and the cultural effects of salt. When I first started listening it blew my mind.

Wonderful narrator too. One of the best.

I did find some sections lagged by reciting recipes, some of them pretty gross.

More interesting than I expected.

I actually got this book for my sister because she is a chef and I thought it would be interesting for her and she did indeed like the book. So I thought I would give it a try and I was a bit surprised that It didn't put me to sleep but actually it's pretty interesting and has a lot more historical info than I was expecting. It also made me want to try a lot of the weird food that is described in the book. :) Overall if you're just a curious sort of person or have any foodie tendencies it's a good read!

salt can be sorta interesting

this book is exactly what it purports to be. it is salt and its politically culinary history told in as engaging a way as the subject allows. the author does an excellent job of moving chronologically while still adding tidbits to tie it back

Amazing history

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

You bet, salt is life and it's very interesting to understand how it has played part in human society

What was one of the most memorable moments of Salt?

I don't know amount moments but I will never forget the fact that any town in England who's name ends in "wich" I.e. Norwich was originally a salt works

Have you listened to any of Scott Brick’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Ok. I like Scott brick, but he is a bit over dramatic for a book on salt. Having listened to him read the entire Dune series, sometimes it's a bit off putting to hear him talking about mundane topics

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

"Salt, it's salty"

Any additional comments?

If you cook, listen to this book. Maybe you'll appreciate salt a bit more

absolutely the most surprising read

this book is phenomenal! I'm not sure how the author is able to cobble together the history or something so profound, vast and prolific with such fluidity and ease.

Informative but not very exciting

It filled the silence at work, but it isn't rave-worthy.
I like salt as much as the next person and it was very informative and I really appreciated that it wasn't completely Western Civ centric, as the author did include China. However, I could put the book down. I would listen to this when I ran out of podcasts. It filled the void.

Interesting story but recipes got in the way

Would you consider the audio edition of Salt to be better than the print version?

The story was interesting. I learned a lot. It was interesting to see the political, economic, and environmental impact that this common household product, had on world history. The one negative about the audio version of this book is that the text is broken up with recipes relevant to the chapters. While a reader can easily glance over the recipe, and skip to the next section of prose, the audio listener doesn't have that luxury, and the recipes for sour kraut and soy sauce are not very useful in audio form.