A World History
My wife thinks I’m weird, because I’ve been washing the dishes and taking showers while listening to a book about salt and its impact on world history. I tell her I’m not alone, that the book Salt by Mark Kurlansky is a popular history book by an acclaimed author. He’s even turned it into a children’s book, for crying out loud! She’s still not convinced.
Its effect upon my marriage notwithstanding, I’m happy to have finally gotten the chance to enjoy this book, another addition to my favorite genre I call “the biographies of things.” Also in this list are such books as The Book on the Bookshelf and The Evolution of Useful Things by Henry Petroski or The Island of Lost Maps. Also in this genre are the biographies of events, like Simon Winchester’s A Crack in the Edge of the World. Works such as these ignite my imagination, for they teach me the roots of history supporting such common objects as a simple toothpick or common table salt. And what deep roots they are!
I recall learning in high school that wars had once been fought over access to salt, but the veracity (and extent) of such a claim evaded me, until I read this book. Here, Kurlansky traces the threads of salt’s impact on cultures back to their origins, from the earliest discoveries and uses of salt in China and Africa, to the exploitation of its trade in the Mediterranean. Beyond this, he also discusses the many methods of collecting and refining this resource, its various types, and its countless uses.
Perhaps my favorite portions of the book were the numerous references to ancient recipes using salt, as well as the impact this commodity once had on the fish trade and on the preservation of meats and vegetables. While I doubt I will ever attempt any of these recipes (I don’t have an extra deer shank hanging about, darn it), I enjoyed learning how peoples whole continents apart often came to the same conclusions about how to use salt for the sake of preservation. While I assume Kurlansky’s book Cod will share much of the same information as this book, I nevertheless would be interested in reading or listening to that award-winning book as well.
Regarding the fact that I listened to this as an audio book, I was also surprised to find that Scott Brick recorded this one. I generally only come across him when listening to fiction (like books by Clive Cussler), but when I found him here, I was inspired to do a little research on the Golden Voice. It was fun to learn how many books he’s actually recorded! His Brick by Brick company appears quite successful, and it seems like he might be worth following as a curator of books worth reading. Food for thought.
Speaking of idioms, I wonder why Kurlansky never mentioned (as least to my recollection) where “take it with a grain of salt” stems from. Any ideas?
©2018 E.T.