Jane's review
Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky
I was very non-plussed by this book. Kurlansky does not do a very good job of presenting his topic. In my opinion he was just throwing out about any facts he could find about salt. In a way he ties it together. He discusses how ancient Chinese used salt; how northern Europeans used salt; how salt was mined; etc. I got that salt is a major natural resource that is the basis for cuisine and culture throughout the world, but I was still asking myself the question, "And?" Kurlansky left me wondering more.
The lowest point comes in the last few chapters where he spends a couple paragraphs around the actual effects of salt on health. There's the camp of people who think it's unhealthy and keep it from their diet; then there's the camp who think it's healthy and have no problem with it. I was just getting into this argument, when Kurlansky pretty much says, "Well, there's no answer to this," and ends the subject with that. There was a lot of potential the...more
The lowest point comes in the last few chapters where he spends a couple paragraphs around the actual effects of salt on health. There's the camp of people who think it's unhealthy and keep it from their diet; then there's the camp who think it's healthy and have no problem with it. I was just getting into this argument, when Kurlansky pretty much says, "Well, there's no answer to this," and ends the subject with that. There was a lot of potential the...more
