Salt: A World History

If you've spent any time on our site, you've probably picked up that we're pretty into salt history. So when people ask us where to read more, we tend to point them in one direction: "Salt: A World History" by Mark Kurlansky.

Here's how Amazon describes it:

In his fifth work of nonfiction, Mark Kurlansky turns his attention to a common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt. The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions. Populated by colorful characters and filled with an unending series of fascinating details, Salt by Mark Kurlansky is a supremely entertaining, multi-layered masterpiece. Amazon

We're biased, obviously. But the book lives up to the description. The line about salt being "the only rock we eat" is the kind of detail that sticks with you, and the history Kurlansky traces (trade routes, wars, revolutions, the founding of cities) is as much a history of the world as it is a history of salt. A good rainy-afternoon read.

Worth a read.

- David