Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky (audio)

genre: non-fiction

As one of the basic building blocks of life, salt seems a simple thing.  So simple that really, I've never thought much about it.  But I recently toured an astonishing salt mine in Poland that opened my eyes to how huge a role salt played as kingdoms and countries were formed.  This book was certainly about that - the politics of salt, its depositories and its trade, the history of it as a commodity.  It's also a social history, too, in many ways, as it discusses recipes both ancient and modern from around the world.

One might wonder that there could be so much to say about salt!  This book was 13 hours long!  Parts of it were, truly, fascinating.  I feel like a more educated citizen of the planet now.  And parts lagged, feeling a bit repetitious.  But I'm not sorry I stuck with it because, like I said, I feel a tiny bit more in touch with my world history now.