The Book Depository Salt by Mark Kurlansky
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Price: £10.99
Brand: The Book Depository
Description: Salt : Paperback : Vintage Publishing : 9780099281993 : 0099281996 : 01 Feb 2010 : Wars have been fought over salt and, while salt taxes secured empires across Europe and Asia, they have also inspired revolution - Gandhi's salt march in 1930 began the overthrow of British rule in India. The Book Depository Salt by Mark Kurlansky - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: The Book Depository
Product ID: 9780099281993
MPN: 0099281996
GTIN: 9780099281993
Author: Markey
Rating: 5
Review: I bought this as it seemed an interesting read. I'm glad I did! In brief: It starts off in China, showing how salt was won using gas fires to heat brine, with mud insulated bamboo pipes to provide the flames. The next great event is that of the discovery of the great cod fisheries off Newfoundland and also that cod could be salted and would not turn rancid like herring. Also contains interesting facts such as until quite recently salt was a government monopoly in Italy and could only be bought from tobacconists (cancer and high blood pressure in one place!) and that gold was not traded weight for weight with salt, although it does show the great value placed upon it. Mark Kurlansky did his reserach well for this.
Author: Brad bee
Rating: 3
Review: I do not dispute that Mark knows his facts on the topic , but as has been pointed out by others , his organisation leaves something to be desired .However my main difficulty with this book is that it has too liberally used the subject matter and while the words are well preserved the subject matter does not flow easily . You could say a case of ROCK salt rather than COOKING salt . It was as if the chapters needed to be soaked in fresh water for a day or two , to make them palatable [ or should I say readable ] . It is why it has taken me a few weeks to get through this book , rather than a few days . I do not think I will be up to tackling his tome on COD , especially as this fish has already been well covered [ in salt !! ] in this book already .
