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acrickettofillthesilence's review against another edition
2.0
You know you're a writing tutor when you fantasize about conversing with the author over his organization strategies.No, seriously. I had an entire dialog in my head about it. How did you organize this book? Does each section have a main concept or idea? Does every chapter and/or paragraph help move towards this idea? Can you find any that don't? Let's read through some of these paragraphs together and you can tell me where you think something might be tangential to the main idea.
This book meanders. It shares an interesting perspective on history based on one trading commodity, but sections, paragraphs, and even sentences within paragraphs will go off on a somewhat related topic and then return to the original topic as though it hadn't even left. One memorable example of this: I read a paragraph about the Egyptians making salt that, in the middle, incorporated a sentence about their trade with the Phoenicians, and then the next sentences finished the explanation salt making.
Some might like their nonfiction to take the scenic route to every idea; I discovered through this book that I am not one of those people.
This book meanders. It shares an interesting perspective on history based on one trading commodity, but sections, paragraphs, and even sentences within paragraphs will go off on a somewhat related topic and then return to the original topic as though it hadn't even left. One memorable example of this: I read a paragraph about the Egyptians making salt that, in the middle, incorporated a sentence about their trade with the Phoenicians, and then the next sentences finished the explanation salt making.
Some might like their nonfiction to take the scenic route to every idea; I discovered through this book that I am not one of those people.
hirvimaki's review against another edition
4.0
A fascinating look at how salt has shaped our world. Kurlansky has a gift for storytelling.
karrama's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting from an historical perspective, but difficult after the first hundred pages to imagine a world where SALT was the primary reason for wars, etc. At one point the author jokes that salt wasn't the only reason that these things happen, but that the Visigoths wouldn't have been so well positioned if not for the salt/smoked ham.
ellosippo's review against another edition
3.5
I thought it was really good, but it troubled me greatly that one of the “fun facts” in this book can’t be varied elsewhere. To me this calls into question the entire work. There’s a passage about the origin of the seven seas that is nowhere else to be found on the internet but is nonetheless stated as fact.