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szike_01's review
Perhaps best read as a series of essays, as the only common thread is, unsurprisingly, salt.
While interesting, it lacks any forward momentum, any clear overarching point other than "everyone needs salt".
As others have said, "a world history" is a bold claim for a book that spends the first two chapters briefly covering China and Africa, before seeming to completely pivot to Europe and it's descendants.
The fact that so many cultures around the world discovered largely the same best methods to collect salt is an interesting factoid to tell at a party, not as interesting to read chapter after chapter. The recipes similarly lose their novelty once they stretch past the single page mark.
Someday I hope to return to this book and finish it, but for now I feel no strong urge to continue reading.
While interesting, it lacks any forward momentum, any clear overarching point other than "everyone needs salt".
As others have said, "a world history" is a bold claim for a book that spends the first two chapters briefly covering China and Africa, before seeming to completely pivot to Europe and it's descendants.
The fact that so many cultures around the world discovered largely the same best methods to collect salt is an interesting factoid to tell at a party, not as interesting to read chapter after chapter. The recipes similarly lose their novelty once they stretch past the single page mark.
Someday I hope to return to this book and finish it, but for now I feel no strong urge to continue reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Colonisation, and Xenophobia
michaelferlazzo's review
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
3.5
ok, so I really liked the first half, with the history about Norse and Egyptian uses and mining of salt. Also, big peasant vibes with the pickling and preserving aspects that made me want to do it myself. Also the Italian and Swedish uses of salt with fish were fascinating, and now all I want to do is try salted cod, herring and sardines. The second half dragged on, the history of France and India as well as the American civil war parts were quite boring to me, which seems to differ from other reviews here on StoryGraph. Pretty relaxing book, you can tell he wrote a book about cod because he really liked to talk about fish (I, was all for it, but you may not) I want to read more books like this
Content Warnings
Minor: Colonisation and Sexual content
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