Salt: Grain of Life (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780231121989)

For the sake of salt, Rome created a system of remuneration (from which we get the word "salary"), nomads domesticated the camel, the Low Countries revolted against their Spanish oppressors, and Gandhi marched against the tyranny of the British. Through the ages, salt has conferred status, preserved foods, and mingled in the blood, sweat, and tears of humanity. Today, chefs of haute cuisine covet it in its most exotic forms--underground salt deposits, Hawaiian black lava salt, glittery African crystals, and pink Peruvian salt from the sea carried in bricks on the backs of llamas.

From proverbs to technical arguments, from anecdotes to examples of folklore, chemist and philosopher Pierre Laszlo takes us through the kingdom of "white gold." With "enthusiasm and freshness" (Le Monde) he mixes literary analysis, history, anthropology, biology, physics, economics, art history, political science, chemistry, ethnology, and linguistics to create a full body of knowledge about the everyday substance that rocked the world and brings zest to the ordinary. Laszlo explains the history behind Morton Salt's slogan "When it rains, it pours!" and looks into the plight of the salt miner, as well as spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance. Salt is a tour de force about a chemical compound that is one of the very foundations of civilization.

Author: Pierre Laszlo
ISBN-10: 0231121989
ISBN-13: 9780231121989
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Language: English
Published: 06/27/2001
Pages: 256
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.96lbs
Size: 9.29h x 6.24w x 0.81d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 06/01/2001 pg. 788
Library Journal 07/01/2001 pg. 116
Publishers Weekly 08/06/2001 pg. 83
Scitech Book News 09/01/2001 pg. 160
Choice 02/01/2002 pg. 1073