"Kurlansky continues to prove himself remarkably adept at taking a most unlikely candidate and telling its tale with epic grandeur. Salt: A World History reveals all the hidden drama of its seemingly pedestrian subject. . . . An immensely entertaining read." —Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Stylishly written and wonderfully learned . . . William Blake famously suggested that the world was to be seen in a grain of sand; Kurlansky has seen it in a grain of salt." —The Observer

"Mark Kurlansky’s almost 500-page opus on earth’s only edible rock is the stuff of which epics are born." —Zsuzsi Gartner, The Globe and Mail

"In Salt, Mark Kurlansky, who charmed readers with an entertaining volume on the codfish, turns to a chemical that is essential to human life. . . . Kurlansky gives us entertainment. . . . At its best, this is a 'wow!' book: roving, startling, engaging." —The Washington Post

"Only Mark Kurlansky, winner of the James Beard Award for Excellence in Food Writing for Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, could woo readers toward such an off-beat topic of Salt: A World History. . . . Throughout his engaging, well-researched history, Kurlansky sprinkles witty asides and amusing anecdotes. A piquant blend of the historic, political, commercial, scientific and culinary, the book is sure to entertain as well as educate." —PW Daily