Mark Kurlansky
Mark Kurlansky, the bestselling author of Cod and The Basque History of the World, here turns his attention to a common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt. The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities,
...An unexpected, energetic look at world history via the humble cod fish from the bestselling author of Salt and The Basque History of the World
Cod is the biography of a single species of fish, but it may...
With 1968, Mark Kurlansky brings to teeming life the cultural and political history of that world-changing year of social upheaval. People think of it as the year of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Yet it was also the year of the Martin Luther...
11) The cod's tale
12) Salt
So much of our human body is made up of salt that we'd be dead without it. The fine balance of nature, the trade of salt as currency of many nations and empires, the theme of a popular Shakespearean play... Salt is bestselling author Mark Kurlansky's story of the only rock we eat. From its single origin, to the other discoveries made because of it, fascinating tales of salt and the people who have been involved with it through the age are interwoven
..."Mr. Brunner's winning book is a reassuring, nostalgic reminder that winter is the season of both play and regeneration."—Wall Street Journal
In Winterlust, a farmer painstakingly photographs five thousand snowflakes, each one dramatically different from the next. Indigenous peoples thrive on frozen terrain, where famous explorers perish. Icicles reach deep underwater, then explode. Rooms warmed by crackling fires fill
...16) Ready for a brand new beat: how "Dancing in the street" became the anthem for a changing America
Once a week in the Kurlansky home, Mark spins a globe, and wherever his daughter's finger lands becomes the theme of that Friday night's dinner. Their tradition of International Night has afforded Mark an opportunity to share with his daughter, Talia—and...
What is What? Could it be that noted author Mark Kurlansky has written a very short, terrifically witty, deeply thought-provoking book entirely in the form of questions? A book that draws on philosophy, religion, literature, policy—indeed, all of civilization—to ask what may well be the twenty most important questions in human history? Or has he given us a really smart, impossibly amusing game of twenty questions? Kurlansky considers
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