Salt: Grain of Life – A Tour de Force About 'White Gold' and How It Shaped Civilization, Trade, and Cultural History - Couverture souple

Laszlo, Pierre

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0060084685 ISBN 13 : 9780060084684

Editeur : Ecco, 2002

Synopsis

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 British. Through the ages, salt has conferred status, preserved foods, and mingled in the blood, sweat, and tears of humankind. Today, chefs of haute cuisine covet its most exotic forms -- underground salt deposits, Hawaiian black lava salt, glittery African crystals, and pink Peruvian sea salt carried in bricks on the backs of Ilamas.

From proverbs to technical arguments, from anecdotes to tales 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 still brings zest to the ordinary.

Salt is a tour de force about a substance that is one of the very foundations of civilization.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Pierre Laszlo is an emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of Liège, Belgium, and the École Polytechnique in Paris. Of his many published works, six have been translated into English.

À propos de la quatrième de couverture

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 British. Through the ages, salt has conferred status, preserved foods, and mingled in the blood, sweat, and tears of humankind. Today, chefs of haute cuisine covet its most exotic forms -- underground salt deposits, Hawaiian black lava salt, glittery African crystals, and pink Peruvian sea salt carried in bricks on the backs of Ilamas.

From proverbs to technical arguments, from anecdotes to tales 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 still brings zest to the ordinary.

Salt is a tour de force about a substance that is one of the very foundations of civilization.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Ecco
• Date d'édition: 2002
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0060084685
• ISBN 13: 9780060084684
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 224
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Product Safety Manager; enquiries@harpercollins.ie; ; HarperCollins, Macken House, 39/40 Mayor Street Upper; Dublin 1; D01 C9W8; Irlande