Salt: A World History

You know, it's really frustrating when the internet decides not to work pretty much all week. Especially when I'm knocked out with a terrible cold and don't feel well enough to do much. Oh well. At least I finally got a chance to sit down and finish Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky. It took me a long time to read this 450 page book, though it was fascinating and always held my interest. I guess one can only read so much about salt in one sitting, no matter how engrossing.

I've discovered that my favorite type of nonfiction is about food. I may have said this before, can't remember. But anyway. I had been intending to read this book about salt pretty much since it was published. Actually, that's a lie, because it was published in 2002, which was around the time that I wouldn't even look at a nonfiction book. I think I discovered this book about four years ago, though being in college at the time deterred me from picking up any extra reading. To make a long story short, I came across it earlier this year on the shelf at my library and decided to check it out. I believe I had to return it once, but I checked it out again and finally cracked it open. I'm quite glad I did.

You'd think the history of salt would be pretty mundane. But no. Salt was crucial to preserving food for so long that it became a central part of civilizations and wars. The Chinese were mining/making salt long before the rest of the world. Though, didn't they do almost everything before the rest of the world? The Chinese are a fascinating culture, not least because they've lasted for so long. But I digress.

This book takes you on a journey from sea to underground mine and back again. You see, there are two basic kinds of salt, sea salt and rock salt. Of course, from those two basic kinds you get many types. I sort of wish Kurlansky had included a master list of all types of salt from the various saltmaking regions of the world, but that's just me; I'm a list fanatic. The fact remains that people fought wars over salt, various salted fish, and the best salt-producing locations. You see, as recently as two hundred years ago, salting was one of the foremost methods of preserving food, whether by pickling or by packing in barrels of salt. It was absolutely necessary.

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Kurlansky does a wonderful job of telling the history of the world through the eyes of salt. He doesn't have a great organizing system in regards to his writing, though. Yes, each chapter trots through history in a chronological manner, but he repeated himself a lot and jumped from culture to culture rather quickly. But aside from that, this book is fantastic and will give you a brand new appreciation for the only rock we eat. Four stars, and I hope to read his other books, which include Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World and The Basque History of the World.

The Omnivore's Dilemma

I like books.
I like food.
So it stands to reason that I would like a book about food.
Right?

The thing is, I don't read much nonfiction.
I just have a hard time with it.
At least I used to.
But The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, was one of the most fascinating nonfiction books I have ever read.
Not even kidding.

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Journalist Michael Pollan sets out to capture the essence of the food industry in modern America. The book is divided into three sections, Industrial: Corn, Pastoral: Grass, and Personal: The Forest. In these three sections, Pollan travels the United States, examining how food comes to the table. It is an incredible journey, and one I admire greatly.

The first section documents the food industry, mainly corn. It amazes me how much corn is in the processed foods we consume. And not even just the processed, boxed foods on the supermarket shelves; even most of the meat we consume has been eating corn (among other disgusting things...) for most of its short and horrible feedlot life. Pollan concludes this section with a McDonald's meal that he discovers is almost 100% genetically modified processed corn. GROSS.

The second section documents the organic food industry, which basically comes down to food that is mass-produced, but without pesticides and antibiotics, etc. The question that he asks himself is this: Is this really what the organic movement was all about? The answer isn't exactly clear-cut, but I agree with him when he says that it shouldn't really be this way, but that it's better than the food in the first section of the book. But in this same section, Pollan visits Polyface Farm, run by Joel Salatin who is a champion of the "beyond organic" movement. His farm was incredible. I can't even begin to do it justice, so you'll just have to read the book. At any rate, I now wish to only consume grass-fed meats and eggs from pastured hens.

The third section, and probably the most fascinating, documents the food foraging that still goes on today. Pollan learns how to shoot a gun, gets himself a license, and goes with a friend to hunt wild pig in Northern California. He talks about the ethics and how he felt about the whole process. He also goes mushroom hunting, which sounds like a huge lesson in patience. And he explores the whole idea of gathering the food you eat, which culminates in a mouthwatering meal.

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This is a book that I couldn't really review in detail without giving away some of the surprises within Pollan's story. But his journey and experiences are inspiring in more ways than one. If you read this book (and I encourage you to do so), I guarantee you'll change your mind about the way you eat. At the very least, you might think a little bit more before stopping at McDonald's or buying that prepackaged TV dinner. And please, for the love of everything truly delicious, stop drinking so much soda!!

Twitter-style book reviews no. 1

Greetings, fellow book lovers!
Because I haven't been on here in kind of awhile, I'm not going to attempt to write full reviews for the books I've read since my last review.
This, unfortunately, may become more of the norm than the exception, just because of priorities.
But, we shall see.

Now, if I can remember the books I've read since my last posting....

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Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices, by Frank Viola and George Barna.
    Umm, no. This book was badly researched and not really well-written. I will concede that they have a few good points concerning the practices that arose in the last couple hundred years, but the further back they go they just don't really have it right. Plus, both guys really seem to have a vendetta against the denominations that have structure, and that sickens me for many reasons. One star.

Spring Snow, by Yukio Mishima.
    Four stars. It was a good book, though difficult at times. Set in the 1910s in Japan, it gave me a wonderful insight into the Westernization of Japan.

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins.
    This was a re-read. I originally gave it five stars, and I stick with that. It's an excellent beginning to the trilogy.

The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic, by Allan Wolf.
    THIS BOOK. Five stars. Oh, I cried. I'm a sucker for anything Titanic-related, and this was so excellent. It's a novel in poetry, all thoughts from real people who were on the ship. It was sooooo good.

Kafka on the Shore, by Haruki Murakami.
    Four stars. Another Japanese novel, this one modern and magical realism. It was quite a ride and a metaphysical one at that. Some weird stuff, too...but it was well-written and I enjoyed the dreamlike quality of the writing.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, by J.K. Rowling.
   I have no idea how many times I've read this. Five stars, as always. I love the beginning of Harry's adventures so much. Such an endearing book. I hope Rowling goes back to children's lit...her adult novel isn't really that great. (I can't review it yet as I haven't finished it, but ugh.)

The Kissing Sailor: The Mystery Behind the Photo that Ended World War II, by Lawrence Verria and George Galdorisi.
    Awesome story, not so awesome writing. Well, okay, the writing was all right. It was written like a research paper. But therein lies the problem. Each chapter read like a separate paper, with no good connections in-between. So much was repeated on almost every page and some things were clearly not in the right place. Two stars, though I would still recommend it for the story.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Burrows.
    I give this adorable little novel four stars. I would give it five, but I generally reserve that for life-changing books. While this novel-in-letters set in 1946 and revolving around the little isle of Guernsey off the coast of France didn't change my life, I absolutely adored it. It was just cute and a feel-good novel in the end, even though there were some details that were horrific (relating, of course, to WWII).

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There you have it.
The books I've read recently.

Currently Reading:
1. The Casual Vacancy, by J.K. Rowling. (She could have left out MOST of the expletives...)
2. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold. (I don't know who told this woman she could write, because she can't.)
3. Vanity Fair, by Thackeray. (Who would have thought it'd take me over a year to read this...)