> I agree with the comments about Salt. It's a bit dry, more than one would
> expect from the topic and it seemed to me to overstate and oversimplify
> the
> role of salt. But once acknolwedging that limitation, the concept of
> boiling
> down all of history to struggles for salt made for an entertaining read
> and
> could probably make an entertaining cartoon book as well.
>
> The point that I think would make an intriguing point of departure though
> is
> to look at preservation vs production: hunter gatherers by an large eat
> what
> they produce. As soon as anyone figures out though that they cannot eat
> all
> of what they gather in one sitting or that they might want some of what
> they
> produce to be available at a later time, a day, a month, a season or two
> later, the question of preservation / storage arises.
>
> Pre-refrigeration methods of presevation include drying, salting /
> brining.
> brewing into fermented beverages, sugaring / making into preserves or
> fruitcake, canning, fermenting, pickling. Speculating with no research
> assistant minions to help dig up facts, there are some interesting energy
> balance, calorie expenditure, stability vs uncertainty of supply questions
> that would offer interesting ways to view different hsitorical eras and
> conflicts.
>
> But onward to other time commitments.
>
> DC
Yeah. To that, add _The End of Food_ for an excellent synopsis of the nature of our diet and energy expediture in hunter/gatherer v agriculture.
I'd read a lot of this stuff about 5 years ago, but the book condensed reams of research into a readable and interesting chunk. If I have a chance, I'll scan it because it's well worth reading.
I haven't gotten further than 1/3 into the Salt book -- though I read the other two last week. Salt is one of those books you can just pick up and read chunks here, chunks there, or even just flip open a page and read without really feeling like you might miss a narrative.
I don't think I would have read it otherwise, but it was one of those books that people oo'd and aahh'd about in a thread Dwayne pointed me to, and whenver a critical mass of hipsters is into something, I figure it's worth checking out.
Speaking of which, I also read a book, "Only a Theory" (Kenneth Miller) which stuck out at me from the "new" book section at the library last week. It was pretty interesting as well: mostly about the reasons why people in the U.S. are more likely to view evolutionary theory as "only a theory." I just skimmed it last week, because I was having a bout of time where sustained reading wasn't possible, so I would only be able to read in 10 minutes bits here and there.
shag