I was more enthralled with this than I would have thought. Learned a little bit about the history of many countries throughout the world--through the eyes of the salt industry. The book focuses on food preservation, salt mining and gathering, and salt taxes throughout the world. Wars and revolutions were fought in part due to salt. Until relatively recently, salt was a large part of the global economy. I wish there was a clearer message or overall theme to the book, but it was interesting nonetheless.