Salt - Grain of Life

Erscheinungsjahr 2001
ISBN: 978-0-231-12198-9
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 256 Seiten, Format (B × H): 158 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 435 g

Reihe: Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History

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

From proverbs to technical arguments, from anecdotes to examples 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 brings zest to the ordinary. Laszlo explains the history behind Morton Salt's slogan "When it rains, it pours!" and looks into the plight of the salt miner, as well as spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance. Salt is a tour de force about a chemical compound that is one of the very foundations of civilization.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Laszlo, Pierre

Weitere Mitwirkende

Mader, Mary Beth

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Populärwissenschaftliche Werke

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Foreword by Albert Sonnenfeld, series editorThe Proverb of Salt on LettuceOsmosis and Salt CuringSalting HerringThe Cossacks of the DonThe Proverb of Friendship Over SaltFood PreservationFlavor ConcentratesSaucingSaumandisesCookeryThe Proverb on Success in LoveThe Salting TubFrom the Salty to the Sweet: Saint NicholasSettled and Nomadic PeoplesOn CamelbackMind of SaltSaint-John PerseWest Salt Story, 1650--1850Salt RoutesThe Proverb of the Tardy SaltAlpine SaltLickLike the DawnTechnical VocabulariesThe Proverb of the Bland EggSalt DomesMiningThe Proverb of Rejecting the BlandSolar-Evaporation SaltworksThe Beginning of "Çatrix"Onondaga, Success, and DecayDesalination of SeawaterTechnology and Social StructureNational SovereigntyThe Proverb of the Marsh PurchaseVeniceThe Seeds of Modern TimesThe Dutch RevoltThe GabelleAn Admonishment to a KingTaxationA Mine Near KrakowThe Warrior's SayingCitadel of SaltThe Proverb of the Cardinal PointsGandhiThe Salinity of the OceanA Marine Origin?What Osmosis Consists OfThe Two Kinds of OrganismsFishThirst and Lack of SaltThe Nerve ImpulseExtreme HalophilesA Frenchman's Look at the Great Salt LakeAlchemyMichigan SaltRaw Material for an IndustryThe Age of VinylSalt and ColdSalt and WaterThe Wine StainSlippagesWater SofteningSalt GlazingInvention of SpectroscopyVariation on the Same Old TuneThe Saying About the Red HerringThe SaugrenuPunning in the RainFrom Salt to SaltsRitual and Liturgical Uses of Salt in the BibleSalt and DanceAztec BacchusThe Proverb of the AspersionSaltcellarsBenvenuto CelliniDecorative Arts: From Colbert to QueyrasThe Saying on the Pinch of SaltStendhalian CrystallizationRamakrishna's EmblemConclusion: Ethics and PoliticsPopularizationThe Representation of HistoryAfterword: The Union of Earth and Sea1. Salt-Cured Foods2. Nomads3. Harvesting4. Abuse of Power5. Biology6. Other Science Insights7. Myths

Über Autor(innen)

Pierre Laszlo is an emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of Liège, Belgium, and the École polytechnique near Paris, France. Of his many published works six have been translated into English, including Organic Reactions: Logic and Simplicity and Organic Chemistry Using Clays.