# Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Readers call it fascinating and highly recommended, and it shows how influential salt has been in human history.

## Why people recommend it

- Fascinating and highly recommended (2 comments): "I just finished listening to the audiobook of Mark Kurlanskys Salt: A World History. Fascinating and highly recommended." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50238509)) "Can confirm, it's a fantastic book!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50240256))
- Shows how salt shaped history (1 comments): "I never realized how influential salt was to the course of human history." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47583495))
- Other books by author praised (1 comments): "Everything I've read by Kurlansky has been awesome." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47585247))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dawn-of-everything.md): 23 recommend
- [Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cadillac-desert.md): 18 recommend
- [The Box by Marc Levinson](https://hackerapproved.com/p/box.md): 16 recommend
- [Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sapiens.md): 13 recommend
- [Chip War by Chris Miller](https://hackerapproved.com/p/chip-war.md): 13 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Salt%3A+A+World+History+by+Mark+Kurlansky&tag=YOURTAG-20) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky", https://hackerapproved.com/p/salt-a-world-history/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).