Mark Kurlansky

The Food of a Younger Land: The WPA's Portrait of Food in Pre-World War II America (2009)

This review is for the audiobook edition.While I'm normally the guy screaming "make more books audiobooks!!", in this particular case I sort of which the publishers had chosen otherwise.First, the Narrator has a moderately annoying voice. Not the worst I've ever heard (not bad enough to give me ...

Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man (2012)

I'm a fan of Kurlanski's work, so when I saw this audio at my library, I snapped it right up. This particular audio is a perfect example of how bad narration can ruin a perfectly adequate book. The narrator has the oddest narration style I've ever come across, with short bursts of fast words foll...

Salt: A World History (2003)

Mark Kurlansky is a historical writer who does what one reviewer referred to as the “little-big” style of writing, that is to say, he takes something little and often overlooked and from it he spins out larger truths about society and the world. To say that he does this well would be an understat...

Nonviolence: Twenty-Five Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea (2006)

The subtitle of this book lets you know what to expect if you pick it up intending to read it: Nonviolence: Twenty Five Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea.For me, nonviolence is a part of an ideal world. I am drawn to it but do not know where in my being it originated. I do not want to ...

The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell (2007)

Commerce, consumption and the end of an eraAwhile back, I read The Oyster: The Life and Lore of the Celebrated Bivalve to learn how oysters reproduce. Apparently, I developed a little crush on the bivalves -- not in the gastronomical sense; I’ve never eaten one -- because when I saw The Big Oyste...

Boogaloo on 2nd Avenue (2006)

An excellent story about a NYC neighborhood and the characters that inhabit it.The thing w/ this book is you don't feel like you're reading the author's story. Nick Kurlansky has succeeded in completely removing his voice from the pages, a feat I have rarely encountered in works of fiction and o...

Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World (1999)

Those who argue that economic exploitation of natural "resources" can go on for ever because it always has gone on, should read Mark Kurlansky's book "Cod, A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World". The book is not primarily about the collapse of stocks in the early 1990s but rather a fasci...

1968: The Year That Rocked the World (2005)

A Chosen Few: The Resurrection of European Jewry (Reader's Circle) (2002)

The Basque History of the World: The Story of a Nation (2001)

I've given up on rating this book because I have a lot of mixed feelings about it. The Basque History of the World will serve those who want an introduction to Basque Culture well. It covers both Basque History and the Basque perspective and participation in World History. It is written with the ...