Section 1 Summary (Introduction The Rock, Chapter 1 A Mandate of Salt, Chapter 2 Fish, Fowl, and Pharaohs) Summary and Analysis

The introduction begins with a description of a large salt rock that the author bought in a Spanish Catalonian town of Cardona. The rock was a large pink trapezoid that looked a little like soap. The author kept the soap on the window and after he found the rock a little wet, salt crystal began to form on the surface of the rock. The rock was mysterious and fascinating and helped to spark the author's deep interest in salt.

Salt has always been important, but many psychologist have believed that salt is somehow deeply connected with sex in our subconscious minds. The psychologists, however, are not the only ones who have thought that...