Hockey romances with steamy turns, thrillers packed with suspense, self-help books with life-changing promises … and around 500 pages on a mineral.
Mark Kurlansky’s bestseller “Salt: A World History” stands out among the internet’s current favorite books.
Published in 2002, the nonfiction text studies how salt has shaped civilization — from serving as a currency, to provoking wars, to becoming an ordinary but essential item on kitchen tables around the world.
The book’s recent viral moment is largely thanks to an Instagram reel from creator Wyatt Derman that has garnered over 780,000 likes.
In his now-viral post, Derman explained how “Salt” changed how he perceives the world around him: “I’ve become a man who can’t pass a salt shaker without feeling the weight of human civilization … turns out nothing’s actually boring,” he said in part.
Kurlansky tells TODAY.com that his 26-year-old daughter was the first to spot the trend online and alert him about it.
“It’s in the nature of going viral, you hear about it instantly,” Kurlansky says.
Since then, the online success has prompted Kurlansky to start his first Instagram account. Through the platform, Derman reached out to the author, and the two are now planning a live Q&A together.
Kurlansky says Derman’s reaction to the book was “exactly” what he had hoped for when he wrote the book.
Derman, speaking to TODAY.com, says he first picked up the book while on the hunt for a read that would “invigorate” his curiosity. Avoiding self-help picks, he skipped over to the bookstore’s world and food sections. There, he found Kurlansky’s book.
“I was curious, what in the world could make somebody go and spend great lengths of time to write about salt, and why would they do that?” he says. So, he decided to find out for himself.
Although Derman says he wasn’t expecting much when he first opened “Salt,” he quickly found himself sharing what he learned with family members.
Months later, he decided to bring some of those discoveries to Instagram in his now-viral reel — like how the words “salary” and “salad” derive from salt. Some of the anecdotes stuck with other Instagram users, per his comments.
“Just wanted to let you know I’ve thought about this at least once a day for the last 10 days,” one user wrote.
Other users have posted reels about “Salt” in recent weeks, too. “So, are we all collectively reading a 500 page book about salt now or...” one user wrote in a video that has garnered over 90,000 likes.
Although Kurlansky liked Derman’s video, he pushed back on one small point the creator alluded to: exploring pepper next.
“I don’t look for commodities to write about, I look for great stories,” the author explains. “Pepper isn’t nearly as good a story as salt.”
Kurlansky has published other books on commodities, though, including bestseller “Cod: A Biography of a Fish That Changed the World,” which predated “Salt.”
Ultimately, writing about ordinary commodities isn’t where he derives his success, he says — storytelling is.
“Nothing is boring if you tell it in a good story,” Kurlansky says. “A good story is never boring.”
And to that point, Derman agrees: “A good story is what makes the world go ‘round,” he says. But, he adds: “From what I read about pepper, I think there’s a good story there. I wouldn’t be opposed to him writing a book on pepper.”
