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New York Times Bestseller * The inspiration for the TV series starring Dan Aykroyd

“There aren’t many books this entertaining that also provide a cogent crash course in ancient, classical and modern history.” ―Los Angeles Times

Beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola: In Tom Standage’s deft, innovative account of world history, these six beverages turn out to be much more than just ways to quench thirst. They also represent six eras that span the course of civilization―from the adoption of agriculture, to the birth of cities, to the advent of globalization. A History of the World in 6 Glasses tells the story of humanity from the Stone Age to the twenty-first century through each epoch’s signature refreshment. As Standage persuasively argues, each drink is in fact a kind of technology, advancing culture and catalyzing the intricate interplay of different societies. After reading this enlightening book, you may never look at your favorite drink in quite the same way again.

From the Publisher

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Walker Publishing Company; Annotated edition (May 16, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0802715524
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0802715524
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.85 x 8.2 inches
Reviewer: B. Marold
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great Read. Fine Historical Connections. Small lapses.
Review: `A History of the World in 6 Glasses' by Tom Standage is an addition to a great genre of popular non-fiction on some important, but often ignored subject in the same vein as `Robbing the Bees' by Holley Bishop, Mark Kurlansky's works, `Cod' and `Salt' and `New Yorker' writer, Susan Orlean's `The Orchid Thief'. In fact, like Kurlansky, Master Standage has done at least two other books in this genre to date, `The Victorian Internet' and `The Turk'.This volume presents a part of the history of six of the world's most important beverages, beer, wine, distilled spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola, or, more accurately American cola drinks. Each of the six essays does not cover the whole history of each beverage. It only covers the time and place in which each beverage became popular. There are many dissimilarities between the six, but there are also important similarities. The author points out that all six contain an important psychoactive ingredient. The first three contain alcohol and the second three contain caffeine. What the author notes in each essay is that each beverage was also considered or was actually an aid to health or an improvement to water as a safe beverage in that either the alcohol or the heating in the preparation of the drink, or some chemicals in the source material helped kill any bacteria in the water used to make the beverages.One of the most enjoyable aspects of this book are the connections made by the author between his primary subject and other major social and economic facts of the times in which the beverage became popular. One of the more interesting `sidebars' are the relative fates of wine and coffee in Christian and Muslim cultures, where Christians embraced wine while Muslims, especially Arabs used coffee as a healthy substitute with almost exactly opposite effects from wine. A second interesting sidebar (and, I believe, the subject of his earlier book `The Victorian Internet' is the influence of coffeehouses on 17th and 18th century commerce, art, and politics in London. A third interesting note is the rundown on the wines and other potables of ancient Rome. Filling in what I know about Italian drinking, I can recognize the origins, for example of grappa, made from the dregs of the wine making process.While one may have no argument with the importance of all six beverages, I can't help wondering why the author picked Coca-Cola over hot chocolate. Part of the reason may be that the stories of chocolate and coffee are just too similar to make an interesting contrast. Also, the arrival of coffee, tea, and chocolate all happened at about the same time, so the historical contexts are very similar. I was also surprised that his story on Coca-Cola did not include the time and circumstances surrounding the removal of coca from the drink.Unlike some works on the history or husbandry of culinary subjects, there is virtually nothing in this book on `how to'. There is not one word on the chemistry of fermentation as it relates to beer, wine, or tea. There is virtually no mention of different varieties of grape and just a few statements on grape varieties and grape culture outside of ancient Greece and Rome. There is much more said about the economics of wine making and trade, just as there is much on the economics of rum, slaves and molasses, forming the three sides of the famous New England to Africa to Caribbean trading triangle active up to the Civil War.Mr. Standage has very credible credentials as a writer and editor on technical matters, but I found just a few little questions in his presentation of historical facts. The first statement which tickled my skeptical bone was the reference to the `Fertile Crescent' as the arc from the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to the uplands of the Nile in ancient Egypt. In my freshman history of the western world class, the `Fertile Crescent' was described as the arc from the Persian Gulf to the Levant, basically following the course of the Tigris and Euphrates. I quickly checked my Times Atlas of Archeology that confirmed my memory from many years ago. The Nile and the growth of the Egyptian civilizations, while parallel to those that began with Akkad and Sumer were done on independent lines, with the yearly Nile flooding providing a significantly different agricultural environment than the non-flooding rivers of Mesopotamia.A second and more subtle scholarly indiscretion is in the author's treatment of the theory of humors created by the great Greek and Roman medical thinkers such as Hippocrates and Galen. This theory posits four humors, blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile and an imbalance between the four being the explanation for various diseases. The author rather intemperately describes this theory, held by thousands of medical practitioners for 2000 years as `utter nonsense', and revealed to be so by 19th century medical research.My first thought is that the practice of bleeding with leaches was explained and justified by this theory, and I have seen recent articles stating that bleeding with leeches retains some good medical effects. This leads me to the belief that there were probably other empirically successful practices that were explained by the humors theory. It was certainly not far fetched, as at least three out of the four fluids can be seen, smelled, tasted, and acted upon within the body. I suggest the author reread his Thomas Kuhn (`The Structure of Scientific Revolutions') to see how this weak and, by today's standards, poorly supported theory served its purpose as the best they had at the time.In spite of these hiccups, this is a great read, even if it strays from its primary subjects now and again. And, it is properly documented with references so that if any statement strikes a chord of interest, you have the means of tracking down the author's sources.

Reviewer: Book Shark
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Little Dry at First but Ultimately A Smooth and Enlightening Book
Review: A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage"A History of the World in 6 Glasses" is a view of the history of the world through the lens of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola. Science correspondent and accomplished author Tom Standage has come up with a clever book that shows how the aforementioned drinks were reflections of the eras in which they were created. This 311-page book is broken out by the six drinks (two chapters per drink): Beer in Mesopotamia and Egypt, Wine in Greece and Rome, Spirits in the Colonial Period, Coffee in the Age of Reason, Tea and the British Empire and Coca-Cola and the Rise of America.Positives:1. A fun way to learn about history.2. A well-written and well researched book. Reads like a novel.3. A fascinating topic. The author cleverly charts the flow of history through six beverages: beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola.4. Every beverage has a story and the author does a good job of relaying it.5. Great use of basic science to explain how the beverages were discovered.6. Interesting tidbits throughout the book. This is the greatest strength of this book. Some of the stories will definitely stick with you.7. Interesting perspective on beer, "it seems most likely that beer drinking was just one of the many factors that helped to tip the balance away from hunting and gathering and toward farming and a sedentary lifestyle based on small settlements".8. Guaranteed to learn something amusing, spoiler alert..."The workers who built the pyramids were paid in beer..."9. I love the stories of how mythology and beverages intertwine, "According to one legend, Dionysus, the god of wine, fled to Greece to escape beer-loving Mesopotamia".10. The philosophy of drinking wine.11. What wine represented to the Romans. Once again, some amusing stories, a recurring theme of this book.12. The relationship between some of these beverages to medicine/health.13. The relationship between the beverages and religion. Amazing...14. The invention of distillation.15. Interesting stories of how some of these beverages were used as a form of currency.16. The evil trade of slavery and how alcohol was related. Enlightening information.17. Find out what truly was the decisive factor in the Royal Navy's victory over the French and Spanish fleets.18. The impact of rum for the North American colonists. Everything to do with American history and its relation to alcohol was fascinating. Colonialism by the bottles.19. The second half of the book dealing with caffeinated drinks was superior to the first half.20. The diffusion of rationalism and the relationship to coffee. Great stuff.21. The history of coffeehouses. The drink of intellectuals. Great stories.22. Each chapter opens up with a quote, "Better to be deprived of food for three days than of tea for one". Chinese proverb.23. China, England and it's a tea thing. Fascinating history.24. The fascinating history of tea. Very popular with women, who had been excluded from coffeehouses.25. My favorite chapters in the book had to do with Coca Cola.26. Coca Cola and lawsuits. "Wiley put Coca-Cola on trial in 1911, in a federal case titled the United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola. In court, religious fundamentalists railed against the evils of Coca Cola, blaming its caffeine content for promoting sexual transgressions..." I live for tidbits like this.27. Coca Cola the global icon.28. The epilogue provides the impact of water.29. A cool appendix on ancient drinks.30. Notes and sources.Negatives:1. As much fun as the book was to read, the quality wasn't consistent throughout. To illustrate my point, I felt that the chapters on caffeinated drinks (coffee, tea and coca-cola) were superior to the ones pertaining to the alcoholic beverages (beer, wine and spirits).2. In desperate need of a timeline chart. The author has a tendency of going back and forth in time which may cause the reader to lose their point of reference a timeline chart describing the main milestones of a given beverage would have certainly helped.3. The lack of charts and diagrams that would have aided the reader in understanding the full impact of the beverages involved. As an example, consumption of a given drink by country...4. A bit repetitive at times. Sometimes the author has a tendency to overstay his welcome with some tidbits...5. The history that is here is really simplified. This book is more an entertaining look at the impact and influence the beverages had in the context of the societies in which they were consumed. That being said, don't underestimate what is here.6. The Kindle version of the book garbled up some words.7. Links not included for Kindle.In summary, I enjoyed reading "A History of the World in 6 Glasses". It's a fun and at times enlightening read. Cocktails will never be the same, now that I have added to my repertoire thanks in large part to all the fun facts that I picked up from this book. That being said, the danger with a book like this is that it is too general for history buffs and it may not be interesting enough early on to keep the casual reader engaged. So as long as you are not expecting an in-depth history lesson and have a little patience with the drier sections of this book, it will go down smoothly and ultimately lead to a satisfying experience. I recommend it.

Reviewer: Mary Portelance
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I enjoyed reading the book and learning the history of wine/beer. The book is well written, easy to follow, and makes an excellent gift for anyone interested in history or who drinks either or both wine and beer. I recommend purchasing it as a gift for friends.

Reviewer: Linda
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Bought as a gift and it was a very enjoyable read. A history lesson includef

Reviewer: Cristina F.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Ho letto questo libro in italiano e l'ho comprato in inglese per farlo leggere anche al mio compagno americano. Assolutamente particolare ed interessantissima una narrazione dell'evoluzione socio-culturale dell'uomo sulla base delle bevande da lui inventate/scoperte. Interessantissimo.

Reviewer: udayan a.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The author has emossed a vast knowledge of things as narrated into this book. The facts told therein are quotable without any error.

Reviewer: Charles Lowe
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Another great take on how something has changed the history of the world,in this case drinks. An excellently researched history of the origins of six of the most important created drinks in the world that reveals a whole series of really interesting facts about them. It also destroyed a good few myths I'd heard, especially about the origins of Coca-Cola. Each drink is a short history in itself so a book that can be easily dipped into if desired. If you have an enquiring mind and an interest in why and how what you are drinking was first produced, I'd greatly recommend this book as a good read.