A history of the world in six glasses book

Thirst is deadlier than hunger. Deprived of food, you might survive for a few weeks, but deprived of liquid refreshment, you would be lucky to last more than a few days. Only breathing matters more. Tens of thousands of years ago, early humans foraging in small bands had to remain near rivers, springs and lakes in order to ensure an adequate supply of fresh water, since storing or carrying it was impractical. The availability of water constrained and guided mankind’s progress. Drinks have continued to shape human history ever since.Only in the past ten thousand years or so have new drinks emerged to challenge the pre-eminence of water. These drinks do not occur naturally in any quantity, but must be made deliberately. As well as offering safer alternatives to contaminated, disease-ridden water supplies in human settlements, these new drinks have taken on a variety of roles. Many of them have been used as currencies, in religious rites, as political symbols, or as sources of philosophical and artistic inspiration. Some have served to highlight the power and status of the elite, and others to subjugate or appease the downtrodden. Drinks have been used to celebrate births, com

A History of the World in 6 Glasses


The precursor to his equally excellent book on hunger through the ages,
An Edible History of Humanity
, Tom Standage here charts the developmental course of beverages and their significance for human progress. Standage is really a journalist and a technologist, so
A History of the World in Six Glasses
is not your average history book. The author is clearly well-researched, but it’s his parlaying of the facts into a cohesive evolutionary narrative that keeps things interesting. Liquid refreshment is an essential part of our existence, and Standage doesn’t simply map out the parallel developments of drink and civilization, but more excitingly, builds a strong case for how each drink has made foundational contributions to its era.

Earphones Award winner and Audie Award-winning producer Sean Runnette does a terrific job of letting beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola speak for themselves. Standage has set forth a tone that is highly interested, but not pedantic or overly exclamatory. Runnette knows just what it takes to fade away into the background, neither bombastically lecturing to the listener nor merely monotonously reading Standag

A History of the World in 6 Glasses


"
A History of the World in 6 Glasses
is loaded with the kind of data that get talked about at the figurative water cooler . . . Incisive, illuminating and swift."—
Janet Maslin,
The New York Times



"[Standage] uses something mundane and everyday to tell vivid and accessible stories about the changing textures of human life."—
Steven Shapin,
The New Yorker



"As refreshing as a cool glass of beer on a hot day and as stimulating as that first cup of coffee in the morning. There aren't many books this entertaining that also provide a cogent crash course in ancient, classical and modern history."—
Wendy Smith,
Los Angeles Times



"Historians, understandably, devote most of their attention to war, politics and, not least, money. But history can also be seen through the prism of the commodities that money buys. In
A History of the World in Six Glasses
, Tom Standage argues that beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and cola have each, in their own way, helped to shape the course of history."—
Matthew Rees,
The Wall Street Journal



"When Standage decided to follow his readable study of an 18th-century chess-playing au

A History of the World in 6 Glasses

By Tom Standage
Walker & Company
Copyright © 2006Tom Standage
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9780802715524

Chapter One
A Stone-Age Brew
Fermentation and civilization are inseparable. -John Ciardi, American poet (1916-86)

A Pint of Prehistory

The humans who migrated out of Africa starting around 50,000 years ago traveled in small nomadic bands, perhaps thirty strong, and lived in caves, huts, or skin tents. They hunted game, caught fish and shellfish, and gathered edible plants, moving from one temporary camp to another to exploit seasonal food supplies. Their tools included bows and arrows, fishhooks, and needles. But then, starting around 12,000 years ago, a remarkable shift occurred. Humans in the Near East abandoned the old hunter-gatherer lifestyle of the Paleolithic period (old stone age) and began to take up farming instead, settling down in villages which eventually grew to become the world's first cities. They also developed many new technologies, including pottery, wheeled vehicles, and writing.

Ever since the emergence of "anatomically modern" humans, or Homo sapiens sapiens, in Africa around 150,000 years ago, water had been huma