The World In 6 Glasses Book Review

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A History of the World in 6 Glasses Book Review A History of the World in 6 Glasses, by Tom Standage is a magnificent book that documents the course of time chronologically through six famous beverages. Each beverage is presented to describe a certain period of time in the world. Standage beautifully incorporates each beverage into a certain time frame to show how that particular drink revolutionized society and advanced cultures as time passed by. Standage is an Oxford University graduate, who pursued a career of writing, as he became a journalist and author. He has worked as a writer and editor for many British newspapers including “The Guardian” and “The Economist.” Taking a look at Standage’s sources, one can easily tell that he did extensive…show more content…
An example of a beverage changing society is beer. Standage begins his book by discussing how early life used to be by presenting stories of hunting, migration, developing societies, and the domestication of cereal grains. Readers could find out that beer was a discovery, which occurred in the Fertile Crescent in Mesopotamia. The way beer was discovered was through cereal grains. People of ancient Mesopotamia discovered that food grains could be “stored for consumption months or even years later, if kept dry and safe” (Standage 13). Soon, the people found two more interesting properties about cereal grains. The first was that the grains soaked in water, causes them to sprout and eventually turn sweet. Secondly, the grains that were left around for a while underwent a transformation: “It became slightly fizzy and pleasantly intoxicated, as the action of wild yeasts from the air fermented the sugar into alcohol. The gruel, in short, turned into beer” (Standage 15). Standage writes that beer had an enormous role as a social drink in that particular society. He explains how people during the Sumerian period would drink beer out of the same vessel, showing a universal symbol of hospitality and friendship. Beer brought people together in civilization because it allowed people to trust each other. If an ancient Egyptian or Sumerian were…show more content…
Soon, people thought of beer as a gift from the gods, so it became part of religious offerings as well. Eventually, beer caused many people in society to adopt a life of agriculture, leaving the life of hunting to maintain the supply of beer. Before beer was discovered, water was considered as the best beverage. However, since beer was brewed using boiled water, people considered beer to be safer than water, which can be easily contaminated. Soon, beer became a staple diet; it was being consumed by everyone: the “rich and poor, men and women, adults and children, from the top of the social pyramid to the bottom” (30). The last use of beer until wine took over was in medicine. Egyptians used beer for several medicinal concoctions of herbs and spices and as a mild sedative. Standage successfully uses beer to tell history

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