A History of the World in 6 Glasses

Very cool read! Would definitely recommend for those people getting into reading more history focused books as that’s primarily what it is without feeling like other dense history reads. Personally I enjoyed the chapters about Tea and Spirits the most as these had the most historical impact, felt a bit weak towards the end in the soda chapter but I was almost done with it so I pushed through the end.

Makes for good dinner conversations !

Quite interesting, very informative. I especially liked the chapters about coca cola and the epilogue, probably because they're the most modern day focused.
The narrator isn't the best.

Full disclosure: I skipped the chapters about spirits and tea because I had fairly recently read books that covered these topics, and I had no interest in rehashing those histories. Also, I skipped the chapter on soft drinks because I have zero interest in that type of beverage.

So I read about beer, wine, coffee, and of course the epilogue. And it was great! Every part was short and snappy, drawing clear lines between the beverages and the historical events; nothing seemed forced in from left field, and none of it was so detailed that I lost the narrative. It's the type of non-fiction book that you can read at the end of a long day and still find it relaxing. My favorite chapter was about coffee because the coffeehouses sound like a lot of fun. I'm going to try to track down “Penny Universities” to read more on these establishments, per the author's suggestion in the notes.

It is funny how we prefer certain aspects of books. Another review here enjoyed the non-alcoholic drinks better than the alcoholic drinks due to the amount of history and economics it covered, but I found the alcohol drinks to be far more interesting, in depth, and entertaining. Overall, I liked this book and learned a lot about how these drinks affected trade and became popular worldwide.

Listening to this on audiobook on my way to and from work, I have noticed how eager it makes me to have a certain drink. At the beginning of the cola chapter, when he describes the production and spread of soda water, I thought I was going to die of thirst on the spot!

Short review: A look at human history through the eyes of six drinks (Beer, Wine, Distilled Drinks, Coffee, Tea, Coca Cola). It has lots of interesting details and facts, but lacked an overall organizing theme.

My full review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/six-glasses/