The book I am reviewing is A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage. The subject of this book was the explanation of six different drinks in a chronological order by era; the way they evolved and the influences they had in shaping history. Each drink had its own special role in shaping history and allowing culture to progress besides quenching someone’s thirst in new ways. From the Stone Age to the twenty-first century, Tom Standage tells a story of human evolution and culture through the view of six drinks: beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola. The main thesis of this book is that these six drinks still fulfill the same functions today as they did when they were first produced and/or discovered.
The first drink described …show more content…
Derived from barley and wheat, there is no certainty when beer was first brewed, but it is known that it was not invented but rather discovered. People started shifting from a nomadic lifestyle and settling into an agricultural lifestyle. Because of this, people started gathering edible plants and hunted for meat and they also compiled cereal grains. Eventually people discovered that the cereal grains could be reserved for long periods of time as long as they were kept in dry places; this allowed for the discovery that damp grains, especially barley, tasted sweet because diastase enzymes were developed. Malt is created by the conversion of starch by diastase enzymes. Secondly, it was discovered that leaving gruel mixed with malted grain to set out caused it to transform into an intoxicating and somewhat bubbly liquid due to the sugar in the gruel …show more content…
Coffee is made from berries and/or beans and came from the Middle East and eventually spread to Europe. There was some controversy over coffee because some thought it was an intoxicant when really it had no alcohol content whatsoever. The intoxicant was the caffeine because it altered how you acted and sped up processes in your body such as heart rate for example; it did not cause you to get drunk though. Coffee was even put on trial and found guilty for being an intoxicant, but the ruling was overturned. There was also a brief prohibition of intoxicating drinks. It was also a key drink throughout the Enlightenment. Coffeehouses were created and became the prime place for people to socialize; topics such as politics, art, philosophy, the latest news and gossip were discussed and intellectual conversations were also able to take place. Authorities and government officials did not like coffeehouses because they felt as though that since coffeehouses were centers for socialization, they allowed for people to possibly plot attacks against the government; the government did not like knowing what was being discussed so they even sent spies to eavesdrop. These conversations could lead to revolutions and in fact the French Revolution resulted from a conversation in a coffeeshop. However coffee is associated with intellectualism because it is caffeinated and known to sharpen the mind. Being that coffee was associated with intellectualism,