A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage With most subjects, one of the best ways to learn is to associate the topic with a relatable connection. Commonly, a writer will draw a comparison to a familiar concept when talking about a foreign topic to help make it easy for the reader to understand. In A History of the World in Six Glasses, author Tom Standage is able to tell about different times in history through the invention and development of six different beverages. A History of the World in Six Glasses illustrates historical improvements thoroughly. Tom Standage described the rise of civilization through six common drinks: beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola. The ability for some drinks to be made allowed for major advancements. For example, …show more content…
Before the discovery of beer, people in the region were nomadic, due to the lack of clean water. Beer was created through the distillation of water. Once beer was recognized as a stable drink, people began to settle, creating a Middle Eastern society. Also, drinks showed social class. Standage illustrates the importance of wine and how it was very religious and expensive. If one was able to afford wine, it showed the wealth of the individual. Later, it began to mark the social status of communities. As history progressed, the Arabs distilled wine to make a stronger drink known as spirits. The drink was utilized many ways: medicinally and pure enjoyment. While beer, wine, and spirits were alcoholic drinks, dry beverages built world civilization too. The Arab world created what is known as coffee. Coffee was considered to heighten brain clarity. It was the choice drink of scientists and intellectuals to produce sharpness and clear thoughts. Another drink that enlightens world history is tea. Tea linked European trade with the east. Tea prophets helped with the advancement of commercial organization into the east. Originally, it was
The History of the World in Six Glasses: Book Review In the book, A History of the World in Six Glasses, by Tom Standage, it explains world history through the six most popular and influential drinks dating back from approximately 3400 BCE to present day. Throughout human history, these six drinks have done more than just quench thirst; they have influenced the course of history from humankind’s adoption of agriculture to the advent of globalization.
Caroline King Dr. Parker History 111 6 November 2017 A History of the World in Six Glasses - Book Review A History of the World in Six Glasses is a book by Tom Standage that describes how different drinks has changed people’s lives over the years. Chapters one through three specifically describe how beer, wine, and distilled spirits have changed the many societies of the world. All these drinks were very popular and they changed countries politically, economically, and socially. Beer was a discovery like no other and people loved and revered it so much that it was used for just about everything.
A History of the World in 6 Glasses, by Tom Standage is a great book that relates past history to the twenty-first century. The book shares how a few of the most popular drinks today, were helpful during the course of history. The drinks include, wine, beer, cola, tea, spirits, and coffee. The wine was used as an export of trade which brought in a lot of Greek culture. Beer was used in egypt in order to pay wages, because it was an important aspect to many of the civilians.
The caffeine found in coffee helped “scientists, intellectuals, merchants, and clerks” feel energized, “alert”, and “stimulated” at the beginning of the day and at the end of the night, allowing for more discoveries to be made and for more tasks to be accomplished. This led to coffee replacing beer as the morning drink of choice, as the general public preferred feeling energized, “alert”, and “stimulated” to feeling intoxicated and tired. The coffeehouse culture also possessed an intellectual and calm vibe, which still prevails today, that promoted scientific discoveries such as heliocentrism, the belief that the sun is the center of our universe, as well as the laws of physics. Coffeehouses were centers for not only the gossip and gaming mentioned in the previous paragraph, but also for several scientific
This book reveals to us how beer and wine were used for cultural, social, political, and even medical purposes. Finally, Standage shows us how civilizations grew by the spreading of beer and wine, and how the spreading of these drinks spread culture around the world. To Standage beer and wine is a technology that played huge role in the developing and advancing civilization. In the introduction, Standage states that throughout history various drinks have/had such high significance
In A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage, the similarities and differences in the economic and political role of drinks such as spirits and coffee between the Colonial Period and the Age of Reason are presented. Economic similarities between these periods include that spirits and coffee were agriculturally produced and traded between areas for items and that both of these drinks slowly promoted the growth of capitalism. An economic difference is a trade of spirits being used as slave currency and encouraging slavery while coffee promoted equality between different economic classes. Political similarities include spirits and coffee shifting political power and the drinks’ role in challenging the government. A political difference
A History of the World in Six Glasses, by Tom Standage, tells how drinks shaped our history. There are 6 major drinks: beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola. As the drinks changed, the culture changed with them. Each drink defined the culture in that time period. In the opinion of this student, beer is the most important because it led to writing, the first settlements, money, and medicine while spirits only had bad influences.
A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage is not the typical history read that one might expect. To some who find reading history books quite tedious and overwhelming, this book is for you. Standage divides his book into 6 main sections via beverages: Beer, Wine, Spirits, Coffee, Tea and Coca-Cola. These drinks, which all started as a form of medicine, not only have great affects on today’s social culture but have also affected the historical spread of technology, religion, exploration, trade, slavery, and noteworthy worldwide events that changed society. As Standage describes it, Beer was a representation of both liquid wealth and health during the early civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Throughout human history, many different things affected culture and history as a whole. From laws, to inventions, to technological advancements. One thing most people do not consider to be part of this list is drinks. In the book “A History of the World in 6 Glasses” by Tom Standage, six different drinks that heavily affected world history are discussed and analyzed. Beer and wine had an extensive effect on the world, but coffee is, without question, the most influential of the three.
To the untrained eye, a story could be viewed one-dimensionally; a tale might only appeal to emotion while logic is left out in the cold. Equally, logic may be forgotten while emotion is heavily focused on. However, through the use of Critical Lenses, readers can begin to see greater depth in literature. As readers find connections through Critical Lenses, they become more educated on various topics, more aware of social, political, and even logical abstractions. Instead of failing to retain the intent and content of the material, they even can remember details of stories more vividly when truly examining literature rather than reading it once for entertainment (or chore).
The discovery of beer was linked to the growth of the first civilizations because it was very important to farming. Beer was important to hunters and gatherers so they switched to farming to ensure the availability of grains. It was a safe drink to have and made up for the decline the food quality. The history of beer tells us that in the ancient world early civilians came to a conclusion that the water wasn’t safe to drink in some areas. Also, it says that when boiling water and making an unknown spirit in the first few attempts, then it was in fact safer to drink beer.
The War of the Worlds “Perhaps I am a man of exceptional moods. I do not know how far my experience is common. At times I suffer from the strangest sense of detachment from myself and the world about me; I seem to watch it all from the outside, from somewhere inconceivably remote, out of time, out of space, out of the stress and tragedy of it all.” The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells accounts the story of a Martian Invasion told through the eyes of the memorable narrator.
Red wine and peace of bread on table Red wine worship started when people (Americans mostly) began to wonder how wine-guzzling, carb-loving French folk managed to stay much thinner and healthier than diet-obsessed others. This was called the
Beer took place in many different aspects of ancient cultures. Beer was used by the Sumerians as a social drink, shared between two people to show a universal symbol of hospitality and friendship. Beer also functioned as a form of currency, used to pay debts and wages. Beer was also used in religious ceremonies (ie. offerings to the gods) and was considered a sacred
Using wine with food caused some misconceptions about pairing. People think that there are specific wines that are used with specific foods; fallacies about bottles and stelvins; wine glasses etc.. Wine as an alcoholic beverage Wine in everyday life Wine came from early years.