A History of the World in Six Glasses, by Tom Standage

I picked this book up because I read a book by Standage called The Victorian Internet, about how the telegraph (or, more specifically, speed of light communications) was the big discontinuous innovation in communications — even more significant than the Internet revolution over the past several years. That was a fantastic book; one I highly recommend.

In 6 Glasses, Standage tells the history of the world (a little tongue-in-cheek) through the lens of the 6 really major beverages:

• Beer
• Wine
• Spirits
• Tea
• Coffee
• Cola

It’s an interesting book — he makes compelling arguments about each drink being emblematic of the era for a particular country or region was dominant. While I thought it was a fun topic, the book reads pretty slowly, and I was a little disappointed by it. He’s got another book about Attaturk that sounds good — maybe I’ll check that out.