A History of the World in 6 Glasses

Not a book I ever would have picked up on my own, The History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage, while in parts sort of dry (ha ha... this is a book about beverages) was the type of book that compelled me to share snippets with my husband and the rest of my family over Thanksgiving weekend.

Standage tells the history of the world as it revolved around 6 different beverages. Beer, wine, coffee, tea, Coca Cola and water. "Did you know that people drank beer to get hydrated a really long time ago?" was one of the questions I posed to my family. Two of them quickly understood that beer was probably safer to drink than water back then. And so went our weekend. Me sharing facts, them either already figured them out and surprised to learn something new.

Parts of the book dragged on a little too long. And parts of it, some of the political things, I didn't want to concentrate hard enough to fully understand them. But I'm looking forward to discussing this with my book club next week. I think tea and Coca Cola were most interesting. And I'd love to hear his follow-up on water!

P.S. We had a great book club discussion.