A History of the World in Six Glasses

By abhishek at 8 October, 2007, 1:43 am

Hello folks. This is not a review of the book, ‘A History of the World in Six glasses.’ I had a chance to have a chat with Tom Standage, the Business Editor of The Economist and he was kind to send us across the autographed copy of his book. The book charts the history of drinks, namely tea, coffee, spirits, beer, rum and Coca Cola: The six drinks that changed the world. Here is an open letter to Tom Standage (which ofcourse I mailed him and he replied.)

Dear Tom,
There are history books and there are history books and then there are a few more history books! When I took to reading your book, ‘A History of the World in Six Glasses’ I had made up my mind that the book would be inundated with historical facts as it had to chronicle so many cultures and civilisations. So, while I looked forward to reading it with lots of interest, I didn’t give myself too much credit to remember all the “history stuff” that would constitute the book.

I was in for a surprise, and a pleasant one! Mid way through the book, I realised that I had allowed myself to seep into the different eras that you painted in your book. It is one thing to write about history and completely another to maintain a thread (drinks) like you have in your book. While reading about a drink, I not only learned about the civilisation surrounding it but I also lived it momentarily! Now, after having spoken to you once and knowing your sense of humor, I’d like to think that you tricked all of us into savouring history in the pretext of reading about drinks since there is so much more that I know now: the rise of Islam, the prohibition, Mesopotamia, the Boston Tea party, Romans, how everyone wanted to imitate the Greeks, Coca Cola (the real truth and nothing but the truth and not what I read in ‘For God Country and Coca-cola!’)

I was talking to a friend of mine over the phone and discussed your book with him and he said, ‘Ah, this one seems to flow like the old Johnny Walker Whiskey!’

‘The Era of Reason: Coffee’ happens to be my favourite chapter from the book. Have you heard of the Indian batsman, Sachin Tendulkar? Have you seen him bat? Your chapter reminded me of him who sends an adrenalin rush each time he goes out to bat like a prince. While coffee indeed is a stimulant, your chapter alone qualified for it and dare I say it matched both Sachin as well as coffee in its effects. When I read about the coffee houses, it reminded me of Wordpress and Blogspot which, like coffee houses are platforms for us to create content! And of course they are like social networking sites which allowed people to form communities (a coffee house for commodity prices, science, etc.) We are only reliving the past, only the form is different! It seemed lot more intriguing and romantic back then - that’s the only difference (in hindsight).

You’d mentioned early in the book that, ‘You may wish to drink each of them as you go along reading about each drink.’ And I tried doing that with coffee. I was in a coffee shop with a pencil in hand to make notes or underline the points which I thought would be amusing and guess what, I didn’t know what to underline! There was just too much to note down. Those few pages on Coffee gave my eye brows some exercise and right in the middle of nowhere I drew a few stares from my neighbouring chair when I would laugh out loud to a few of the anecdotes that the book has.

Also, I realised that the coffee house internet chapter in the book and the article that you’d written in ‘The Economist’ are very different in writing styles. You have maintained the culture of ‘The Economist’ by being fast, racy and humorous in the newspaper, but here, you allow the reader to seep in the era.

Whoever thought of leaving the last few pages of the book blank for allowing the reader to take some notes down deserves a pat on the back. I am the last person to do the hard work to write something down while reading, but this book forced me to do it and I’m glad that I have a few notes to refer right there at the back.

By the time my coffee arrived, I had moved on to ‘Tea and the British Empire.’ And now I know how and why did tea cultivation start here in Assam. I never would have bet that I would find out such little things by reading a book which was titled, ‘A History of the World in six Glasses’ and not a history book. I’ve got three people lined up to read this one since I bring it up whenever we go out for a drink. While I stick to Coke and coffee, I know more about the history of the drinks that my friends gulp down!

The last line of the book seems apt, “… And remember that it (your drink) contains more than mere alcohol or caffeine. There is history too amid its swirling depths!” After having read that line, I said to myself, ‘This man has a way with words!’

Thanks,
Abhishek

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Categories : Politics & Society