Summary of Tom Standage's A History of the World in 6 Glasses

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The first beer was probably not brewed until around 10,000 BCE, but it was widespread in the Near East by 4000 BCE, when it appeared in a pictogram from Mesopotamia. The rise of beer was closely associated with the domestication of the cereal grains from which it is made and the adoption of farming.
#2 Beer was not invented, but discovered. It was inevitable once the gathering of wild grains became widespread after the end of the last ice age, around 10,000 BCE, in a region known as the Fertile Crescent.
#3 The first permanent settlements were established around 10,000 BCE, and they consisted of simple, round huts with roofs supported by wooden posts and floors sunk up to a yard into the ground. They were four or five yards in diameter. A typical village consisted of around fifty huts, supporting a community of two hundred or three hundred people.
#4 The discovery of beer was made when people realized that adding more malted grain to the gruel resulted in a stronger drink. The more malt there is in the original gruel, and the longer it is left to ferment, the stronger the beer.

Sujets

• World

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 24 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669363798
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Tom Standage's A History of the World in 6 Glasses
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10 Insights from Chapter 11 Insights from Chapter 12
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The first beer was probably not brewed until around 10,000 BCE, but it was widespread in the Near East by 4000 BCE, when it appeared in a pictogram from Mesopotamia. The rise of beer was closely associated with the domestication of the cereal grains from which it is made and the adoption of farming.

#2

Beer was not invented, but discovered. It was inevitable once the gathering of wild grains became widespread after the end of the last ice age, around 10,000 BCE, in a region known as the Fertile Crescent.

#3

The first permanent settlements were established around 10,000 BCE, and they consisted of simple, round huts with roofs supported by wooden posts and floors sunk up to a yard into the ground. They were four or five yards in diameter. A typical village consisted of around fifty huts, supporting a community of two hundred or three hundred people.

#4

The discovery of beer was made when people realized that adding more malted grain to the gruel resulted in a stronger drink. The more malt there is in the original gruel, and the longer it is left to ferment, the stronger the beer.

#5

The first literate civilizations, the Sumerians of Mesopotamia, used beer as a social drink. It was a ritual that persisted even when straws were no longer necessary. Beer was also used to intoxicate and alter consciousness.

#6

The religious significance of beer is common to every beer-drinking culture, whether in the Americas, Africa, or Eurasia. The Incas offered their beer, called chicha, to the rising sun in a golden cup, and poured it on the ground or spat it out as an offering to the gods.

#7

The switch from hunting and gathering to farming was a gradual transition over a few thousand years, as deliberately cultivated crops played an increasingly significant dietary role. But in the grand scheme of human history, it happened in an eyeblink. Humans had been hunter-gatherers ever since humankind diverged from the apes, around seven million years ago.

#8

Beer was first made using boiled water, which was safer than water, which quickly became contaminated with human waste. It was a safe form of liquid nourishment, and it gave groups of beer-drinking farmers a nutritional advantage over non-beer drinkers.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The first cities arose in Mesopotamia, which is modern-day Iraq. The area was home to many farmers who lived within the city walls and walked out to tend their fields each morning. The city administrators and craftsmen who did not work in the fields were the first humans to live entirely urban lives.

#2

The recorded history of beer begins in Sumer, a region in southern Mesopotamia, where writing first began to emerge around 3400 BCE. The Epic of Gilgamesh, the world's first great literary work, tells the story of a Sumerian king who encounters a wild man who becomes friends with him and his friend.

#3

The Mesopotamians and Egyptians both believed that beer was a distinguishing feature that made them fully human. The Egyptians even credited beer with saving humankind from destruction.

#4

The first great civilizations, the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians, saw beer as an ancient, god-given drink that underpinned their existence and their cultural and religious identity. It was a staple foodstuff without which no meal was complete.