4.5 stars rounded up
Who knew that beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and coca-cola could have impacted our world so much!
The “history of the world” is more of a history of US/Northern Europe though

Your run-of-the-mill gimmicky nonfiction. This one tries organize world history through the lens of beer/wine/spirits/coffee/tea/soda. It drags here and there, but does have some fun facts I hadn't heard before. Kind of fun, kind of forgettable. Feels like virtue for being true, but doesn't leave a great deal of understanding in its wake.

Synecdoche inclined, sort of dry writing. It’s pop-history for anyone who’s 1.) forgotten all their high school history or 2.) never thought deeper than the surface level for their entire lives

My professor yapped the merits of this book from the hills but honestly I found it an interesting curiosity at best

Which is weird because my professor is SUCH an interesting person

This book had a really interesting concept: to tell history broken down into the drinks that were popular during that time, but unfortunately, this book is basically a textbook and is written with the the manor and vocabulary of one. I found it a bit hard to read, but there were some interesting points like learning about Coca-Cola and how the other speculated on going to Mars and the effect it would have on the human race.

Một quyển sách rất thú vị, đã có bản tiếng Việt, về lịch sử của 6 loại nước uống trong suốt hành trình phát triển của nhân loại. Từ bia thuở hồng hoang, đánh dấu bước chuyển tiếp từ dân du mục sang dân nông nghiệp, là món uống phố biến ở Ai Cập, đến rượu với nền văn minh Hy Lạp-La Mã với những kiểu cách bài bản và hàn lâm hơn hẳn, rồi rượu mạnh với những chuyến viễn du mở rộng thế giới của phương Tây, đến khi trà từ phương Đông tràn qua phương Tây và chinh phục nó, cho đến Coca như nước uống công nghiệp “quốc ẩm” của nước Mỹ.

Những câu chuyện lịch sử lôi cuốn, dễ hiểu, sinh động, và thậm chí khó tin, về cách mà các loại nước uống thông dụng đã tác động và tạo ra những sự kiện thay đổi lịch sử con người. Bia, rượu,… không chỉ là nước uống mà là nhân chứng lịch sử chứng kiến sự phát triển và những bước ngoặt của con người về tư tưởng, thói quen, văn hoá lẫn nhân tính, ví như mạnh đã từng được dùng như tiền tệ để mua nô lệ châu Phi, hoặc rượu rhum là 1 sản phẩm tập hợp nhiều giao lưu văn hoá và giao lộ lịch sử từ Á sang Âu sang châu Mỹ và nô lệ châu Phi.

Đây là quyển sách hay rất đáng tìm và đọc, vì nó sẽ đem lại cho ta góc nhìn mới mẻ hẳn về những nước uống quanh ta sau khi đọc xong.

BORING. YAWNING. SLOPPY. LAZY

کتاب خوب و سرگرم کننده‌ایه. درسته که بیشتر از تاریخ جهان به تاریخ غرب پرداخته ولی بسیار خواندنیه و اطلاعات خوبی هم داره

আবার মনে আছে, বহুদিন আগে একেবারে খোকাবয়েসে আমেরিকাতে আমার তখনকার কোম্পানির এক সিনিয়র পার্টনার ভদ্রমহিলার সঙ্গে এই বইটি - সিক্স গ্লাসেস - প্রসঙ্গ করে আধঘন্টাখানেক আড্ডা মেরেছিলাম, আর তার ফলে পরে শুনি তিনি আমার বসের কাছে আমার ভূয়সী প্রশংসা করেন - ভেরি ওয়েল রেড অ্যান্ড নলেজেবল বয় - বলে।
হিহি।

সব স্মৃতি-ই ভালো স্মৃতি, তবে performance appraisal-এ ভালো রেটিং পাওয়াটা ......

‘When you next raise some beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, or Coca-Cola to your lips,think about how it reached you across space and time, and remember that it contains more than mere alcohol or caffeine. There is history, too, amid its swirling depths.’
- pg 274

Wow that was painful!!

An extremely interesting history of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, Coca-Cola - and, yes, to some extent, water - so, it's really 7 - through the lens of world events, the evolution of civilization, colonization, trade, politics, culture, religion, health, war, and, of course, economics....

This is a fast, fun read, if for no other reason than it offers relatively compact, easy to digest (!), histories of the six drinks/beverages in the context of, well, the history of the world. Particularly if you've traveled widely, you'll be intrigued by Standage's explanations for how some nations/regions discovered, resisted, and/or became partial (or addicted) to, for example, wine versus beer or coffee versus tea. And my sense is that anthropologists will be at least mildly amused by his descriptions of (and explanations behind) the various serving/drinking rituals and how those ceremonies and habits have persevered, "traveled," or evolved over time and space.

I'm confident that, if you consider yourself an aficionado in any of the six beverages - beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, or Coca-Cola - you'll find Standage's coverage sweeping, but inadequate. The short volume permits only a relatively superficial dive into each of the six, with a heavy emphasis on its role and evolution rather than, say, the nuances of the underlying technology or marketing and current standing. (In other words, Standage no more strives to categorize the scores of craft beers at your local specialty beer restaurant than he endeavors to detail the world's assortment of grapes (and blends) or explain how Keurig currently offers literally hundreds of varieties of coffee in K cups....)

It's no spoiler, but I found Standage at his best in his introduction and his conclusion, when he generalized, hypothesized, and forecast. I admit I found that the six drinks/topics tended to drag at times, and my gut says that a more skilled editor could have avoided some of the doldrums and repetitions. Nonetheless, an easy read chock full of trivia for the next time you share a drink (pick your poison - beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, or soda) with a friend or colleague...

3.5 rounded up
Some interesting facts. I liked the Cola section the most.