In John Standage’s book, A History of the World in Six Glasses, the history of the world is told through the history of six beverages; beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca Cola. The effect that each has had on the world is profound and immeasurable, however, of the six beverages, I have found that coffee has played the largest and most significant role in world history.
One way that coffee affected world history is that establishments that served coffee created a social venue for members of the community to bond over various topics. Standage wrote that coffeehouses were hotspots for “gossip, rumor, political debate, and satirical discussion.”, similar to what they are in the present day. These topics led to Kha’ir Beg, ruler of Egypt, as well as his superiors worrying about coffeehouses being a popular meeting place for those wishing to overthrow the government. Also, coffeehouses were "popular venues for chess and backgammon”, which were often regarded as “morally dubious”. These activities and conversation topics may have given coffeeshops an
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The caffeine found in coffee helped “scientists, intellectuals, merchants, and clerks” feel energized, “alert”, and “stimulated” at the beginning of the day and at the end of the night, allowing for more discoveries to be made and for more tasks to be accomplished. This led to coffee replacing beer as the morning drink of choice, as the general public preferred feeling energized, “alert”, and “stimulated” to feeling intoxicated and tired. The coffeehouse culture also possessed an intellectual and calm vibe, which still prevails today, that promoted scientific discoveries such as heliocentrism, the belief that the sun is the center of our universe, as well as the laws of physics. Coffeehouses were centers for not only the gossip and gaming mentioned in the previous paragraph, but also for several scientific
A History of the World in 6 Glasses, by Tom Standage, discusses the influence of various drinks on certain events and throughout the course of history. The drinks we read about in this book are beer, wine, spirits, tea and (from the epilogue) water. The overall purpose of this book is to explain and prove that each of these drinks had a profound effect on the world. Tom Standage is a digital editor and an author who wrote a plethora of books on an array of events and times throughout history. That being said, Standage’s work can be trusted and recommended as he is a qualified writer.
1. How might beer have influenced the transition from hunting and gathering to agricultural-based societies? Before beer was revealed, Humans were known as nomads. Beer prejudiced the evolution of a hunting and gathering lifestyle to an agricultural based one; as they previously considered for new species to hunt, migrating to different territories.
In the outside world, living can be extremely hard and dangerous, from all the known dangers, diseases, and weathers. In the 1930s, Josh and his brother Joey, left their homes to see if they could find a better life in the outside world. Josh’s best friend Howie died in an accident which caused a large tragedy throughout the story, and gravely remembered in this book. Josh and Joey were still able to progress and find a job. Eventually they returned home to Chicago.
Tom Standage wrote A History of the World in 6 Glasses to show how history can be summarized by drinks. Standage starts off the book by saying, “Thirst is deadlier than hunger” (1). Standage used that to set the stage and show the importance of drinks in the world. Standage didn’t just connect a drink to a country for the fun of it. Standage used extensive research to find what drink made that country or region explode.
This book reveals to us how beer and wine were used for cultural, social, political, and even medical purposes. Finally, Standage shows us how civilizations grew by the spreading of beer and wine, and how the spreading of these drinks spread culture around the world. To Standage beer and wine is a technology that played huge role in the developing and advancing civilization. In the introduction, Standage states that throughout history various drinks have/had such high significance
“This Fleeting World” is a summarized version of world history in a short, 92 page book. How can such a small book tell such a large story? Well this book is divided into 3 sections, “The era of foragers”, “The agrarian era”, and “The modern era”. The first era is the era of foragers you may know as the hunter-gatherer era lasted between 300,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE according to this book and was by far the longest era in human history. The second era is the agrarian era which lasted between 13000 BCE and 1750 CE and was the 2nd longest era in human history.
A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage is not the typical history read that one might expect. To some who find reading history books quite tedious and overwhelming, this book is for you. Standage divides his book into 6 main sections via beverages: Beer, Wine, Spirits, Coffee, Tea and Coca-Cola. These drinks, which all started as a form of medicine, not only have great affects on today’s social culture but have also affected the historical spread of technology, religion, exploration, trade, slavery, and noteworthy worldwide events that changed society. As Standage describes it, Beer was a representation of both liquid wealth and health during the early civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
This drink originated in the Middle East, heavily influenced by Arabian culture. Over the course of many years, coffee made its way to Europe through trade and helped Europe to come out of its drunken and alcohol induced haze that has lasted for centuries. This, in of itself, is a huge impact to history, despite the fact that Europe had been drinking mostly alcohol for the past few centuries and the people 's initial dislike of coffee, the drink somehow managed to take over the Western World. Those who drank coffee instead of alcohol in the morning began the day alert and stimulated, rather than relaxed and mildly intoxicated, making the quality of their work better. Coffeehouses became a social center to discuss current events, philosophy and science.
When she was at the shop, a man walks in wearing a “stained blanket pulled up to his chin” who smells of “stale cigarettes and urine” (7). This graphic description of the man instills a feeling of disgust in the audience. He stands there until a “moody French woman” walks towards him and handing him “steaming coffee in a Styrofoam cup, and a small paper bag” of what is perhaps a croissant. He accepts the food and leaves the bread shop. Just like she did in the preceding anecdotal narrative she question why the woman demonstrated this act of compassion.
Ehrenreich mentions “The regulation poster in the single unisex rest room admonishes us to wash our hands thoroughly,” in her essay; However, there is almost no one following the instruction because “there is always some vital substance missing—soap, paper towels, toilet paper”. Although workers may want to follow the instructions, it is impossible for them to do so because they “never found all three at once ”. The effect of describing the deficient rest room is to highlight the fact that the owner of the restaurant is so stingy to the workers that the owner refuses to provide enough substance. Thus, the readers can better understand the terrible environment that the workers live in. In short, with mention the dreadful environment of the kitchen and the rest room, the audiences are able to know that lower workers work in a grubby environment and how they have been treated by the upper class.
The history of beer reveals ancient social and gender roles among men and women of Southeast Asia as well as Egypt. During these ancient times where beer was extremely valued and foreseen as a gift from the gods, anyone who worked or was due payment, was paid in beer for it was “easily divisible” and an “ideal currency” (Standage; pp 35). For example, “ The records indicate that at the time of the pyramids construction, around 2500 BCE, the standard ration was three of four loaves of bread and two jugs containing about four liters (eight American pints) of beer.” Standage, Tom. “Civilized Beer.”
In "Getting Coffee is Hard to Do" by Stanley Fish (August 5, 2007), the author asserts that by shifting the burden of labor to the consumer, businesses are frustrating their customers. Fish supports this thesis by describing the frustrating process of getting coffee in today's coffee shops. The purpose of the essay is to ridicule the "coordination problems" faced by customers in coffee shops in order to get the reader to appreciate the frustrations consumers experience. Fish's intended audience is fellow coffee consumers, and he provokes thought in these consumers about how the practices of businesses are changing; another intended audience is coffee shop owners and employees, whom he encourages to have empathy toward the customer and do more
In one of his Essays, “Decaf Poopacino”, he is making fun of the fact that Americans order the craziest drinks when at coffee shops. The point of this essay is to express that people, like him that want a simple coffee, are tired of waiting in line while the baristas make crazy drinks that serve no purpose. The use of hyperboles help get his point across. For example he says, “It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity.”
Coffee is a drink made from roasted beans, which are seeds of a cherry-like tree. III. In researching this topic, I have discovered how diverse coffee and its history is. IV. Tonight I will present the history of coffee, the health benefits and risks of drinking coffee, and three common types of coffee drinks.
Winter was just around the corner. It was my first time in the biggest coffee shop in town. I could see the cheerful and brilliant lighting of the shop as I walked across the vast parking lot. There were tables outside the shop each with a brown vintage style umbrella. This particular coffee shop is not a cafe, it’s a coffee shop literally.