A History of the World in 6 Glasses ($1.99 Kindle; $2.99
B&N), by Tom Standage, is today's Kindle Deal of the Day. This book was the Nook Daily Find less than a week ago (and Amazon matched the price of $3.19), so if you resisted then, you should consider getting it now (alas, I got hooked reading about barley in the Middle East and bought it last week).
Book Description
From beer to Coca-Cola, the six drinks that have helped shape human history.
Throughout human history. certain drinks have done much more than just quench thirst. As Tom Standage relates with authority and charm, six of them have had a surprisingly pervasive influence on the course of history, becoming the defining drink during a pivotal historical period.
A History of the World in 6 Glasses tells the story of humanity from the Stone Age to the 21st century through the lens of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola. Beer was first made in the Fertile Crescent and by 3000 B.C.E. was so important to Mesopotamia and Egypt that it was used to pay wages. In ancient Greece wine became the main export of her vast seaborne trade, helping spread Greek culture abroad. Spirits such as brandy and rum fueled the Age of Exploration, fortifying seamen on long voyages and oiling the pernicious slave trade. Although coffee originated in the Arab world, it stoked revolutionary thought in Europe during the Age of Reason, when coffeehouses became centers of intellectual exchange. And hundreds of years after the Chinese began drinking tea, it became especially popular in Britain, with far-reaching effects on British foreign policy. Finally, though carbonated drinks were invented in 18th-century Europe they became a 20th-century phenomenon, and Coca-Cola in particular is the leading symbol of globalization.
For Tom Standage, each drink is a kind of technology, a catalyst for advancing culture by which he demonstrates the intricate interplay of different civilizations. You may never look at your favorite drink the same way again.
Autobiography of Mark Twain: The Complete and Authoritative Edition, Volume 1 ($6.99 Kindle,
B&N), by Mark Twain, Harriet E. Smith, Benjamin Griffin and Victor Fischer, is the Nook Daily Find. If you've seen this one in the stores, you'll know why I bought the ebook edition instead (I would greatly want to avoid having to carry it anywhere, let alone have to try to hold it propped up and open to read). I grabbed this on last December, using a coupon at Kobo (for 14 cents under this sale price!), but their price is now back over $25. Be very careful if you are searching for this one from your device (especially the nook, that lumps them all together), as there are a number of other editions of his autobiography that have been released by other "publishers" (the actual text of the original is, probably, in the public domain at this point). The one on sale and that you see in stores is the one edited Harriet E. Smith. Some of the other editions may also be the edited (and greatly abbreviated) version released before the 100 year anniversary of his death.
Book Description
“I've struck it!” Mark Twain wrote in a 1904 letter to a friend. “And I will give it away--to you. You will never know how much enjoyment you have lost until you get to dictating your autobiography.” Thus, after dozens of false starts and hundreds of pages, Twain embarked on his “Final (and Right) Plan” for telling the story of his life. His innovative notion--to “talk only about the thing which interests you for the moment”—meant that his thoughts could range freely. The strict instruction that these texts remain unpublished for 100 years meant that when they came out, he would be “dead, and unaware, and indifferent,” and that he was therefore free to speak his “whole frank mind.” The year 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of Twain's death. In celebration of this important milestone and in honor of the cherished tradition of publishing Mark Twain's works, UC Press is proud to offer for the first time Mark Twain's uncensored autobiography in its entirety and exactly as he left it. This major literary event brings to readers, admirers, and scholars the first of three essential volumes and presents Mark Twain's authentic and unsuppressed voice, brimming with humor, ideas, and opinions, and speaking clearly from the grave as he intended