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A Short History of Drunkenness
A Short History of Drunkenness: How, Why, Where, and When Humankind Has Gotten Merry from the Stone Age to the Present | Mark Forsyth
9 posts | 9 read | 11 to read
From the internationally bestselling author of The Etymologicon, a lively and fascinating exploration of humankind's favorite pastime Almost every culture on earth has drink, and where there's drink there's drunkenness. But in every age and in every place drunkenness is a little bit different. It can be religious, it can be sexual, it can be the duty of kings or the relief of peasants. It can be an offering to the ancestors, or a way of marking the end of a day's work. It can send you to sleep, or send you into battle. A Short History of Drunkenness traces humankind's love affair with booze from our primate ancestors through to Prohibition, answering every possible question along the way: What did people drink? How much? Who did the drinking? Of the many possible reasons, why? On the way, learn about the Neolithic Shamans, who drank to communicate with the spirit world (no pun intended), marvel at how Greeks got giddy and Sumerians got sauced, and find out how bars in the Wild West were never quite like in the movies. This is a history of the world at its inebriated best.
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stevesbookstuf1
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Pickpick

Forsyth, known for his wit, brings his A game to this light read. Maybe he doesn't get all the facts quite right, but it's a fun ride nonetheless. Listened to the audiobook from 2018 after seeing a rave review on (I think) Bookstagram. Happy to add my recommendation.

Full review: https://bit.ly/rvw-ShortDrunk

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Cazxxx
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Bought this for 99p on kindle, looks like fun!

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TheEllieMo
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I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.
This is day 36
#BooksToRead #TBRPile #TBRMountain

37 likes4 stack adds
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Gina
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Chrissyreadit 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣thanks for sharing! 5y
14 likes1 comment
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Daisey
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Pickpick

This was an interesting listen, but I didn‘t enjoy it as much as previous books by Forsyth. I‘ve read a few books about the history of alcohol, and this one did have a different perspective. It focuses more on the cultural aspects of the locations, events, and people involved in the drinking and drunkenness through history and around the world than the alcohol itself.

#audiobook #nonfiction #Hoopla

56 likes1 stack add
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Tove_Reads
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Mehso-so

A quick read, but I nearly gave up in the beginning. I do not like it when someone keeps on writing about how funny it is when people get animals drunk. I did not enjoy the totally misplaced dry sarcasm that the author felt like needed to be in every page in the beginning. I like sarcasm, but not in a nonfiction book like this. Interesting things in the book though, so I am glad I finished it.

Doughtah Aww, that bites that it didnt turn out to be a good book. The title def makes it sound like it‘d be a fun book. 😩 5y
38 likes1 comment
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rabbitprincess
Mehso-so

This would have been a Pick, perhaps, if I had been in the right headspace. I was rushing to read it before it was due back at the library and was therefore less patient with the drollness of the writing. Good concept though.

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Oblomov26
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Pickpick

A fun little read about mankind‘s very long love affair with alcohol. Ever wondered how the Egyptians drank (Ritually and Copiously), whether it would be better to attend a Greek Symposium or a Roman Convivium (Symposium), why Beowulf was praised for never killing a friend while drunk? Where did the phrase two bits come from? This book will tell you. Oh and my country Australia gets a mention from the period when we were ruled by a rum monopoly.

MariettaSG Nice review. 5y
Gezemice Sounds fun! 5y
59 likes5 stack adds2 comments
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rabbitprincess
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Now THIS is an interesting juxtaposition of library holds... 😂

RidgewayGirl Fifty items? My library only lets me put ten on hold at a time. 5y
rabbitprincess @RidgewayGirl A lot of them are things that have been or are on order, so they tend to stick around in my holds queue for months 😉 That tends to be my average...not sure what our actual limit is. Does your library have a checkout limit as well? 5y
RidgewayGirl @rabbitprincess I don‘t know what the checkout limit is. Since the maximum time a book can be out is six weeks (two weeks + 2 renewals) I don‘t check out more than a few at a time. 5y
26 likes3 comments