Sunday, September 7, 2014
Introduction to Ben's Book Search Project
Welcome to Ben's book search! In this Blogger post, I will be talking about all the books that I picked for my book search. The first book that I picked is called, Tennis Origins and mysteries, by Malcolm D. Whitman, and this book talks about when tennis began and how it came to be. The second book that I picked is called, The True History of Chocolate, by Sophie and Michael Coe, and this book is about, when chocolate came to be, how it became popularized in Europe, and then commercialized, all over the world. The third book that I picked for my book search is called, The Sushi Economy, by Sasha Issenberg, and this book talks about, the economy of sushi, and how a small product of Japan, as become such a popular food all around the world. The next book that I picked is called, Vanilla Orchids, by Ken Cameron, and this book talks about how vanilla is the worlds most popular fragrance, and flavor, and how it came to be. The fifth both that I picked is called, For All The Tea in China: How England Stole the World's Most Favorite Drink, by Sarah Rose, and this book is about how England took tea from China and India, and made it their own product to make profits from. The sixth book that I picked is called Gold, by Matthew Hart, and this book talks about how gold has always been a really huge thing, and how it has become a huge corporate thing now. The next book that I picked is called, History of Watched, by David Thompson, and this book is about watches have always been a huge thing from the beginning, and how they really have developed today. The eighth book that I picked is called, Salt: A World History, by Mark Kurlansky, and this book talks about how salt affected the history of the world, and that is has been around for ever. The next book that I read is called, Spice: The History of Temptation, by Jack Turner, and this book is about the history of spices, when they were found, and the trade of spice. Last but not least, that tenth book that I picked is called, Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol, by Lain Gately, and this book talks about alcohol has been around sine the Mesopotamians, and that it has and has had a huge affect on our history. So those are the ten books that I have chosen to my book search on.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Book Search #10: The History of Alcohol
Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol by
- Paperback: 560 pages
- Publisher: Gotham (May 5, 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1592404642
- ISBN-13: 978-1592404643
From Booklist
- Following his earlier treatise on tobacco, historian Gately focuses on another of humanity’s consuming passions: alcoholic beverages. Beginning with classical civilizations, he traces the rise of vintner, brewer, and distiller, whose demand for fruits, grains, and new markets helped fuel the expansion of empires. Gately contrasts Christianity’s intimate embrace of the fruit of the vine with Islam’s absolute rejection of intoxicating libations. European explorers carted wines over oceans only to discover that New World civilizations had already concocted their own sophisticated and highly drinkable spirits. Rum became inextricably bound with slave trading, and mass production and undisciplined consumption of whiskey and gin threatened to unravel the social fabric of newly industrialized European and American economies. Governments adopted different strategies for dealing with alcohol abuse, ranging from regulation of the opening hours of public houses to outright prohibition. A grand, always engaging survey of the role of booze in both cultural and social history. --Mark Knoblauch --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
By M. Krueger on August 30, 2010
Format: Paperback
This book was very well written, and was a real pleasure to read. I like books like this that intertwine facts with historical anecdotes. I would recommend this to anyone interested in the cultural history of alcohol.
I think that alcohol would be a really cool thing to learn about, because it has been along for a very long time, and I would really
like to learn more about it, like how it is made, where the idea came from.
I think that alcohol would be a really cool thing to learn about, because it has been along for a very long time, and I would really
like to learn more about it, like how it is made, where the idea came from.
Book Search #9: The History of Spice
Spice: The History of a Temptation by
- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Vintage (August 9, 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 9780375707056
- ISBN-13: 978-0375707056
From Publishers Weekly
Spices helped draw Europeans into their age of expansion, but the Western world was far from ignorant of them before that time. Turner's lively and wide-ranging account begins with the voyages of discovery, but demonstrates that, even in ancient times, spices from distant India and Indonesia made their way west and fueled the European imagination. Romans and medieval Europeans alike used Asian pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and mace to liven their palates, treat their maladies, enhance their sex lives and mediate between the human and the divine. While many of these applications were not particularly efficacious, spices retained their allure, with an overlay of exotic associations that remain today. Turner argues that the use of rare and costly spices by medieval and Renaissance elites amounted to conspicuous consumption. He has perhaps a little too much fun listing the ridiculous uses of spices in medieval medicine—since, as he notes in a few sparse asides, some spices do indeed have medicinal effects—and fails to get into the real experience of the people. His account of religious uses, on the other hand, paints a richer picture and gets closer to imagining the mystery that people found in these startlingly intense flavors and fragrances. It is this mystery and the idea that sensations themselves have a history that make the entire book fascinating.
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Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This is a nice, well written history of spices and their effects on humanity. Much of the book deals with the spice races of the 1400s and 1500s and the impact on the world and on Europe's rising power. Other sections deal with spices and their roles in history, cooking, romance, politics, religion, and war. The book is not arranged chronologically but instead in broad categories devoted to spices' various uses. - I really don't know anything about spices, and where they come from, but I love to cook and bake, and spices are really big things in cooking and baking.
Book Search #8: The History of Salt
Salt: A World History by
- Paperback: 498 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books (January 28, 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0142001619
- ISBN-13: 978-0142001615
From Publishers Weekly
Only Kurlansky, winner of the James Beard Award for Excellence in Food Writing for Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, could woo readers toward such an off-beat topic. Yet salt, Kurlansky asserts, has "shaped civilization." Although now taken for granted, these square crystals are not only of practical use, but over the ages have symbolized fertility (it is, after all, the root of the word "salacious") and lasting covenants, and have been used in magical charms. Called a "divine substance" by Homer, salt is an essential part of the human body, was one of the first international commodities and was often used as currency throughout the developing world. Kurlansky traces the history of salt's influences from prehistoric China and ancient Africa (in Egypt they made mummies using salt) to Europe (in 12th-century Provence, France, salt merchants built "a system of solar evaporation ponds") and the Americas, through chapters with intriguing titles like "A Discourse on Salt, Cadavers and Pungent Sauces." The book is populated with characters as diverse as frozen-food giant Clarence Birdseye; Gandhi, who broke the British salt law that forbade salt production in India because it outdid the British salt trade; and New York City's sturgeon king, Barney Greengrass. Throughout his engaging, well-researched history, Kurlansky sprinkles witty asides and amusing anecdotes. A piquant blend of the historic, political, commercial, scientific and culinary, the book is sure to entertain as well as educate. Pierre Laszlo's Salt: Grain of Life (Forecasts, Aug. 6) got to the finish line first but doesn't compare to this artful narrative. 15 recipes, 4o illus., 7 maps.
By Randyll McDermott on April 23, 2003Format: Paperback
I was browsing the new releases section of my local library when I happened to see this book. It had an interesting premise, and looked to be unlike any book I'd read before. I've read histories of people and places, but never of ingredients. I checked it out skeptically, and was pleasantly surprised.
Kurlansky is a very talented writer, he manages to make salt suspenseful. The book's purpose is to examine how salt affected the history of the world. He succeeds in this. However, the history is not really coherent, it doesn't really flow. Salt is essentially a collection of vignettes. These vignettes are grouped in chronological order. The first part of the book deals with salt in China and Rome. Part 2 concerns salt's effect in the Middle Ages and the wars of independence. Part 3 concludes the history by examining salt in modern times.
The main failing of this extensively researched account is Kurlansky attempts to link salt to every major world event. According to him, dissatisfaction with the salt tax led to the American and French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution came to be because of salt, and salted foods allowed the world to be explored. Nonetheless, the history is accessible and a fun to read, even if some of the author's conclusions are a bit off base.- I have know idea why I picked this book, for some reason it just stood out to me, and I thought that I would be really interesting to learn about.
Book Search #7: The History of the Clock
The History of Watches
by
- Hardcover: 175 pages
- Publisher: Abbeville Press (February 26, 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 9780789209184
- ISBN-13: 978-0789209184
- ASIN: 0789209187
From the Publisher
The British Museum's collection of watches is unsurpassed anywhere in the world. With examples ranging from sixteenth-century early stack freed watches (the first with built-in mechanisms to prevent them from running faster as their mainsprings wound down) to decorative watches of the seventeenth century, from precision made chronometers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to mass-produced watches of the modern era, the collection follows the complete history of the watch through an incredible 500 years.Strikingly illustrated with 250 color images, this authoritative compendium presents that history with a range and depth unequaled by any other book. All the major makers of Europe and America are represented in its pages, many with multiple examples. Here you will find gems from the London workshops of Thomas Tompion, whose reputation stretched far and wide even in his own time; samples from the craftsmanship of Swiss-born Abraham Louis Breguet, who supplied the finest and costliest watches to the crown heads and aristocratic families of the Western world; and many other exquisite masterworks. Saul Peckham's photography captures every finely-wrought detail, from the ornamentation of faces to the precision and intricacy of gears. An essential volume for horologists, collectors, and aficionados alike, The History of Watches will take you on a fascinating journey through time as recorded by the world's most illustrious timepieces.- By Midwest Book Review on September 4, 2008Format: Hardcover
In "The History Of Watches", author David Thompson (Curator of the Horological collections in the Department of Prehistory & Europe at the British Museum) collaborates with Saul Peckham (a photographer for the British Museum for twenty years) to produce a visually stunning, highly informative, authoritative overview of timepieces ranging over the past five hundred years. Every variety of watch is represented from 16th century early stackfeed watchers, to the precision chronometers of the 18th and 19th centuries, to the mass-produced watchers of the 20th century. More than 80 watches are discussed in detail with a text that is wonderfully enhanced with more than 250 finely detailed photographs featuring all aspects of watches from their outer casings to their inner workings. "The History Of Watches" is a welcome addition to any personal, academic, or community library reference collection - I love watches, and I think that they are really cool, and I really want to learn a little bit more about them.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Book Search #6: The History of Gold
Gold: The Race for the World's Most Seductive Metal
Matthew Hart (Author)
- File Size: 1773 KB
- Print Length: 305 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: B00GG006L6
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (December 3, 2013)
- Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00BSAZ5A6
Review
“From deep within the gold mines of South Africa and China to corporate boardrooms, from miners and thieves to body guards and gold traders, Hart (Diamond, 2001) offers a fascinating look at the geology, geopolitics, and economics of gold.” (Booklist)- Format:Kindle Edition
I am doing jewry class this year, and I just thought that it would be cool to learn about the thing that I am working with, and making things out of.
Book Search #5: The History of Tea
For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History
by
- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books (February 22, 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0143118749
- ISBN-13: 978-0143118749
Editorial Review
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Through the adventures of Robert Fortune, a nineteenth-century plant hunter, the reader learns a delicious brew of information on the history of tea cultivation and consumption in the Western world. Rose’s book is certain to draw the attention of history buffs, foodies, avid travel-literature fans, followers of popular science, and perhaps even business-interest book consumers as she reconstructs what she posits as the “greatest theft of trade secrets in the history of mankind.” Tea was grown in China. Great Britain wanted tea. But trying to trade with the Celestial Empire was like pulling teeth. So the East India Company sent hunter Fortune, undercover (dressed in mandarin robes), to penetrate the depths of China and surreptitiously gather—steal, in other words—seeds and young plants and send them to India, where they would flourish in soil that was part of the British Empire. The author’s bold conclusion to this remarkably riveting tale is that Fortune’s “actions would today be described as industrial espionage,” but nevertheless he “changeed the fate of nations.” --Brad Hooper --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
By Miz Ellen VINE VOICE on March 17, 2010
Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )
Sarah Rose has rescued the aptly named Robert Fortune from the footnotes of Victorian obscurity and written an engrossing story explaining one of the great heists of history: how the British stole tea plants from China and successfully transplanted them in India. It's a spy story for gardeners in which daring-do and botany coexist on every page.
Robert Fortune was the son of a Scottish farm worker. Lacking the means to get a formal education, Fortune learned his skills from practical apprenticeship and obtained a post at the Royal Horticultural Society garden at Chiswick. His skill at cultivating rare blooms from the Orient in hothouses earned him a ticket to China at the end of the First Opium War. His mandate was to collect rare plants and study the botany of China. He almost died there. As he lay gravely ill, the Chinese junk he was on was attacked by pirates. Fortune roused, rushed up on deck and organized a successful defense. The incident illustrates his courage and resource when confronted by adversity.
On his return to London in 1847, he wrote a book about his experiences in China that became a bestseller. When the British East India Company looked around for a man capable of penetrating into the interior of China and obtaining plant specimens and seeds for purposed tea plantations in India, Fortune was the man they turned to.
This is a fascinating book on many fronts. As a story of corporate espionage, it touches on issues of trade and economics that are controversial today. The technology used to bring viable seeds and plants to India is astounding when one considers that sailing ships were the transportation means of that era. A spotlight is put on the opium trade, an issue that still resonates. Sarah Rose writes with a lively, clear style that makes this a hard book to put down. I recommend this book to historians, tea drinkers, economists, gardeners and corporate policy makers. Brew up a cup and enjoy!
Being english and all, I love my tea, but I really don't know that much about it.
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