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every week new scientist reviews a number of books and as i was thumbing through the issue from november 14th last year i found this one reviewed
Uncorking the past
Patrick McGovern
University of california press
£21.00
paraphrasing the review .... using archaeology and scientific techniques this guy has spent decades travelling the world and tracing the history of making alcoholic drinks. Some finds include 9000 year old chinese site from which he gleaned residues of a wine made with rice, hawthorn fruit, honey and grapes. and a similarly ancient site in iran. South american evidence of alcoholic chocolate drinks too. He argues that grain cultivation started in order to make booze, not food, and that the production of booze is the staple of human creativity ... arts, music, religion etc etc (surely also science! at the very least food science)
for those of you curious about such things, with little chance of the book improving your techniques, the book gets an excellent review and from what i can gather should be a good read even if your grasp of science means that you normally shy away from new scientist.
Uncorking the past
Patrick McGovern
University of california press
£21.00
paraphrasing the review .... using archaeology and scientific techniques this guy has spent decades travelling the world and tracing the history of making alcoholic drinks. Some finds include 9000 year old chinese site from which he gleaned residues of a wine made with rice, hawthorn fruit, honey and grapes. and a similarly ancient site in iran. South american evidence of alcoholic chocolate drinks too. He argues that grain cultivation started in order to make booze, not food, and that the production of booze is the staple of human creativity ... arts, music, religion etc etc (surely also science! at the very least food science)
for those of you curious about such things, with little chance of the book improving your techniques, the book gets an excellent review and from what i can gather should be a good read even if your grasp of science means that you normally shy away from new scientist.
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