TOM STANDAGE

"Im Herbst 1769 besucht ein ungarischer Adliger eine Zaubervorstellung am Wiener Hofe. Enttäuscht von den dargebotenen Tricks, wettet er mit Kaiserin Maria Theresia, in einer eigenen Vorführung für Staunen zu sorgen. Wenig später präsentiert er eine Sensation: eine Holzfigur, gehüllt in türkisches Tuch und imstande, jeden menschlichen Gegner im Schach zu schlagen. Auf einer abenteuerlichen Reise durch die Metropolen der damaligen Zeit spielt - und gewinnt - der "Schachtürke" sogar gegen Persönlichkeiten wie Benjamin Franklin, Napoleon und Katharina die Große. Und wo er auftaucht, versucht man, sein Geheimnis zu lüften."

Throughout history, food has done more than simply provide sustenance. It has acted as a tool of social transformation, political organization, geopolitical competition, industrial development, military conflict and economic expansion. In AnEdible History of Humanity Tom Standage serves up a hugely satisfying account of ways in which food has, indirectly, helped to shape and transform societies around the world. It is a dazzling account of gastronomic revolutions from pre-history to the present.

Speckled with anecdotes insights and surprises It is great fun and utterly timely Sunday Times Standage writes with a masterly clarity New York Times The product of deep research great intelligence and burnished prose It is rare that I encounter a non fiction author whose prose is so elegant that it is worth reading for itself Standage is a writer of this class Wall Street Journal Beginning around 3 500 BC with the wheel and moving through the eras of horsepower trains and bicycles Tom Standage puts the rise of the car and the future of urban transport into a broader historical context Our society has been shaped by the car in innumerable ways many of which are so familiar that we no longer notice them Why does red mean stop and green mean go Why do some countries drive on the left and some on the right How did cars introduced only a little over a century ago change the way the world was administered laid out and policed along with experiences like eating and shopping And what might travel in a post car world look like As social transformations from ride sharing to the global pandemic force us to critically re examine our relationship with personal transportation A Brief History of Motion is an essential contribution to our underst

The more we ponder the odder the world can seem How do footballers get their shirt numbers Why does having daughters make couples more likely to divorce How do you move a horse from one country to another What counts as a journey into space The keen minds at The Economist contemplate all these questions and more in their quest for the globe s most extraordinary quandaries and conundrums with bizarre facts and headscratchers that show the world is even stranger than we might have thought From plant based milk and supermoons to the next Dalai Lama and what really happened at the storming of the Bastille this collection of the oddest and most mindboggling explanations will amaze and delight in equal measure

La historia de la humanidad analizada a través de las bebidas que han caracterizado cada época, que han configurado sus usos y su cultura. El autor aborda con gran originalidad la relación entre bebidas y civilizaciones, como en el caso de la cerveza, que la vincula a la aparicion de la agricultura y la explotacion de los cereales, la importancia del cafe en el mundo arabe, el te y sus propiedades balsamicas o la Coca-Cola como simbolo de la globalizacion.

The history of the telegraph the men and women who made it and its relevance to the current Internet debate

The New York Times Bestseller"There aren't many books this entertaining that also provide a cogent crash course in ancient, classical and modern history." --Los Angeles TimesBeer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola: In Tom Standage's deft, innovative account of world history, these six beverages turn out to be much more than just ways to quench thirst. They also represent six eras that span the course of civilization--from the adoption of agriculture, to the birth of cities, to the advent of globalization. A History of the World in 6 Glasses tells the story of humanity from the Stone Age to the twenty-first century through each epoch's signature refreshment. As Standage persuasively argues, each drink is in fact a kind of technology, advancing culture and catalyzing the intricate interplay of different societies. After reading this enlightening book, you may never look at your favorite drink in quite the same way again.