Tom Standage – A History of the World in 6 Glasses

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Tom Standage is the business editor of The Economist. He started his career as the Science and Technology Editor at the Guardian, and has written several books which merge popular science and history including Victorian Internet , The Neptune File and The Mechanical Turk . He says of his books “I think the right attitude to new technologies is to regard them with historically-informed scepticism.

My approach is intended as a sort of antidote to the scourge of mindless product stories: when something new comes along, I like to point out that it isn’t new at all. This isn’t quite as gratuitous as it sounds; it is quite often possible to learn useful lessons from history, particularly the history of technology” His latest book is A History of the World in 6 Glasses in which he explores a notion that six drinks in history – beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and cola – could be seen as technological catalysts in advancing culture.