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A Short History of Drunkenness
- Narrated by: Richard Hughes
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
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Summary
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of A Short History of Drunkenness by Mark Forsyth, read by Sh*tfaced Shakespeare's Richard Hughes.
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 Romans got rat-arsed, 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.
What listeners say about A Short History of Drunkenness
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- Miss B
- 13-01-22
Interesting and entertaining
This touches on women’s rights, politics, hypocrisy and was surprisingly fascinating. The narrator is engaging and I was able to listen to listen to the whole book in a couple of days which rarely happens to me with audible books.
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- K Atherton
- 14-11-17
The Most Delightful Audiobook I've Read In Ages
This audiobook is sheer, laugh-out-loud joy! Brilliant narrator, amusingly written and full of fascinating insights.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Natasha Podmore
- 26-06-20
Interesting, witty and very funny.
Brilliantly narrated and a great source of interesting alternative history. I raise a glass to the author and the performance.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jemma
- 20-12-17
Hilarious and Fascinating
I loved everything about this book except it ending. The Narrator, Richard Hughes, does much to enhance the content and I found myself laughing out loud a lot, not to mention wanting to pour myself a glass of wine! I am sure I shall go on to listen to it again. Warmly recommended.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Captncosmos
- 06-04-19
A fantastic insight into the genesis of beer
It's good to know the genesis of our civilisation and how our cultures came to be. Rather than living the trend not knowing why we do it. If you want to know, have a listen. This knowledge even helped me to change my drinking habits.
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- Brian Howard
- 12-01-20
Highly amusing and informative
An utterly charming book and am now also resolved to never do anything as stupid as to give up alcohol again.
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- Florentin Nikolov Florew
- 31-08-20
facinating
love it more than alcohol.shows how much humanity relays on chemicals to go through the day.
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- Andy B
- 08-07-19
Wonderful. Just brilliant.
A joyful, enlightening and uplifting book. Each chapter is a gem and the writing is exceptional. The narration is as close to perfect as you’ll find. I think you’ll gather that I loved this audiobook. You will too, especially if you like a drink a bit too much, you’ll find some catharsis here along with the laughs and numerous ‘I-must-remember-that-for-the-lads-in-the-pub’ facts.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Rose
- 06-07-19
best not taken too seriously
This book is a good laugh though i suspect that history has been bent a bit out of shape with this one. Not sure if the translations are accurate either. it’s just a bit of a laugh and not to be taken too seriously. if you want a serious study of druniikennes better to avoid this one i thnk but it’s short, easily done in one sitting.
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- Kindle Customer
- 31-01-18
Great book
This is so informative and interesting.
Who knew drinking was so important to us? Not individually but as a building block towards civilisation.
Loved it.
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