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A Short History of Drunkenness

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A Short History of Drunkenness

By: Mark Forsyth
Narrated by: Richard Hughes
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About this listen

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.

©2017 Mark Forsyth (P)2017 Penguin Audio Americas Europe Food & Wine Great Britain United States Wine & Beverages Funny Witty Feel-Good England

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All stars
Most relevant  
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.

Interesting and entertaining

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This audiobook is sheer, laugh-out-loud joy! Brilliant narrator, amusingly written and full of fascinating insights.

The Most Delightful Audiobook I've Read In Ages

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Brilliantly narrated and a great source of interesting alternative history. I raise a glass to the author and the performance.

Interesting, witty and very funny.

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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.

Hilarious and Fascinating

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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.

A fantastic insight into the genesis of beer

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An utterly charming book and am now also resolved to never do anything as stupid as to give up alcohol again.

Highly amusing and informative

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love it more than alcohol.shows how much humanity relays on chemicals to go through the day.

facinating

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I listened to this and learned lots and laughed out loud.

I picked this for the topic not realising I'd read - and loved - other books by the same author. those are on grammar and words and have the same light touch. Thoroughly recommend them and this if you enjoy a lightness of touch and fine writing

Most entertaining nonfiction book I've listened to

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Well written, spoken and highly entertaining. A very informative work. Only criticism is that the use of 'footnotes' is at first a distraction and then an irritation.

A Good Listen

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It's rare to find a book that's this enjoyable and also educational. There was a great deal of information that I'd never heard before and I learnt it with a smile on my face. Each chapter stands alone, so you can easily dip in and out or listen all at once. The narration is very good, but not quite as good Simon Shepherd, who narrated MF's other books on Audible. If you enjoyed this, I'd highly recommend 'The Etymologicon'.

Fun & educational (with holy drunken rabbits)

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