Posts Tagged: Book Reviews
Book Review: Table Talk by A.A. Gill
Posted by on Saturday, May 17, 2008 in - 1 comment
You should know from the outset that this book is not about beer. And don't expect there to be much discussion of beer as the author explains how he was, as he puts it, a drunk: "...I would assiduously get up every morning and go to a pub, the way my grandfather went to the bank." So why do I …
Book Review: CAMRA's Good Beer Guide West Coast USA
Posted by on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 in - 6 comments
This is a funny book. Guide books can be. You see they are to guide people from "X" around about a little old place we like to call "Y". If you are from "X" or "Y", you are likely going to understand what's going on but if you are not it gets to be a bit of an exercise in cultural anthropology …
Book Review: Part II, "Brewing Battles" By Amy Mittelman
Posted by on Saturday, May 3, 2008 in - leave a comment
Well, I am now coming up to half way through Amy Mittelman's book Brewing Battles and I have to tell you that as far as I am concerned this is the best book on US beer history I have had my hands on. That being said, I admit I have not got a copy of 1962's Brewed in America The level of research …
Book Review: "Brewing Battles" By Amy Mittelman
Posted by on Monday, April 21, 2008 in - leave a comment
This really should be labeled as "book review, part one" given I have not hit the half way point in this book, published just this year. But as I have complained long and hard about the absence of a comprehensive US brewing history, I am driven to tap and type, to type and tap. In a nutshell, this …
Book Review: "Beer and Skittles", Richard Boston
Posted by on Wednesday, March 19, 2008 in - 3 comments
This arrived from a used book shop in the UK yesterday and, today being off sick, it was a great opportunity to rip through this book in record pace. Richard Boston was the columnist for the then Manchester Guardian whose weekly "Boston on Beer" is credited as being as important as the early days …
Book Review: Great Beers Of Belgium By Michael Jackson
Posted by on Sunday, March 9, 2008 in - 7 comments
As I noted the other day, I picked up a copy of the 2006 edition of Jackson's Great Beers of Belgium the other week and I could not be happier. It is a great addition to the collection and also provides an opportunity to discuss beer writing generally. You see, the other day I called beer …
Book Review: "Xhosa Beer Drinking Rituals" By McAllister
Posted by on Monday, January 28, 2008 in - 1 comment
Like Ron, I bought a book shelf for the expanding crown of beer books in the house and, in the reshuffling of this and that, came across this book fully titled "Xhosa Beer Drinking Rituals: Power, Practice and Performance in the South African Rural Periphery" - how did I get my hands on this one …
Book Review: Land of Amber Waters, Doug Hoverson
Posted by on Sunday, November 25, 2007 in - 3 comments
I usually don't rush to write reviews of book about beer that I get in the mail. Often they either cover similar ground to existing books, are lightweight intellectually or arrive without me having made the request. But some excite the mind in a new way that simply surprises. This week's arrival …
Beer Book Covers - Do You See What I See?
Posted by on Sunday, November 18, 2007 in - 1 comment
Once, when my firm was considering a new logo and had just received a new design it had paid for with the four letters of the acronym being placed in green boxes, I pointed out to the boss a seed catalog I had just received from a UK firm whose four letter firm name acronym in the same font was …
Beer And Philosophy: The Book Is Out!
Posted by on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 in - 7 comments
It is either out or I have just received my copy but either way it is all quite exciting to have a book in my hand with a chapter written by me. So, of course, I read my chapter first and found myself thinking that I could have written most sentences better and that I hoped I didn't lose all the …
