Attention amateur historians!
Announcing the Next Meeting of the History Book Club
The next meeting of the Friends of Bookshare History Book Club will be
held
on Sunday, April 13, 2008 at: 6:00 P.M PDT, 7:00 P.M. MDT, 8:00
P.M. CDT, 9:00 P.M. EDT, and 1:00 A.M. UTC.
Starting with this next meeting in April, the History Book Club will meet
on
the second Sunday of the month at the times listed above.
We will be discussing the book, "Near a thousand tables: A history of
food,
by Felipe Fernandez-Arnesto, The Free Press, 2002.
Synopsis:
In Near a Thousand Tables, acclaimed food historian Felipe
FernandezArmesto
tells the fascinating story of food as cultural as well as culinary
history
a window on the history of mankind.
In this "appetizingly provocative book, he guides readers through the
eight
great revolutions in the world history of food: the origins of cooking,
which set humankind on a course apart from other species; the
ritualization
of eating, which brought magic and meaning into people's relationship with
what they ate; the inception of herding and the invention of agriculture,
perhaps the two greatest revolutions of all; the rise of inequality, which
led to the development of haute cuisine; the long-range trade in food
which,
practically alone, broke down cultural barriers; the ecological exchanges,
which revolutionized the global distribution of plants and livestock; and,
finally, the industrialization and globalization of mass-produced food.
From prehistoric snail "herding" to Roman banquets to Big Macs to
genetically modified tomatoes, Near a Thousand Tables is a full-course
meal
of extraordinary
narrative, brilliant insight, and fascinating explorations that will
satisfy
the hungriest of readers.
***
This book is available on Bookshare.org.
The History Book Club welcomes all those interested in reading history
that
is nothing like you remember from high school... I promise!
I look forward to seeing you all there, even if you weren't able to finish
the book.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, Brian Miller,
the
book club facilitator, at:
brian-r-miller@xxxxxxxxxx
We meet in the Friends Community Room, an online chat room which can be
reached directly at:
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs7867a2369e0e
or, you can reach it via The Friends of Bookshare URL at:
http://www.friendsofbookshare.org
We use the Talkcom Web Conferencing software. If you are not familiar
with
it, you will need to download the small plug-in on the web page, run it,
then return to the web page and sign in. Please type your name in the
USerID field. You do not need a password.
Cogito ergo sum!
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