A History of the World in 6 Glasses

I've got a growing interest in world history and religion. I'm not sure really where the two interests come from, but I can point to a few things. Regarding my religious interest is the fact that I haven't been to church in quite a while, but still pray regularly. Another fact is that living in Louisiana brought me in contact with lots of Catholics, a few Buddhists, and I just had a diverse Christian background growing up Reformed, Methodist, Baptist, and Souther Baptist. It's just interesting when you open your mind and try to get the big picture. The fact that so many Christian religions all worship the same God. You could even argue that some of the world religions worship the same God, or did a one time, and then split and starting making their own differnt rules. It's weird to see pictures of Jesus as a white man. Anyone that knows anything about geology knows that Jesus was born in the Middle East, and thus would have had darker skin. Things like this get twisted throughout history. I think the same thing goes for the Bible itself. How many times has it been translated? How many pages or chapters were edited or removed due to beliefs at different centuries throughout time? It just makes one curious. Regarding my interest in history is just that so much can be learned from history. A favorite verse of mine is "those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." It's so true. Even in my job. We learn things, and try to write them down and pass them on. It's upfortunate when they don't get passed on, and I read about the same thing happening.
So, just before I left, I spent a few hours with my friend Joey at Books-A-Million trying to find a couple interesting books on religion and history. I actually bought three. One of them is titled, "A History of the World in 6 Glasses." It's a really great book. It's easy reading and very interesting, as to how world events can be linked to different beverages. If you are curious, the six beverages are beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola. It's also interesting that the first three are alcoholic and the last three are not. One history fact that we all know about was the Boston Tea Party of 1773, which was just the first of more "tea parties" where the American colonists were not happy about having to pay a tax to Britian. Chapter 12 opens with, "A billion hours ago, human life appeared on earth. A billion minutes ago, Christianity emerged. A billion seconds ago, the Beatles changed music. A billion Coca-Colas ago was yesterday morning." Anyway, it's a good book to read if your interested in a slightly different view of history.
And, while we're talking about sodas, I'd LOVE a Mountain Dew. I've gone so far as to email Pepsico in the UK and asked them if there is anyplace I can get one. If you're coming to visit, bring some Mountain Dew. Thanks! :)