Simply an outstanding book of scholarship. McGovern is a scientist who speaks fluent vernacular, which for most of us is a blessing. This is a remarkably inclusive survey of worldwide alcoholic beverage production and consumption from the end of the last ice age through the age of the Greeks. Though much of the book deals with the beginnings and subsequent evolution of wine and beer, he touches on drinks, ceremonies and rituals involving fermentation of myriad fruits, honey and starch laden grains from South America to China to Africa. One can't help but be impressed by the widespread use of alcohol by almost every societal group on earth. The picture painted by the author is of an ancient world practically awash in mixed drinks (beer, wine, and honey mixed together being a common one) and a remarkable diversity of stand alone wine and beer styles, often infused with herbs and flavorings, many hallucinatory, to enable the priests and leaders of early societies to commune with their particular gods and goddesses. These drinks have not only been an integral part of human life for thousands of years but may well have been the impetus behind agricultural domestication, human migration and trade and the spread of dominant cultures.For any student of the human condition, of the development of ritual and religion, of the emergence of humanity from our earliest hominid ancestors - and certainly for any thoughtful devotee of wine or beer, I highly recommend Uncorking The Past.