Customer Reviews

Fermenting Revolution: How to Drink Beer and Save the World

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Part history, part manifesto, and a lot of fun. This book is one of the most informative yet enjoyable non-fiction that I have read in a while. O'Brien provides lots of good facts and figures about good ol' beer that you can use to surprise and impress friends and family. This is also a practical guide to living more sustainably by enjoying a pint or two from your local brewpub. Moreover, the book is well written and easy to read.

If you want to learn more about beer than you can get from the back of a can or the label on a bottle, this is the book for you. Read it and you'll learn about the story of beer from pre-history, to the beginning of agriculture, to its early influence on religion.
You'll also learn about beer brewing's devolution from a female controlled cottage industry to a corporate mega-business, and how it's changing for the better via the micro-brewery/craft brewing revolution. You'll also find out that drinking good beer in moderation is good for you; and that drinking beer -- especially locally produced beer -- is good for the environment.
This is a fascinating, well written, detailed look at beer, where it came from, and where it's going.

Mr. O'Brien has brought together vital information for those who are seeking to think about as well as better appreciate this noble beverage.

Goes well beyond the works of Michael Jackson or the single facet beer history books books in my collection.

A call to action with ramifications on your view of business ethics, community and trade.

"The Beer Jockey" of Kansas City- Jim Quinn

Humor, history, and business savvy blends with a beer activist history so it's hard to peg this title for any one section - it's featured here because its strength is a coverage of the sustainability movement's values and business interactions, which documents beer marketing, the evolution and growing strength of microbreweries, and their interactions with local communities. A fine survey of corporate and non-corporate powers and divisions makes for involving reading.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This book contains a wealth of information most people never knew about beer. This includes the history of beer brewing and the health benefits of moderate consumption of quality micro-brewed beer.

I think it was William Blake who said that the world is contained in a single grain of sand. O'Brien shows the world in a single (and multiple) glasses of beer.
Someone else said that if we each keep our little corner of interest clean, soon the whole earth will be clean. O'Brien shows how to clean up his little corner.
The writing is sharp, interesting, with more facts than Britannica. It shows how beer had and still has the potential to bring equality, ecology, and pure joy to the world. By focusing on his part of the world-- on his interests-- O'Brien gives us drink for thought about what the rest of us can do. The book is inspiring! --Mykel Board

I received this as a gift and was excited to read it, but very disappointed in it. I kept thinking it would get better, but it never really did. It wasn't very interesting, wasn't very funny, it wasn't very well written, and it didn't have a thesis other than "women should brew beer". Most conclusions weren't well supported with facts. I am surprised that it was published.

I've been homebrewing beer for about three years now, and purchased this book with the hope of learning more about the history of the craft and the gradual evolution of brewing techniques. I was extremely disappointed to find no substantive information about brewing beer, and the historical information is presented in a gimicky format with little context. O'Brien seems more interested in convincing readers that beer was the drink of choice in virtually every historical civilization and in nearly all religions than actually discussing and analyzing the influence beer had throughout history.

O'Brien also misleadingly presents weak scientific theories as truths (e.g., gaia theory), and tries to link these theories to both current problems facing the world and the importance of beer. The logic used to support his arguments is disconnected and often circular, and I struggled to find any meaningful conclusions.

In short, this book offers little substance for those already somewhat familiar with beer and homebrewing, and would be misleading for those with no knowledge of the history of beer. Don't waste your time.