Uncommon History of Common Things, An [Hardcover]

Pop culture fans and trivia lovers will delight in National Geographic’s highly browsable, freewheeling compendium of customs, notions and inventions that reflect human ingenuity throughout history. Dip into any page and discover extraordinary hidden details in the everyday that will inform, amuse, astonish, and surprise. From hand tools to holidays to weapons to washing machines, this book features hundreds of colorful illustrations, timelines, sidebars, and more as it explores just about every subject under the sun. Who knew that indoor plumbing has been around for 4,600 years, but punctuation, capital letters, and the handy spaces between written words only date back to the Dark Ages? Or that ancient soldiers baked a kind of pizza on their shields— when they weren’t busy flying kites to frighten their foes?Bethanne Patrick is a writer and book critic. Her features, profiles, and reviews have appeared in theWashington Post, Publishers Weekly, Peoplemagazine, and other publications.

John Thompson is the author and co-author of more than a dozen books includingDakotas, America’s Historic Trails,andNational Geographic Almanac of American History.The Uncommon History of Wine

·From the Latin Vinum (Wine)
·Popular types: Red, White, Sparkling, Dessert
·“Variety” in winemaking is the type of grape used

Wild grapes have existed for millions of years. Make that tens of millions–the oldest fossilized vine is dated at about 60 million years old. However, wild grapes are small and sour. The first grapes to be made into wine were domesticated, made possible by cultures that had settled and begun to grow annual crops. The oldest wine container finds have been in what are now modern-day Georgia and Iran (where it was called mei). University of Pennsylvania researchers now believe the domesticated grape may first have been planted in Georgia, then l³&