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A Splendid Exchange

How Trade Shaped the World
Jun 22, 2018
This is a terrific book. The history is fascinating and clearly explained with anecdotes, stories, maps and data. I learned a lot from it, both large and small. For example, if you think you know all about the Boston Tea Party, read this. A very interesting perspective. If you love coffee and wondered how it was discovered, also dive in. Also do something fun: before you read it, go to your kitchen and look at all of the spices and ingredients sitting in dozens of bottles that you take for granted, then read it. The risks, rewards, lives lost and the mechanics of buying and transporting spices and many other "everyday items", over several thousand years, is amazing.