Lover of gin this book is a fantastic addition to everyones book shelf. Just a great book, interesting, and easy to read.

I really wanted to like this, but it was a bit too informal and rambling, more like a blog or podcast than a book. There are interesting facts scattered among lots of personal reflections and asides, but for a thorough background, it sounds like you'd be better off reading some of the books the author cites frequently.

Still, I'd try another title in this series, or sip a G&T with the author.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

This book is what I expected of Object Lessons series to be like. There is a history, a rumination, and exploration about the object in question and with a little author history, but not too much. Of course, now that I’ve read a few of these books I realize that was my idea, not necessarily the editors or publisher’s idea. Okay, I understand now, it is up to the author to take on the topic with nearly no limitations.

Yet, here we do have an investigation of gin, it’s beginnings and history, why it became popular in England, and why it continues to be popular and not just in England. How gin is made, types and flavors, and what cocktail drinks are popular with gin in it. We also have an exploration of gin appearing in books, movies, songs and other popular culture. And a fun section on gincindents, where embarrassing moments arise from consuming too much of that gin. For myself I loved reading the history of gin the most.

While enjoying the book’s topics there were times the writing style was awkward, and perhaps this was fixed before publication. I can only go by the copy I have, which is a pre-publication.
Book rating: 3.5

Friends and I can spend hours over analysing bizarre factoids, misheard song lyrics and general inane conversations like
★ how would a cat hold a pen (obviously in it's tail)
★ if you were a robot, would you know you're a robot (no - but if I was a robot and you were a robot I would know that you were a robot)
★ Bluetooth: science or magic (of course it's magic!!)

Shonna Milliken Humphrey states her novella about Gin is more a lecture style but I disagree. It feels like it has more in common with these types of oddbod conversations as she sits in her garden glider and dazzles friends and family with gin factoids at a sunny Sunday BBQ. Ideas that spark further conversation are much more memorable than idle chitchat about football, weather, politics or tv.

It is an interesting showcase of all things gin from early political propaganda machinations to very important discussions about about James Bond's drink of choice. It doesn't take itself too seriously, has all the whimsy and quirks I enjoy about the Object Lessons series, and is just a lot of fun.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Academic for the ARC.

In younger days I’m sure we all had a bad experience of gin. I certainly did. It’s only in the last couple of years that I’ve rediscovered it. It’s now my drink of choice. What this book does brilliantly is it takes you on the journey of gin. It’s history. How it’s made. I’ve loved finding out about the different types. Old Tom. London Dry.
Read this book and have a greater appreciation of the drink. This book is best read with your favourite gin over ice with a premium tonic.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this arc

Having read many of this wonderful Object Lessons series (thank you NetGalley) this one is written in the style I enjoy most – factual and informative and not too self-indulgent on the part of the author. In this case Humphrey’s personal interjections are both interesting and illuminating and add to the reading pleasure. Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about gin is here – serious, well-researched history but narrated with a light touch. Highly recommended.

This book is one in the series of Object Lessons books, and as someone who loves a good G&T, and a trivia and history buff, I thought why not grab a drink and peruse this tome. There’s nothing earth shattering here, no deeply held secrets, but there might be some history to your favorite drink that you were unaware of like how the Martini got it’s name, or why do we drink gin with tonic water? The author also includes plenty of pop culture references, song lyrics, and of course, “shaken not stirred”.

This would be a great gift for the gin enthusiast in your life, or to add to your bar. Plenty of conversation starters with the illustrations and advertising alone.

One thing I will say, I’m jealous of the author getting to travel around to all the tasting rooms and distilleries fir her research.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Gin by Shonna Milliken Humphrey is part of The Object Lessons series and seeks to explore the historical, social, pop cultural, and gastronomical elements of gin and juniper over time. The book is quite short and packed with many details and facts related to the development of gin as we know it today, its origins, and its various tastes and uses in Europe and America. The author intersperses all of the factual information with her own experiences and thoughts on drinking gin, breaking up the more dry explanations with her discussions. This book was definitely informative and an introduction to the topic but overall I felt like it was disorganized and not the best writing. Those aspects definitely distracted me while reading and made some of the chapters awkward to read and understand. Overall I would still recommend this as a nice way to dip in your toes into the topic but not be overwhelmed or committed to a larger tome.

There is no point getting parochial over this stuff. I have said in other Object Lesson reviews that these books work best if they aren't coming from an obvious place. I don't need another white, Englishman's view of the history of Gin, no matter how much of that history is intertwined with England itself. Nevertheless I wobbled with the opening story here, Shonna Milliken Humphrey's first taste of gin being in shooting range around the back of a cinema mixed in a large paper cup with grapefruit juice. Very much gin and juice, and while she has happily moved on to G&T's via nearly all the alcohols out there, there is a viewpoint here that is a lot lighter than a lot of the Object Lesson monograms. This take is aided by a very up front reading list of places where most of her stories come from. "Here are the deep dive books on the history of Gin", she is saying, "this is a silly little bunch of stories designed to be read with a gin in the other hand and entertain". So I did as commanded, got some Menorcan gin and supped.

Not claiming any serious intent for you work of scholarship is a neat trick if the stories are good, and on the whole they are. Very few surprise, Hogarth's Gin Alley turns up, as does a significant amount of discussion of the development of genever to gin. This could almost be a book about juniper, and whilst she discusses the sides taken in the gin world about how many botanicals you throw in, and the controversies over who might make your neutral spirit, she doesn't take sides. Its gin, its not actually that important is the editorial line

This makes the book the closest to a stocking filler of any of these books I've read (compare to the suicide attempt at the start of Bulletproof Vest). I think she is right, gins hand in horror has always been as a bit part player, yet it part fuelled the Royal Navy, but not as much as rum, and certainly we didn't go an annex a part of the world for its Juniper harvest. She is good at summing up the sensory pleasures of a gin and tonic in particular, the clink of ice in the glass, the hissy fizz of the tonic, the smack of juniper. Gin exists, she is saying, and its had an interesting history. If you aren't interesting in gin, why the hell are you reading my book on Gin?

A quick and light read, "Gin" provides a fascinating look into the history the beverage. From the origins of the name to gin's role in history, Prohibition, film and literature, Shonna Milliken Humphrey touches on it all. I particularly enjoyed reading about gin's evolving role as a "British" drink in history and it's references in movies and books. This is a fast read with plenty of fun factoids to share with others and definitely made me think it might be interesting to read more about gin's role in the world- past and present. Shaken or stirred.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

This was a cool little nonfiction book about all different aspects of gin. Instead of going into crazy detail that made me want to put the book down and only pick it up once a week to read a chapter, this was concise and I flew through in a couple of sittings. We've got history, we've got science, we've got multimedia. If you have any interest at all in gin, this is a great way to learn a little bit more.

This is a history of gin, told in a breezy, fun way. This is as apolitical as a book can be, in stark contrast with Fat. I enjoyed the history and I certainly learnt a lot about gin. I remember a couple of years ago finding out that gin is basically clear spirit with botanicals - no aging, and you can make gin with a base of a bottle of Aldi vodka, and I've kind of been wanting to try! While this book sets gin in it's various historical contexts, it breezes through economic inequality and gender issues with a very neutral eye. Perfectly valid, and it's made me think about both gin and different representations of history. And it's got a great cover.

Thanks to NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Another wonderful book in the series.It was fun reading about gin & drinks that can be made with it.Perfect gift for lovers of gin & cocktails,#netgalley #bloomsburyacademic

The best part about this book is that it encouraged me to go to the liquor store and buy gin and tonic water. Oh my God were the G&T's amazing. It's been a few years. Nice to see you, old friend.

Now I can share facts (like I did this morning to my wife while she's brushing her teeth) about the massive childhood deaths in London due to alcohol poisoning in the 18th century. And that William II is kind of a dick.

But the book wasn't good. The information was fun, but it's not well written. It read like one of my student papers (one that would get a C; pretty okay, I LOL'd a bit, drank while I graded it, etc).

It's poorly written but interesting. I don't care about the author's thoughts on movie quotes but I do share her love of gin. I'd be happy to sit her porch on a glider and sip ice cold gin and tonics and talk etymology.

A fantastic short read about one of my favourite drinks, gin. There are plenty of interesting facts here and a pleasant chatty narration style from the author.

This would be a great book to be given as a Christmas or birthday gift alongside a bottle of the good stuff.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

Huge gin drinker wanted to learn more about it in this book was ideal. Perfectly put together stylish and a wealth of information on Gin. I would highly recommend.

Charming and fact-filled book about all aspects of gin from its origins to its appearances in art, song, and story. i only wishthere had been more in it about the different types of gin and how they are made.

I've not read many of the Object Lessons books, partly because having mentally categorised them as '33 1/3 for stuff', many of the topics have seemed to lack the necessary thing-ness (Hashtag, Traffic, Environment? Too small, too abstract, too big. Bring me *objects*, I say, banging the desk like J Jonah Jameson). Gin, though, that qualifies, just like the last one I read, Potato. Indeed, you can make the one from the other - one very interesting section covers the US legal definition of gin, whereby one maker, intending to produce a barrel-aged gin, very nearly found themselves producing whiskey instead. Elsewhere, the roads taken were more familiar; Humphrey freely admits to being an enthusiastic amateur keen to introduce others, and obviously she could hardly omit the gin craze, Hogarth, Fielding &c, though occasionally odd readings creep in, as when she talks about Pepys taking "strong water made from juniper" medicinally, then suggesting that, being a respected man, if he had taken it for pleasure he probably wouldn't have admitted that in writing. Which seems rather to overlook some of the other pleasures he did admit in writing, albeit coded. More subjectively, I was surprised to see the Divine Comedy's Gin-Soaked Boy described as a sad song - though in a sense all Divine Comedy songs are sad right now, because I was meant to be seeing them play Liberation and Promenade in full tomorrow.

Still, these were the exceptions. For the most part, her enthusiasm is winning, her research intriguing and her musings illuminating (the one that's particularly lingered - why are there so many more gin-flavoured things than juniper-flavoured, and what does that even mean?). Although one little nugget in the acknowledgements could have sustained a chapter of its own - she did all of this investigating, collecting, and sampling of gin while married to a recovering alcoholic, who apparently didn't mind!

A few year ago now, a book I was reviewing on the Jack the Ripper murders featured a most memorable detail – I think it was the third victim, and the person who raised the hue and cry over the death had just left a pub, having wrapped himself round a tot or five of gin. This was about five in the morning or so, and I don't remember whether his shift work meant this was supper or breakfast, but it's so startlingly different to the many licensing restrictions and suchlike these days. Gin back then was of course a lot cheaper, a lot more lightly taxed, and had for centuries been a lot safer to drink, even as if it was flowing freely from a tap, than anything that might have actually come from a water tap, assuming you owned one.

Gin doesn't really feature in the Jack the Ripper cases per se, but it was a detail that stuck in the mind. Still, here in these few short pages there are crimes to be had, and by no means are they reduced to illicit stills, the Prohibition, and suchlike. There is also everything else you would want – the history of the drink, the history of the different styles of gin, the drink as a personal creation and as an industrial product; as a drink to be had neat, in a cocktail, or hot. There is in fact so much here that it makes this feel a fully comprehensive study of the subject, to the extent that this book hardly fits with the rest in this series. Where is the ultra-left language-bowdlerising of the current pussy-footing academe; where is the tenuous personal verbiage with so little to say about anything, let along the topic at hand; where is the off-hand cultural reference that adds little? None of that is here, meaning this book is perfectly adept at just giving me an ideal amount of time in touch with gin, in a most educational way. To a general reader at least, this series is designed to keep you reading for a couple of hours about a topic you'd never expect to find yourself perusing. Gin, for me at least, is such a subject – and I could hardly wish for those couple of hours to have been better written. A strong four stars.