Other than chapter breaks, there are no pauses between sections, which consistently created jarring transitions that required effort to figure out that we have left the previous section and started a new, virtually unrelated topic. Worse however - and this will sound like a quibble, but it was quite severe in its impact - is the audiobook's strange production when it comes to spacing between sections. I never quite grew accustomed to Boston's voice for this project, though his reading was clear and professional. I also found the recording to be lacking. The book's encyclopedic breadth was unfortunately matched with an encyclopedic writing style for much of the book. It's true, I now know a lot more about coffee, but I feel as though it was an enormous missed opportunity. A history of coffee should have been an utterly fascinating read, but I found it a chore to finish, despite my gnawing curiosity, owing to the book's lack of narrative flourish, themes, patterns, throughlines, and the other analysis and synthesis that makes great history books great. Huge props to the author's fine research and ambitious thoroughness.
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