Summary Of Tom Standage's Epilogue: Back To The Source

Tom Standage is a notable British Journalist, author and economist who wrote the book A History of the World in Six Glasses, in which he described the historical significance, environmental importance, ecological foundation of water being the main source of life. Along with these factors, he further explained the commercialization and industrialization of water over the last few decades. In the article, “Epilogue: Back to the Source”, Standage specifically focuses on the water being the source of all lives and the first beverage that humans drank along with the absurdity of trend of buying bottled water in certain parts of the world. Furthermore, Standage’s argument will be analyzed from political, sociological, environmental and economic point of view to assess the credibility of the claims he is making.
Analysis and Evaluation
Standage, right in the beginning of this article created an emotional engagement with the readers by claiming that the “drink of the future” is none other than the drink human beings have tasted for the very first time as basic necessity of life i.e. water. He further argued that for centuries there have been drinks like beer that have been considered an alternative to water, …show more content…
This massive consumption of bottled water along with massive profitability of this industry is because of the popular misconception that distilled water is cleaner and healthier than the regular tap water. However, Standage argues, tap water is known to be as clean and healthy as the distilled water with no potential health risks. This is evident from the example that people cannot differentiate between the tastes of bottled, distilled, mineral and tap water. Therefore, it is inappropriate to claim that the distilled or mineral water is cleaner and healthier than the tap