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Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks—A Cool History of a Hot Commodity
The unexpected and unexplored ways that ice has transformed a nation--from the foods Americans eat, to the sports they play, to the way they live today--and what its future might look like on a swiftly warming planet.
Ice is everywhere: in gas stations, in restaurants, in hospitals, in our homes. Americans think nothing of dropping a few ice cubes into tall glasses of tea to ward off the heat of a hot summer day. When children bruise their arms or fall sick with fevers, parents wrap ice in dishtowels and press them tenderly to their skin. Nearly half of all refrigerators owned by Americans feature automatic ice machines. Ice-on-demand has so revolutionized modern life that it's easy to forget that it wasn't always this way...and to overlook what aspects of society might just melt away as the planet warms.
In Ice, journalist and historian Amy Brady shares the strange and storied two-hundred-year-old history of ice in America: from the introduction of mixed-drinks "on the rocks," to P. T. Barnum's first-ever indoor ice rink, to how delicacies like iced custard and iced tea revolutionized our palettes, to the ubiquitous ice machine in every motel across the U.S. But Ice doesn't end in the past. Brady also explores the surprising, present-day uses of ice in sports, medicine, and sustainable energy--including cutting-edge cryotherapy breast-cancer treatments and the promise of a substance called "flammable ice" that may prove to be a cleaner fuel source--underscoring how precious this commodity is, especially in an age of climate change.
Ice is everywhere: in gas stations, in restaurants, in hospitals, in our homes. Americans think nothing of dropping a few ice cubes into tall glasses of tea to ward off the heat of a hot summer day. When children bruise their arms or fall sick with fevers, parents wrap ice in dishtowels and press them tenderly to their skin. Nearly half of all refrigerators owned by Americans feature automatic ice machines. Ice-on-demand has so revolutionized modern life that it's easy to forget that it wasn't always this way...and to overlook what aspects of society might just melt away as the planet warms.
In Ice, journalist and historian Amy Brady shares the strange and storied two-hundred-year-old history of ice in America: from the introduction of mixed-drinks "on the rocks," to P. T. Barnum's first-ever indoor ice rink, to how delicacies like iced custard and iced tea revolutionized our palettes, to the ubiquitous ice machine in every motel across the U.S. But Ice doesn't end in the past. Brady also explores the surprising, present-day uses of ice in sports, medicine, and sustainable energy--including cutting-edge cryotherapy breast-cancer treatments and the promise of a substance called "flammable ice" that may prove to be a cleaner fuel source--underscoring how precious this commodity is, especially in an age of climate change.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published June 6, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 126 reviews
September 2, 2023
Imagine it’s the mid-1800s and you live somewhere in the Caribbean. The temperature has never been lower than about 50F. Then some guys on a boat pull up to the harbor in your town and bring out a solid block of something cold and damp that they call “ice.” It’s frozen water, but you don’t even know what “frozen” is. In your community, it’s a bit of a novelty at first, but what you’ve just been introduced to is about to change the world.
That’s how Amy Brady’s book on the history of ice begins.
For anyone fascinated by the ubiquitous and mundane, this book is right in your lane.
It really is hard to imagine that not too long ago, there were no refrigerators, you couldn’t get a drink on the rocks, and don’t even think about indoor hockey.
The author takes us down the slippery slope that shows how society lived for millennia without harnessing refrigeration to being so dependent on it we’d have a hard time readapting.
And it’s not just keeping our drinks cold. We rely on ice to keep our food from spoiling, and many medicines, like insulin, require refrigeration.
The book is a pretty easy read, but it could have been a bit shorter. There’s a lot of detail about the guy who first tried to ship ice from Boston and sell it to islanders in the Caribbean, and the multiple chapters on winter sports would have worked better as a single chapter.
Regardless, the author takes us on interesting side trips, like how the proliferation of ice being sold at gas stations and convenience stores went hand and mitten with the growth of automobile travel. Not to mention medical benefits of cryogenics or the necessity of keeping dead bodies “fresh.” Fun fact: Early cryogenics research raised the question of why there are so few cancers found below the elbows or knees. Turns out human extremities are exposed to more lower temperatures, and cancers apparently don’t like that.
This book won’t change your life, but it’s worth a look if you just want to chill out and appreciate your A/C and refrigerator.
KO’D
Find this book in our catalog
Three and a half stars
That’s how Amy Brady’s book on the history of ice begins.
For anyone fascinated by the ubiquitous and mundane, this book is right in your lane.
It really is hard to imagine that not too long ago, there were no refrigerators, you couldn’t get a drink on the rocks, and don’t even think about indoor hockey.
The author takes us down the slippery slope that shows how society lived for millennia without harnessing refrigeration to being so dependent on it we’d have a hard time readapting.
And it’s not just keeping our drinks cold. We rely on ice to keep our food from spoiling, and many medicines, like insulin, require refrigeration.
The book is a pretty easy read, but it could have been a bit shorter. There’s a lot of detail about the guy who first tried to ship ice from Boston and sell it to islanders in the Caribbean, and the multiple chapters on winter sports would have worked better as a single chapter.
Regardless, the author takes us on interesting side trips, like how the proliferation of ice being sold at gas stations and convenience stores went hand and mitten with the growth of automobile travel. Not to mention medical benefits of cryogenics or the necessity of keeping dead bodies “fresh.” Fun fact: Early cryogenics research raised the question of why there are so few cancers found below the elbows or knees. Turns out human extremities are exposed to more lower temperatures, and cancers apparently don’t like that.
This book won’t change your life, but it’s worth a look if you just want to chill out and appreciate your A/C and refrigerator.
KO’D
Find this book in our catalog
Three and a half stars
June 29, 2023
This book’s proposed topic is a challengingly vast one - a cultural (not natural or scientific, it cautions) history of ice. Too broad? Not necessarily - historian Mark Kurlansky has written excellent and nuanced worldwide histories of commodities such as Cod and Salt. But those were deeply researched and cohesive historical narratives, while this book seemed lighter, more anecdotal, and scattered, and thus didn’t function for me quite as well as those did. I’d say this book primarily ends up offering something I found far less comprehensive and interesting: a survey of just some ways people have historically used ice for amusement and especially to make money.
There is a relatively strong (if still too brief) start about the roots of the ice cultivation industry (when ice was hazardously harvested and delivered to home iceboxes), the popularization of using ice in food and drink, and the enigmatic cultural figure of “the iceman.” There is still a lot of great historical material left undiscussed or underdiscussed here - for one example, I live in a neighborhood that was historically part of a huge community of railroads and icehouses, and their many immigrant workers, that supplied an entire US coast. This broader industrial and human history seems like interesting territory to explore; yet the book chooses instead to focus on one eccentric wealthy titan of the ice industry.
After this, the book breaks down its topic via large subsections that feel like different books and focus in depth on quite disparate themes, such as the popularization of ice recreation (mostly sports) and the evolution of using ice in cocktails. As a result, you end up reading more than you may want (way more than I wanted) about sort of niche things, like the sport of curling, and decorative ice sculpture for restaurant settings.
I found this book extremely confusing overall in its choice of what to focus on, and for how long. When I was finished, I made a big list of things that were inexplicably left out or cursorily dismissed, including many things you would want or expect to read about. I won’t give my own full list here, but you’re bound to notice some things too.
Just for one instance, the role of ice in the early history of the cold supply chain - you know, the now-global and high tech refrigerated food transport and storage that we all rely on to not become ill, that exposed people to foods they would not otherwise have known or tried (iceberg lettuce, anyone? - that maligned but nonetheless most popular vegetable product?), and that we now freak out about when it’s interrupted by things like Covid, and when such disruptions cause empty shelves and high prices? This is all relatively glossed over in seemingly a few paragraphs. As one related example, it’s super interesting to learn that people in the Great Depression rented public freezers to store essential food, like the way people now rent storage lockers to store their useless shit. But this merits only a couple sentences, and yet we have multiple chapters about the development of skating rinks and Zambonis?
And if the book is determined to assume a more pop culture focus, there is so much missing content about the role of ice in stage, screen, song, story, and style! Ice Pirates, anyone?!? Iceman? Mr. Freeze? Snow Meiser? The Wonder Twins?! These are just some tiny examples; I could go on and on!
A few other nitpicks: This is an extremely androcentric history. Hardly any women in these pages, maybe a token ice skater or mixologist. The author skips jarringly back and forth between third-person historical narrative and first-person, present day,” I visited this ice sculptor or curling club rep today and this is what he said” kinds of journalistic narrative.
Finally, although I am glad the book includes the very important topic of the role of refrigeration in climate change, I think it’s very poorly and perhaps even irresponsibly done, to be harsh about it. It’s scattershot, token, all over the place, popping up in random mentions in just about any chapter instead of addressed in a focused and concentrated way. It seems to unfairly target refrigeration as opposed to many other (and arguably less essential) industries or technologies or behaviors or regulations or resource uses that are also depleting and destroying our planet. Also, the book isn’t even “about” refrigeration or freezing technology, or (as it directly states in the introduction) science or the natural environment - it’s meant to be “about ice” - and if anything, it skips too much over these areas and over the important transition between the use of ice and the use of tech for keeping food, people, and other things cold. So all of the sudden the book IS about these technologies whenever the author feels like criticizing practices contributing to global warming? Although the author is comfortable asserting that refrigeration is The Worst for The Earth, the book also demonstrates no awareness of or curiosity about the good, fairly extensive research and work the wider refrigerated food shipping and storage industry is doing in effort to change and improve its energy and technology efficiency and use. If we are going to criticize something, maybe let’s also look toward solutions. Instead, the book reads something like, “Whelp, guess it’s a shame we all liked those ice swans and mojitos so much. Now the natural ice is all gone and we’re screwed.”
I feel really bad criticizing this book - I think it was a great topic with fantastic potential. It just didn’t satisfy me on any level, and it frustrated me in many ways. Many apt metaphors apply: it lost its footing; things got slippery; it felt like we were walking on thin ice. I will say the cover is awesome, with its icy blue color and archival photo of an ice delivery man, and I purchased the book as gift for someone (whose work involves ice) largely on this basis.
Speaking of which, Atlas Obscura has a fun Gastro Obscura article on the historically fraught character of “the Iceman,” and this is more along the lines of what I was hoping for in the book: check it out at:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles...
There is a relatively strong (if still too brief) start about the roots of the ice cultivation industry (when ice was hazardously harvested and delivered to home iceboxes), the popularization of using ice in food and drink, and the enigmatic cultural figure of “the iceman.” There is still a lot of great historical material left undiscussed or underdiscussed here - for one example, I live in a neighborhood that was historically part of a huge community of railroads and icehouses, and their many immigrant workers, that supplied an entire US coast. This broader industrial and human history seems like interesting territory to explore; yet the book chooses instead to focus on one eccentric wealthy titan of the ice industry.
After this, the book breaks down its topic via large subsections that feel like different books and focus in depth on quite disparate themes, such as the popularization of ice recreation (mostly sports) and the evolution of using ice in cocktails. As a result, you end up reading more than you may want (way more than I wanted) about sort of niche things, like the sport of curling, and decorative ice sculpture for restaurant settings.
I found this book extremely confusing overall in its choice of what to focus on, and for how long. When I was finished, I made a big list of things that were inexplicably left out or cursorily dismissed, including many things you would want or expect to read about. I won’t give my own full list here, but you’re bound to notice some things too.
Just for one instance, the role of ice in the early history of the cold supply chain - you know, the now-global and high tech refrigerated food transport and storage that we all rely on to not become ill, that exposed people to foods they would not otherwise have known or tried (iceberg lettuce, anyone? - that maligned but nonetheless most popular vegetable product?), and that we now freak out about when it’s interrupted by things like Covid, and when such disruptions cause empty shelves and high prices? This is all relatively glossed over in seemingly a few paragraphs. As one related example, it’s super interesting to learn that people in the Great Depression rented public freezers to store essential food, like the way people now rent storage lockers to store their useless shit. But this merits only a couple sentences, and yet we have multiple chapters about the development of skating rinks and Zambonis?
And if the book is determined to assume a more pop culture focus, there is so much missing content about the role of ice in stage, screen, song, story, and style! Ice Pirates, anyone?!? Iceman? Mr. Freeze? Snow Meiser? The Wonder Twins?! These are just some tiny examples; I could go on and on!
A few other nitpicks: This is an extremely androcentric history. Hardly any women in these pages, maybe a token ice skater or mixologist. The author skips jarringly back and forth between third-person historical narrative and first-person, present day,” I visited this ice sculptor or curling club rep today and this is what he said” kinds of journalistic narrative.
Finally, although I am glad the book includes the very important topic of the role of refrigeration in climate change, I think it’s very poorly and perhaps even irresponsibly done, to be harsh about it. It’s scattershot, token, all over the place, popping up in random mentions in just about any chapter instead of addressed in a focused and concentrated way. It seems to unfairly target refrigeration as opposed to many other (and arguably less essential) industries or technologies or behaviors or regulations or resource uses that are also depleting and destroying our planet. Also, the book isn’t even “about” refrigeration or freezing technology, or (as it directly states in the introduction) science or the natural environment - it’s meant to be “about ice” - and if anything, it skips too much over these areas and over the important transition between the use of ice and the use of tech for keeping food, people, and other things cold. So all of the sudden the book IS about these technologies whenever the author feels like criticizing practices contributing to global warming? Although the author is comfortable asserting that refrigeration is The Worst for The Earth, the book also demonstrates no awareness of or curiosity about the good, fairly extensive research and work the wider refrigerated food shipping and storage industry is doing in effort to change and improve its energy and technology efficiency and use. If we are going to criticize something, maybe let’s also look toward solutions. Instead, the book reads something like, “Whelp, guess it’s a shame we all liked those ice swans and mojitos so much. Now the natural ice is all gone and we’re screwed.”
I feel really bad criticizing this book - I think it was a great topic with fantastic potential. It just didn’t satisfy me on any level, and it frustrated me in many ways. Many apt metaphors apply: it lost its footing; things got slippery; it felt like we were walking on thin ice. I will say the cover is awesome, with its icy blue color and archival photo of an ice delivery man, and I purchased the book as gift for someone (whose work involves ice) largely on this basis.
Speaking of which, Atlas Obscura has a fun Gastro Obscura article on the historically fraught character of “the Iceman,” and this is more along the lines of what I was hoping for in the book: check it out at:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles...
April 23, 2023
You will never look at ice the same way again. I received an ARC of Ms. Brady’s book and could not have been happier. A rousing historical narrative of a crucial but under-examined product. I was amazed to learn how old the ice industry is in the United States and how it has changed the way in which we all live. While it could be a bit long in parts (I’m not much of a sports fan) and I was interested in the environmental impacts but not fully as engaged as i was the historical parts of the industry itself, it was a great read overall and I highly recommend it.
February 23, 2024
Yes, an entire book about … frozen water. Medical uses, ice cream, popsicles, cocktails, sports surfaces, manufacturing advances, and even its role in the advent of the modern convenience store. Don’t take ice for granted, y’all. It’s a much bigger part of everyday life, and history, than you realize. Fascinating read!
July 5, 2024
Totally my kind of non fiction.
I applaud the author for tackling something we take for granted and telling us the fascinating history behind it.
Ice - in all its economical, sociological, and political influence - has an incredible tale to tell.
Thoroughly enjoyable read.
I applaud the author for tackling something we take for granted and telling us the fascinating history behind it.
Ice - in all its economical, sociological, and political influence - has an incredible tale to tell.
Thoroughly enjoyable read.
April 27, 2024
Very cool idea! When I watched the barista scoop ice for my latte today, it was fun to know more about its cultural history. But the book itself is all over the place
June 24, 2023
Delightfully interesting and full of fun facts and information, this book kept me reading from start to finish. Having grown up with ice readily available it was fascinating to find out how the frozen substance came to be such a ubiquitous item. From the first companies to supply ice (cut from rivers and lakes) to towns to the mechanization of making ice and the further applications of what that brought about the author really delivers a wonderful history of ice.
Two early rival companies figuring out underhanded strategies of how to curb their competition, the salesmanship entailed of convincing people they needed ice, what consumers were actually ingesting in the ice harvested from rivers and lakes, how making ice mechanically led to indoor skating rinks and how that proliferated sports such as hockey and speed skating are some of the subjects enclosed between the pages.
Two early rival companies figuring out underhanded strategies of how to curb their competition, the salesmanship entailed of convincing people they needed ice, what consumers were actually ingesting in the ice harvested from rivers and lakes, how making ice mechanically led to indoor skating rinks and how that proliferated sports such as hockey and speed skating are some of the subjects enclosed between the pages.
March 16, 2024
If you like easy, breezy nonfiction, this cultural history of ice is for you.
I’m not certain there was really enough here to justify an entire book, but it’s entertaining and it moves well and might be a good pick for those who typically struggle to get into nonfiction.
I thought the early parts of the book focusing on refrigeration and the heyday of the iceman were well executed and intriguing. The latter (more modern) topics covered felt less necessary to the book. It’s sort of interesting to hear about the maintenance of an ice rink, for example, but I didn’t really need an account of the author’s attempts to try curling.
For me, this probably would have been better kept to a long form article, but I’m glad stuff like this exists for those who want nonfiction but prefer a less demanding version of what Science and History nonfiction tends to be.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
I’m not certain there was really enough here to justify an entire book, but it’s entertaining and it moves well and might be a good pick for those who typically struggle to get into nonfiction.
I thought the early parts of the book focusing on refrigeration and the heyday of the iceman were well executed and intriguing. The latter (more modern) topics covered felt less necessary to the book. It’s sort of interesting to hear about the maintenance of an ice rink, for example, but I didn’t really need an account of the author’s attempts to try curling.
For me, this probably would have been better kept to a long form article, but I’m glad stuff like this exists for those who want nonfiction but prefer a less demanding version of what Science and History nonfiction tends to be.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
September 24, 2023
Imagine it’s the mid-1800s and you live somewhere in the Caribbean. The temperature has never been lower than about 50F. Then some guys on a boat pull up to the harbor in your town and bring out a solid block of something cold and damp that they call “ice.” It’s frozen water, but you don’t even know what “frozen” is. In your community, it’s a bit of a novelty at first, but what you’ve just been introduced to is about to change the world.
That’s how Amy Brady’s book on the history of ice begins.
For anyone fascinated by the ubiquitous and mundane, this book is right in your lane.
It really is hard to imagine that not too long ago, there were no refrigerators, you couldn’t get a drink on the rocks, and don’t even think about indoor hockey.
The author takes us down the slippery slope that shows how society lived for millennia without harnessing refrigeration to being so dependent on it we’d have a hard time readapting.
And it’s not just keeping our drinks cold. We rely on ice to keep our food from spoiling, and many medicines, like insulin, require refrigeration.
The book is a pretty easy read, but it could have been a bit shorter. There’s a lot of detail about the guy who first tried to ship ice from Boston and sell it to islanders in the Caribbean, and the multiple chapters on winter sports would have worked better as a single chapter.
Regardless, the author takes us on interesting side trips, like how the proliferation of ice being sold at gas stations and convenience stores went hand and mitten with the growth of automobile travel. Not to mention medical benefits of cryogenics or the necessity of keeping dead bodies “fresh.” Fun fact: Early cryogenics research raised the question of why there are so few cancers found below the elbows or knees. Turns out human extremities are exposed to more lower temperatures, and cancers apparently don’t like that.
This book won’t change your life, but it’s worth a look if you just want to chill out and appreciate your A/C and refrigerator.
This review also posted on the La Crosse County Library group page.
That’s how Amy Brady’s book on the history of ice begins.
For anyone fascinated by the ubiquitous and mundane, this book is right in your lane.
It really is hard to imagine that not too long ago, there were no refrigerators, you couldn’t get a drink on the rocks, and don’t even think about indoor hockey.
The author takes us down the slippery slope that shows how society lived for millennia without harnessing refrigeration to being so dependent on it we’d have a hard time readapting.
And it’s not just keeping our drinks cold. We rely on ice to keep our food from spoiling, and many medicines, like insulin, require refrigeration.
The book is a pretty easy read, but it could have been a bit shorter. There’s a lot of detail about the guy who first tried to ship ice from Boston and sell it to islanders in the Caribbean, and the multiple chapters on winter sports would have worked better as a single chapter.
Regardless, the author takes us on interesting side trips, like how the proliferation of ice being sold at gas stations and convenience stores went hand and mitten with the growth of automobile travel. Not to mention medical benefits of cryogenics or the necessity of keeping dead bodies “fresh.” Fun fact: Early cryogenics research raised the question of why there are so few cancers found below the elbows or knees. Turns out human extremities are exposed to more lower temperatures, and cancers apparently don’t like that.
This book won’t change your life, but it’s worth a look if you just want to chill out and appreciate your A/C and refrigerator.
This review also posted on the La Crosse County Library group page.
November 10, 2022
Had the chance to read/blurb an early copy of Amy's book; here's what I wrote:
Whether you eat it, skate on it, or plop it in your cocktail, ice is part of your life. In prose as crystalline as a frozen pond, Amy Brady’s Ice details the history of this civilization-shaping substance — one that climate change melts faster every day. You’ll never view a freezer, a popsicle, or the Winter Olympics the same way after reading Brady’s delightful ode to an enigmatic, indispensable state of matter.
Whether you eat it, skate on it, or plop it in your cocktail, ice is part of your life. In prose as crystalline as a frozen pond, Amy Brady’s Ice details the history of this civilization-shaping substance — one that climate change melts faster every day. You’ll never view a freezer, a popsicle, or the Winter Olympics the same way after reading Brady’s delightful ode to an enigmatic, indispensable state of matter.
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February 3, 2025This type of nonfiction is so fun and silly! I love the concept of diving into one everyday thing and exploring all of the ways it has shaped our world. But, I think that to make this type of book successful you have to have a really strong narrative arc. I didn't think Ice had any kind of throughline, and that made the book feel like a messy collection of short articles. The chapters were so short and loosely connected that the whole book felt scattered, and that made me lose interest at about 100 pages in. I think Brady tried to connect the sections of the book through her present-day, first person interludes about how she got to whatever museum she was at, but I mostly found these distracting. The first third of the book had a lot of potential, but the rest was very jumbled and a total slog.
March 6, 2024
This book was so interesting! Who knew ice could hold so much history? I loved this look at ice from the initial selling period to today's applications. Ice affects everything we do from the things we eat and drink to the sports we play. Ice is an integral part of our everyday life.
This is a very broad topic, but I think the author did a good job at making it accessible to normal readers. I learned such fascinating facts about ice, including things about curling, how ice enhanced mixed drinks, and much more. If you are interested in random deep dives about various subjects, this would be the book for you!
This is a very broad topic, but I think the author did a good job at making it accessible to normal readers. I learned such fascinating facts about ice, including things about curling, how ice enhanced mixed drinks, and much more. If you are interested in random deep dives about various subjects, this would be the book for you!
September 14, 2024
This book is a little scattershot as far as microhistories go, but I found most of the content Brady chose to include to be quite fascinating! I found myself sharing fun facts I had learned about the cultural history of ice with anyone in earshot. It was especially interesting to learn about the trade in lake/river ice and how it was affected by the invention of the ice machine. It seems ludicrous that anyone would think ice machines are blasphemous, but some people certainly had this reaction! This book made me pause to appreciate a small but impactful aspect of everyday life—well worth the read for me!
October 16, 2023
Perfect. A delightful journey thru the short history of ice as a commodity, full of wonderful factoids and sciency stats. Also, it's not just a deep dive on a small issue. It covers tons topics related to ice, including sports, food industry, general public health, medical, military uses, environmental impact, and the trivial, like how icemen were sex symbols, for a small slice of time 😄. Great read.
February 24, 2024
Did you know that scientists don't know how the sport curling works? Like they don't know why the stone moves the way it does. 🧊 follow me for more cool reviews.
November 5, 2025
One of the most interesting non-fiction books I’ve ever read!!
November 26, 2025
3.5 ⭐️ i liked the STL bit the best
June 25, 2023
A fun and fascinating history of ice in the United States. I listened to the audiobook and would recommend the format.
March 14, 2024
Pretty solid … 3.5 rounded up
January 21, 2025
A fun and informative read about Ice, it various uses and its compelling history.
June 24, 2025
Great book!! Very interesting book!! Some great trivia points also in the book.
November 29, 2023
Very insightful book full of historical facts. I greatly enjoyed reading it and recommend it.
April 28, 2024
Really well researched and informative. Surprising find, worth the read
June 16, 2023
Not certain what brought this book to my attention, but I’m glad it did. Partly dry, I admit, but frequently fascinating and always informative. Much that I didn’t know I’m glad I do now.
June 17, 2023
Never knew the history of ice could be so interesting.
June 14, 2023
An excellent survey of how humans have used ice, from the ice men of the 19th century to the development of ice sports to likely future developments in ice science.
May 9, 2023
A history of ice production, the ways it's been used in food, and more!
I really enjoyed this history. I tend to be picky about history books since I studied history and really want them to be approachable for a wider audience. I think this did that! The chapters weren't too long, and they really captured my attention. I especially liked the history of ice production and then the history of foods that use ice. I learned so much. I wish there had been a Bibliography, but that is more just something I enjoy as a history person. Overall, a really interesting read about an important commodity!
I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this history. I tend to be picky about history books since I studied history and really want them to be approachable for a wider audience. I think this did that! The chapters weren't too long, and they really captured my attention. I especially liked the history of ice production and then the history of foods that use ice. I learned so much. I wish there had been a Bibliography, but that is more just something I enjoy as a history person. Overall, a really interesting read about an important commodity!
I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
February 7, 2023
I downloaded this on a whim, and I'm so glad I did! This covers a lot of territory, but doesn't drag or overextend itself. Not only does it cover social history like the creation of ice cream, iced tea, and chipped ice, but it also delves into how ice can treat injured/ill patients, why ice is slippery, and much more. It's a fun blend of science, food history, sports, medicine, and more serious subjects like melting glaciers.
Many thanks to Putnam/Penguin and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Many thanks to Putnam/Penguin and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.
July 30, 2024
I rate this 3.5 - 4 stars. Fascinating book with loads of interesting history on ice! Today we tend to take for granted our ability to have ice and ice cream any time we want, but it wasn't so very long ago when humans were finally able to have ice year round. From ice cutting of frozen rivers, to bringing ice to New Orleans, its impact on mixology, the Olympics and more...every chapter is filled with interesting facts.
August 24, 2023
I like books that explore the history and significance of items most people take for granted. Amy Brady did lots of hard work here, and this book prompts readers to think about ice in a way that, I'm sure, most people never think about it. But there's only so much interest to be gained here before the book becomes dull. By the halfway mark you'll be over it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 126 reviews