Alcademics Giveaway: Books for your Brain and your Butt

I've got seven books to give away to people on the Alcademics A-Plus email list. All you need to do to enter is sign up for the list.

First up, I've got five copies of the new paperback edition of Wall Street Journal writer Eric Felten's book How's Your Drink?: Cocktails, Culture, and the Art of Drinking Well.

I reviewed the hardcover in the San Francisco Chronicle a while back:

Eric Felten's "How's Your Drink? Cocktails, Culture, and the Art of Drinking Well" (Agate Surrey, $20; release date Nov. 28) is written in the breezy tone that defines his James Beard Award-winning column of the same name in the Wall Street Journal. The book consists of short essays on classic and modern cocktails with recipes at the end of each, grouped into chapters on ice drinks, holiday drinks, war drinks and the like. Though Felten also traces cocktail origins, he references fewer cocktail books and more literary sources like Broadway plays, novels and newspaper stories. It is a cultural study rather than a technical one, packed with great trivia and hilarious observations like calling gargantuan martinis "hazing, not hospitality." The best description of the book, and the study of cocktail history in general, comes from the conclusion. "If there is anything to be serious about in the way of drinks it is this only: that one's drink be delicious. If it can add to our pleasure by having a good story to tell, then all the better."

To celebrate the paperback release, they've allowed me to give away five copies of the book.

Also, I've got two copies of Does My Butt Look Big In This Beer? Nutritional Values Of 2,000 Worldwide Beers by Bob Skilnik. I haven't seen the paper copy of the book, but something tells me it has the nutritional values of 2000 worldwide beers.

Sign up for the email list to be eligible to win. I'll do the giveaway May 11th, 2009, so make sure to sign up before then.