A Brief History of Chocolate by Steve Berry and Phil Norman

I love chocolate. So obviously, I love reading about chocolate. But, this book, while entertaining, fell short of my expectations.

This book is not an introduction to the history of chocolate. For that, I recommend books like The True History of Chocolate、Chocolate Wars or even Triffic Chocolate (Reviews for The True History of Chocolate and Chocolate wars here), which is a for children but still much more comprehensive (Triffic Chocolate was also the first non-fiction book about Chocolate I read, and I really loved it!).

What this book is, is an overview of the chocolate bar. It's not so much a coherent narrative, but more like an introduction to various chocolate brands, including those that are now defunct.

Personally, I only enjoyed this book for the types of chocolate they introduced. For example, Dr. Who chocolate, Pink Panther chocolate, Mr. Men chocolate, etc. Advertising at its most blatant, but still, I'd fall for it.

Let's not forget the TARDIS easter egg! 

Apart from that, this short book doesn't have anything going for it. The book is vaguely organised into chapters according to the types of chocolate (chocolate bar, easter egg and so on), but each chapter is more of a list of chocolates in chronological order than a narrative of the history of chocolate.

It's a pity, because this book had a lot of good illustrations and could have been an interesting introduction to the history of the chocolate bar (and its descendants).

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.