I loved this book, but I have never been so tempted to have booze for breakfast as I am after reading it. ( )

I picked this off my shelves last week, in search of a light read, and became captivated by the droll humor and wit. Perhaps a bit too captivated since I followed her advice a little too closely last Friday. Her extended essay is not comprehensive, but is interesting and filled with amusing stories. Her attitude is against prudishness, and the heath believers, and she strongly suspects that temperance movements were mostly motivated by a desire of the rich to be certain that the lower classes worked hard and soberly. She discusses civilization, beer, wine, whisky, bon-vivants and hangover cures, with an appendix for home brewed recipes. I bought this originally because I had enjoyed her other book, Endangered Pleasures ( )

A humorous little book that looks at drinking through the ages. Though it draws a long bow (or misinterprets the facts, depending on how you look at it) at times, the essence of this book rings true - throughout history drink has been a normal part of life for many cultures, and what would be considered 'problem drinking' today would not have been considered a problem in the past. In amongst the humour, there are some deeper thoughts on just how much western society has changed, probably not for the better, and how our perceptions of what is acceptable change.
This book includes instructions on setting up your own still, though I am not sure if it actually works! ( )