The Faber Book of Smoking - Softcover

The Faber Book of Smoking is a fascinating, intriguing and hilarious book of anecdotes on smoking. It splits into two parts--the first tells the basic story of smoking from Columbus's arrival in the New World to the tobacco battles of today, while the second picks out recurring themes like "giving up", "smoking, sex and seduction" and "smokers v. non-smokers" and follows them through the centuries. The excellent editing job is down to Walton's success in sparing us "anything that made my eyes glaze over when I was researching". He has succeeded royally in his aim of "providing a good read, some laughs, and some firm nods of recognition from smokers and non-smokers alike". The carcinogenic compendium is full of curious facts--did you know that smoking was linked to low birth-weight in the early 1600s?--and vulgar anecdotes from the famous dead. Check out the following from Flaubert: "When I was young ... whenever I went to a brothel with my friends I always picked the ugliest girl and insisted on making love to her in front of them without taking my cigar out of my mouth. It wasn't any fun for me: I just did it for the gallery". Have fun playing guessing games with your friends. Who said this? "He was chewing on a cigar. And then he had the cigar in his hand and he was looking at the cigar in ... sort of a naughty way. And so .... I looked at the cigar and I looked at him and I said, we can do that, too". A guilty pleasure or gift, The Faber Book of Smoking is endlessly entertaining and a fine balance between serious and seriously interesting stories, attitudes and anecdotes and vulgar, trashy, throwaway titbits. This is a must-read for smokers, a rare opportunity to celebrate the dirty weed we love. Take away this from the chapter entitled "The true smoker; or, the hopeless addict":

Tobacco is a dirty weed: I like it. It satisfies no normal need; I like it. It makes you thin, it makes you lean, It takes the hair right off your bean; It's the worst darn stuff I've ever seen: I like it.

We like The Faber Book of Smoking too. We like it a lot. --Larry Brown

'A marvellously addictive, reach-for-the-fags anthology. It veers effortlessly between the howlingly funny and the grimly compelling.' India Knight, Sunday Times; 'On inhalation it's as intoxicating as its subject matter. Neither didactic in argument nor too loose in construction, it offers a wealth of material... Ultimately what sets this collection apart from many others is its passion.' Financial Times